SHARP SHOOTERS’ BACKGROUND CHECKS

More than 90 years after

the first versions of the camera were invented in 1807, Arthur Felligg (1899 - 1968), or Weeggee, an American crime photographer, made his name by photographing the seedy side of New York. He was one of the few non-police photographers to obtain permission to install a police radio in his car and reach the crime scene first.

In India, police

photographers as part of the mobile crime team attached to every local thana are a 2000s phenomenon, says joint police commissioner, Mumbai, Deven Bharti.

Under the Law of Evidence:

a photograph is a document and a photographer is an ‘Expert’ under Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act as much as a shoemaker is also an expert if he made the shoe found at the scene of crime, says veteran investigator VM Pandit, formerly with the Central Bureau of Investigation. “Because the police photographer has shot the crime scene, he is called in as witness when the case comes to court.”

The way it works:

the first call goes to the Police Control Room. A call is then made to the duty officer of the local police station who passes on the assignment to the beat officer on duty who then calls in the mobile crime team. The police photographer belongs to this team.