Brighton and Hove Pride parade Drops Due To a Suspect Package Pinhole Camera

Earlier this week the Brighton and Hove Pride parade was stopped due to a suspicious package. You can understand the authorities for wanting to protect the 160,000 attendees and watches of the parade.

At first it was suspected that a suspicious looking object was left in the parade route intentionally to disrupt it, and a bomb disposal unit was called in to detonate the package in a controlled manner.

However the last reports suggest that the package was not suspicious at all, it was a pinhole camera.

Close to the event, Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp told littlehamptongazette that:

We believe the item was placed there deliberately and made to look like a suspicious device to disrupt the parade. We have started a criminal investigation.

We were concerned enough to call in the bomb disposal unit, who after making a further assessment, carried out a controlled explosion. The area had been cordoned off and there was no risk to the public

However, according to BT Sussex detectives now believe that the object was a pinhole solargraph camera, and that there was no malicious intent behind its placement. Police are linking the pinhole camera found with two similar items discovered in Brighton Marina car park in July and near St Peter’s Church near The Level in August 2013.

Solargraph cameras are a specific type of pinhole cameras which looks like a can and have a very small hole. the solargraph captures of the image of the sun moving across the sky. These exposures can last days, months, even years. You can read more about Solargraphs and how to make them here.

This is not the first time a Solargraph camera is suspected for being a bomb. And if you are planning a similar project, heed Detective Inspector Julie Wakeford’s advice to BT:

it is important that permission is given and recorded if such items are to be placed on public or on another person’s property. Failure to do this may mean that an individual does commit an offence of public nuisance or criminal damage

[via BT | lead photo by andeecollard and aka.pausa]