Tyneside police are investigating two civilian CCTV staff as part of a complaint into the "possible misuse" of "close-up" footage of naked participants in Spencer Tunick's mass nude shoot on the banks of the Tyne last July.

According to the BBC, officers are probing "reports of snapshots being offered in pubs". Northumbria Police deputy chief Constable David Warcup confirmed: "We've spoken to a number of officers and police staff and as a result two members of police staff are in the process of being suspended.

"If there is found to be any substance in these allegations we will take prompt and robust action. This is not the standard of behaviour expected from anyone employed by Northumbria Police.

"We have worked extremely hard over the years to ensure that the public can have confidence in the way in which we manage CCTV and we are determined that confidence will not be undermined, either now or in the future."

Tunick famously persuaded people to get their kit off in the name of art in Helsinki, New York, Melbourne, and other nuclei of exhibitionism. The Tyneside mass flash was his biggest UK shoot and apparently included "zookeepers, postmen, midwives and a vicar". ®