UK FOLK: Petition regarding rights & arrests...

[MinionZombie]

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/PowersofArrest/ All to do with: Section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 was 'tacked onto' an otherwise acceptable piece of legislation and allows ANY police officer in England and Wales to arrest, (i.e. physically detain, handcuff and take to a police station for a DNA sample), ANY person, for ANY offence, no matter how trivial and whether or not a power of arrest previously existed for that offence. People can now be, (and have been), arrested and detained under Section 110 for not wearing a seatbelt; dropping litter; shouting in the presence of a police officer, climbing a tree, and building a snowman. Whereas police officers used to have to justify every arrest and be aware of whether or not a particular piece of legislation gave them power, they no longer have to do so. The power to deprive someone of their liberty should only be exercised in the most extreme circumstances, yet young and inexperienced police officers, (and soon, PCSO's), are being trained that arrest and detention of a suspect is the first option in most encounters with the public. This sweeping power is being roundly abused on a daily basis in all of the 43 police forces in this country and puts you, your wife, husband or partner, your children and your friends at risk of arbitrary action by the police. David Gilbertson QPM (formerly Assistant Inspector of Constabulary Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Home Office (retired 2001)) I've signed, I encourage my fellow Brits to do so as well. The misuse of arresting powers, and the culture of 'guilty until proven innocent' needs sorting out.

[Chic Freak]

whether or not a power of arrest previously existed for that offence. Holy shit! *goes to sign petition* I might move to the US. They seem to be getting more liberal while we get more fascist

[SRP76]

Hold on. You've got police currently unable to arrest people for crimes? If you cannot be arrested for something, just what the fuck makes it a crime? Why even make something illegal, if people cannot be arrested for doing it? What do your cops do over there when one of these "crimes" happens, wag a finger at the guilty party and click their tongues?

[SymphonicX]

Hold on. You've got police currently unable to arrest people for crimes? If you cannot be arrested for something, just what the fuck makes it a crime? Why even make something illegal, if people cannot be arrested for doing it? What do your cops do over there when one of these "crimes" happens, wag a finger at the guilty party and click their tongues? that's a bit short sighted mate. Misdemeanors are there in every law. Do you really think it's a good allocation of police resources to have them locking up people who dropped a wrapper of chewing gum? Of course it isn't. Some offences herald a fine, others a warning, others are arrestable - I couldn't imagine the frustration I'd feel if I was arrested for having an indicator bulb blow in my car, or smoking on an empty, open train platform at night.

[MinionZombie]

And such damaging incompetence in running the coppers over the years has made coppers look worse and worse in the eyes of the public. Time and again you hear about people not bothering to report smaller crimes because "they'll never come" or "they'll never get solved". I think the way they dealt with the London protests this week was good though, one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations, but they took the best route through the problem I think. But this doesn't change the major problem of many police not knowing the laws they're supposed to be enforcing - so you end up with people being locked up for no good reason, stopped & searched for no good reason, and having their cameras confiscated/data deleted for no good reason. Nobody in the public knows where they stand either, and when people try and find out, they just get a copy & paste response from "teh gubment" of the exact same ill-worded nonsense that's 'in the law books'. Shocking mismanagement of law & order in this country. Don't even get me started on the coppers who were stopping & searching all the white people outside, ironically enough, an exhibition called "Taking Liberties" (if I'm not mistaken on the exact name of it) - all to "balance" their stop & search stats. And that, is one of the major problems with the police force (and indeed the NHS, and many other government run things, including education) - statistics and targets. Arbitrary goals that mean nothing more than a cheap "good" headline for Blair or Brown. It's sickening really. And also, don't get me started on the "terrorism" act ... ugh, one of the single most ghastly and misused pieces of legislation Blair/Brown & Co have ever introduced. Hundreds of thousands of people stopped under "terror" suspicion, bugger all convictions or arrests - who are they stopping? Anyone from protesters to trainspotters to people taking pictures in public places to damn near anything. I myself almost got into hot water when filming outside county court - legislation that had come into force that day, but which had not been reported on the news (like with all new laws, the thousands of them that have come into existence since 1997 - literally thousands, with hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of pages of explanation for it all) ... so I was getting the old "excuse me sir, if you could step over to the side here" treatment from two guys (who I've no idea if they were guards or policemen - I don't recall them identifying themselves), who cornered us in a pincer movement out of the blue. Fortunately we just had to remove about 17 seconds of footage - apparently a shot which involved the door would have allowed terrorists to blow up the county court - FUCK OFF could it have. You couldn't see anything through the glass atrium surrounding the doors, let alone anything else. What complete garbage. Anyway, I didn't want anything to get out of hand, so was very courteous etc - but basically, I don't want some vague arrest for absolutely nothing going on me record - which could very well make it damn hard to get into America, should I need to go there one day. I don't want to be turning down a gig because of some silly bullshit problem like that - another thing you've got no idea about, where do the records go, how long are they there for, what details do they take, does it impact on your chances of getting into Fort Knox aka America etc etc etc? Ugh - rant-a-licious, I know...I'm gonna go chill with some Rainbow Six Vegas 2 bitches! Gonna dispense some of my own justice - breach & clear stylee.