Police checking travel

[yorkie]

I am absolutely sick of the police right now and I know I'm not the only one.

Do we have any police officers on this forum? If so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Can you justify this? Or would you like to apologise? Have you tried to talk sense into any of your commanding officers? If there are some good officers on here who are appalled by their colleagues actions I'd love to hear from you and you'd totally have my support.

Is there anyone here who thinks these behaviours are justified? If so I'm up for a massive argument, and it will be the full argument, not the 5 minute argument.

 

[Cowley]

Gulp.

 

[duncanp]

Thank you for your post, it's very moving. I'd like to recount a friends experience. She's an A&E nurse at a hospital in the UK. On her 30 minutes break she went outside to a nearby park to eat her lunch on a bench. Some police officers cam up to her and asked her to identify and account for herself. She explained to them what she was doing, and they said that this was not allowed. They asked for her details which she refused so they promptly arrested her. This left the hospital short staffed for most of the day because of the police's actions. In the end they dropped the charges.

That's just disgraceful.

The power seems to have gone to the heads of certain police officers, who seem to enjoy throwing their weight around and acting like tin pot little Hitlers.

Ultimately they are making life more difficult for themselves if they lose the respect of the public they are supposed to serve.

If that was me, I would be taking the matter further.

 

[E100]

That's just disgraceful.

The power seems to have gone to the heads of certain police officers, who seem to enjoy throwing their weight around and acting like tin pot little Hitlers.

Ultimately they are making life more difficult for themselves if they lose the respect of the public they are supposed to serve.

If that was me, I would be taking the matter further.

Hear Hear

edit: Those 2 incidents are equally moving, saddening and anger inducing.

 

[Cdd89]

Had you the presence of mind, you could have quoted the “to avoid injury or illness or to escape a risk of harm” exemption back at them. Although of course the people using that exemption would often be in no position to respond with it to an officer; the police should have the sensitivity to see where it applies.

I’d like to believe we are looking at a few bad apples, but the number of incidents (with the police often in groups) is extremely concerning. If they are not careful, there’ll be nobody left to support the police.

 

[david1212]

Thank you for your post, it's very moving. I'd like to recount a friends experience. She's an A&E nurse at a hospital in the UK. On her 30 minutes break she went outside to a nearby park to eat her lunch on a bench. Some police officers cam up to her and asked her to identify and account for herself. She explained to them what she was doing, and they said that this was not allowed. They asked for her details which she refused so they promptly arrested her. This left the hospital short staffed for most of the day because of the police's actions. In the end they dropped the charges.

I am just flabbergasted...

Have I really just read this and am right now making this post or is it just a bad dream ???

 

[Trackman]

Thank you for your post, it's very moving. I'd like to recount a friends experience. She's an A&E nurse at a hospital in the UK. On her 30 minutes break she went outside to a nearby park to eat her lunch on a bench. Some police officers cam up to her and asked her to identify and account for herself. She explained to them what she was doing, and they said that this was not allowed. They asked for her details which she refused so they promptly arrested her. This left the hospital short staffed for most of the day because of the police's actions. In the end they dropped the charges.

When say charged, was the person in question taken to a police station and charged in the custody suite? If so, do you know the charge? or was it a simple on the spot de-arrest?
I cannot see bobbies putting a nurse in the back of the van for this- there would be ruptions.

 

[yorkie]

I am just flabbergasted...

Have I really just read this and am right now making this post or is it just a bad dream ???

In the past I would have not believed it, but having seen numerous videos of extremely inappropriate behaviour by police, who have been caught red-handed blatantly acting unlawfully, I no longer have any reason to doubt it.

We are going to be entering an extremely dangerous situation if this continues for much longer.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jan 2021 ==

When say charged, was the person in question taken to a police station and charged in the custody suite? If so, do you know the charge? or was it a simple on the spot de-arrest?
I cannot see bobbies putting a nurse in the back of the van for this- there would be ruptions.

I would have said the same thing but the things they have done lately which have been caught on camera have been absolutely unbelievable.

Well, they were unbelievable; such behaviour no longer a shock these days

 

[bramling]

In the past I would have not believed it, but having seen numerous videos of extremely inappropriate behaviour by police, who have been caught red-handed blatantly acting unlawfully, I no longer have any reason to doubt it.

We are going to be entering an extremely dangerous situation if this continues for much longer.

Sadly I think we’re already pretty much there.

 

[Bantamzen]

The Police really haven't covered themselves in glory through all of this, the latest sorry tales from the posters above really articulating the severe damage they are causing to people's lives with their Stazi-like performance. And its not helped by the Home Secretary's rhetoric, and of course the Met Commissioner literally telling people to dob each other in.

I've mentioned elsewhere how I've been continually surprised how little malcontent we've seen from the general public, but one sure fire way to stoke those fires is for the Police to become increasingly draconian. Many of us will remember how Thatcher's government used the Police as a blunt weapon against the miners, and how that exploded in their faces. Much more of what we are sadly seeing and I can see something starting sooner or later, probably in some inner city area where believe me tensions will already be running high.

 

[Lemmy99uk]

Thank you for your post, it's very moving. I'd like to recount a friends experience. She's an A&E nurse at a hospital in the UK. On her 30 minutes break she went outside to a nearby park to eat her lunch on a bench. Some police officers cam up to her and asked her to identify and account for herself. She explained to them what she was doing, and they said that this was not allowed. They asked for her details which she refused so they promptly arrested her. This left the hospital short staffed for most of the day because of the police's actions. In the end they dropped the charges.

Do you have any further proof of this?
The reason I ask is that there is a documented case from early January of a woman being arrested for sitting on a park bench. On further investigation it transpired that the incident was stage managed by an anti-mask group.
I find it hard to believe that following this, if a real case occurred, it would not receive national attention.
I don’t disbelieve you but wonder if there might have been some confusion in your communication with your friend.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Do you have any further proof of this?

Why should the OP provide proof? There is enough evidence (if you look) of police officers harassing people for drinking coffee, sitting on park benches. These people are not required to provide details because they have done nothing wrong. Sitting/resting on a bench eating or drinking is not against the law to my knowledge. The arrests were unlawful

 

[jumble]

I am absolutely sick of the police right now and I know I'm not the only one.

Do we have any police officers on this forum? If so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Can you justify this? Or would you like to apologise? Have you tried to talk sense into any of your commanding officers? If there are some good officers on here who are appalled by their colleagues actions I'd love to hear from you and you'd totally have my support.

Is there anyone here who thinks these behaviours are justified? If so I'm up for a massive argument, and it will be the full argument, not the 5 minute argument.

Nothing I am about to observe excuses any of the bad behaviour which I agree is a nonsense but
My understanding is that previously Police Men and Women went to somewhere like Hendon to be properly trained
Now Hendon is New Houses and the young officers come in and are trained "on the fly" .
This no doubt leads to some "Trainers" teaching bad habits
A relative does some interpreting for a provincial Police Force.
Some of the young officers have had no what ever training in taking statements and do it from a script.
Why would we expect that the same officers would know the difference between the Law and guidance and when/how to use their discretion?

Combine this with the enormous pressure from our wonderful Home Secretary who is for example telling people they should exercise their own when as we all know we are allowed to exercise with one other person, and it is no wonder the Police are confused.

I bet the Police who arrested the Nurse on her break were not long serving experienced officers.

 

[Fisherman80]

That’s awful.

Nothing more to say.

What concerns me is the fact there are hundreds and thousands of people out there who have got absolutely nothing.......no family or friends thus affecting their mental health.

I'm lucky because as bad as things have been for nearly a year,I've got friends who I can rely on and a good support network.

As far as my respect for the police goes,that I'm afraid has gone out of the window......just like millions of other people in the country who are fed up when they are doing absolutely nothing wrong.

 

[VauxhallandI]

Nothing I am about to observe excuses any of the bad behaviour which I agree is a nonsense but
My understanding is that previously Police Men and Women went to somewhere like Hendon to be properly trained
Now Hendon is New Houses and the young officers come in and are trained "on the fly" .
This no doubt leads to some "Trainers" teaching bad habits
A relative does some interpreting for a provincial Police Force.
Some of the young officers have had no what ever training in taking statements and do it from a script.
Why would we expect that the same officers would know the difference between the Law and guidance and when/how to use their discretion?

Combine this with the enormous pressure from our wonderful Home Secretary who is for example telling people they should exercise their own when as we all know we are allowed to exercise with one other person, and it is no wonder the Police are confused.

I bet the Police who arrested the Nurse on her break were not long serving experienced officers.

Someone I know joined the Police last year, he had to go to a training centre in Sidcup so there are still places

 

[Trackman]

Someone was busted the other day for eating a sausage roll on a bench in the park, but was let off.
In future he has to eat whilst he walks, which I don't think is best practise.
It's all becoming quite ridiculous now.

 

[Lemmy99uk]

Why should the OP provide proof? There is enough evidence (if you look) of police officers harassing people for drinking coffee, sitting on park benches. These people are not required to provide details because they have done nothing wrong. Sitting/resting on a bench eating or drinking is not against the law to my knowledge. The arrests were unlawful

I was merely questioning whether the tale as recounted was accurate or not.

Of course you don’t have to provide proof of claims, Donald Trump has proved that.

 

[Bantamzen]

I was merely questioning whether the tale as recounted was accurate or not.

Of course you don’t have to provide proof of claims, Donald Trump has proved that.

I'm not sure how you would want them to prove it? CCTV coverage, bodycam, written statement from the friend?

 

[37424]

Do you have any further proof of this?
The reason I ask is that there is a documented case from early January of a woman being arrested for sitting on a park bench. On further investigation it transpired that the incident was stage managed by an anti-mask group.
I find it hard to believe that following this, if a real case occurred, it would not receive national attention.
I don’t disbelieve you but wonder if there might have been some confusion in your communication with your friend.

While I'm generally in favour of the Lockdown unlike many on here even I don't have much time for this kind of nonsense if its true, but I am a bit guarded about some of this stuff second hand, like there was an article in the paper about some people in a car being fined for going to Mcdonalds but it transpired that the group were from different households and it was a couple of hours before the nearest Mcdonalds opened.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Why should the OP provide proof? There is enough evidence (if you look) of police officers harassing people for drinking coffee, sitting on park benches. These people are not required to provide details because they have done nothing wrong. Sitting/resting on a bench eating or drinking is not against the law to my knowledge. The arrests were unlawful

Why? Because a lot of the stories you are seeing in the media are inaccurate or misleading.
As already state in this thread one of the cases was actually where the people involved were part of a larger anti mask / lockdown protest and the widely talked about McDonalds case was because of household mixing and not because of the drive to McDonalds.
And in terms of people's friends, sometimes friends sometimes do not tell the whole truth if they are annoyed at something and want to rant. Sometimes, little details that are actually important can get missed out.

 

[Bantamzen]

Why? Because a lot of the stories you are seeing in the media are inaccurate or misleading.
As already state in this thread one of the cases was actually where the people involved were part of a larger anti mask / lockdown protest and the widely talked about McDonalds case was because of household mixing and not because of the drive to McDonalds.

So I've asked the question of another without response, perhaps you'd like to to answer the question?

I'm not sure how you would want them to prove it? CCTV coverage, bodycam, written statement from the friend?

 

[DB]

So I've asked the question of another without response, perhaps you'd like to to answer the question?

There is also enough footage out there of how some police are behaving that these stories are not at all hard to believe!

 

[WelshBluebird]

There is also enough footage out there of how some police are behaving that these stories are not at all hard to believe!

Much of which often doesn't show the full picture of what actually happened.
And trust me, I am a football fan, I am not used to the position of defending the police! But being in that position does make me aware that quite often there is something else going on when someone decides to whip out their phone and record (sometimes it is justified, but other times there is an ulterior motive at play) - I've seen it first hand on multiple occasions.
Many of the cases that the media have shouted about recently, the stories have been somewhat suspect and the truth has eventually come out (or in the case of the McDonalds story - the truth was in the article - people just couldn't be bothered to read past the headline).

So I've asked the question of another without response, perhaps you'd like to to answer the question?

Being honest, maybe I should have worded my reply a little different. I am not necessarily saying that anyone posting a story on here needs written testimony. But I do think questioning what people claim is sensible, especially given the other stories mentioned.

 

[DB]

Much of which often doesn't show the full picture of what actually happened.
And trust me, I am a football fan, I am not used to the position of defending the police! But being in that position does make me aware that quite often there is something else going on when someone decides to whip out their phone and record (sometimes it is justified, but other times there is an ulterior motive at play) - I've seen it first hand on multiple occasions.
Many of the cases that the media have shouted about recently, the stories have been somewhat suspect and the truth has eventually come out (or in the case of the McDonalds story - the truth was in the article - people just couldn't be bothered to read past the headline).

Maybe some of the cases, but clearly there are plenty where the police are over-stepping the mark - especially those where the police back down and drop the charges when it appears online or in the media. That's a pretty clear indication that they don't think their position could be defended in court.

 

[VauxhallandI]

I’m at the stage where I feel I need to record interactions with the police. On this subject matter and at these times they are not to be trusted

Sad but true and I won’t feel guilty for it as they bring it in themselves 100%

 

[farleigh]

I’m at the stage where I feel I need to record interactions with the police. On this subject matter and at these times they are not to be trusted

Sad but true and I won’t feel guilty for it as they bring it in themselves 100%

Sadly I concur with this.

I wish I didn't but my faith in the police has been eroded over time to the point where i now mistrust them.

 

[duncanp]

At least there is some semblance of justice, as the police officers who were spotted inside a cafe in London on 9th January have each been given a FPN for £200.

Lockdown: Police officers fined £200 for cafe meeting

Nine Met Police officers who broke lockdown rules have been asked to "reflect on their choices".

www.bbc.co.uk

Nine Met Police officers have been fined for breaching lockdown rules to meet at a cafe while on duty.
Pictures emerged online showing the officers, from the South East Basic Command Unit, eating at The Chef House Kitchen Cafe, Greenwich, on 9 January.
All nine officers have been issued with a £200 fixed penalty notice.
Ch Supt Rob Atkin, said: "It is right that they will pay a financial penalty and that they will be asked to reflect on their choices.
"Police officers are tasked with enforcing the legislation that has been introduced to stop the spread of the virus and the public rightly expect that they will set an example through their own actions.
"It is disappointing that on this occasion, these officers have fallen short of that expectation."
The group were spotted by a member of the public in the Greenwich cafe while their patrol vehicles were parked outside.
Under current rules, cafes and restaurants are only allowed to provide a takeaway service.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Good. About time.

I'm surprised the cafe was even open for a sit-down meal. I note on their website, Stephen posted a comment: "Perfect little hideaway for police officers on a break from saving lives"

 

[MalaiseForever]

Last week I needed to attend a medical appointment (surprisingly not cancelled!) which was inaccessible by public transport and due to the nature of the appointment I couldn’t walk or cycle, I don’t drive either. My friend gave me a lift, on the way there we were stopped by police (probably because we are two young lads in a sporty hatchback, driving normally I might add), the police refused to accept that I was attending an appointment and said even if that was true it’s illegal for someone else to give you a lift (not true). After a substantial back and forth where we refused to give our details for the FPN they were called to another incident, and ominously said we best not be seen together in a car again and they had made a note of the registration Plate.

 

[duncanp]

.. and ominously said we best not be seen together in a car again and they had made a note of the registration Plate.

That is just an empty threat and they know it.

If that had been me I would have been inclined to tell them that if they issued to FPN, I will dispute it in court, at which time I would produce evidence of the medical appointment.

They would then be required to explain to the court why they disbelieved my story about attending a medical appointment.