Thursday 2 April 2009

Peelian Principles, Anyone...?

Via The Angry Exile, this abomination of modern day policing:
A college student who found a mobile phone while out celebrating his 18th birthday was arrested after handing it in to police.

Teenager Paul Leicester was arrested for 'theft by finding' and detained for four hours.
You see, he told the last caller on the phobe that he’d hand it in the next day to police.

And was promptly arrested when he did so:
Paul said: 'Being arrested isn't a way to celebrate your 18th birthday. What are you supposed to do when you find a phone? I told the last caller I would drop it off at the police station the next day. But they arrested me for theft by finding.'
So, the police can’t often be bothered to turn up for burglaries for hours, even occasionally when the thief is detained by members of the public, but if a member of the public finds an item they must drop what they are doing and GO NOW, STRAIGHT AWAY to the nearest police station..?

Oh, and though the charges were dropped he’s now in the database regardless:
The teenager was kept by Merseyside Police in Southport police station for four hours and had his fingerprints taken, along with a DNA swab and a photo for police records.
Well done, boys in blue. Well done...

/golfclap

19 comments:

Von Spreuth. said...

ASTOUNDED!

I am ex Merseyside police. What the FUCK has happened to the force?

Sorry, words fail me on this.

TOTALY unbelievable. (Not your article, thr police reaction)

This is what you get when the front desk is run by scumbag civvies with about as much knowledge of the law as my bloody teddy bear.

Von Brandenburg-Preußen.

Old BE said...

WHAT?!

The arresting officer makes a cock-up - these things happen. He then takes this guy to custody and the Sergeant detains him?! On what grounds? Why was the arrest even necessary?

What an utter farce.

In the words of someone I met recently: this is exactly the kind of thing which makes law-abiding citizens think twice about helping the police when their help is needed.

Dr Melvin T Gray said...

There have always been 'odd' constables capable of crass stupidity. I am tempted to believe that events were approved and endorsed by a more experienced Station Sergeant.

Outright condemnation may be unfair when a possibility that there was more to the story than reported, is dismissed.

von Spreuth said...

Dr Melvin T Gray said...

There have always been 'odd' constables capable of crass stupidity. I am tempted to believe that events were approved and endorsed by a more experienced Station Sergeant.


You are mising the point sir.

The Front desks are no longer run by police. The are controlled by civvy scum that have not one iota of knowledge about the law.

Then the "case" is thrown at a probationer with two weeks experience, just so he can add it to his tick sheet.

THAT is why we are seeing more and more cases similar to this.

Von Brandenburg-Preußen.

Oldrightie said...

Well and truly under the yoke, are we not.

Anonymous said...

Point at issue is whether or not police over reacted. The youth was seen by a Sergeant who satisfied himself that uniformed officers had acted properly. No complaint was made albeit a senior officer has been appointed to look at the circumstances.

Anonymous said...

BlueEyes: "this is exactly the kind of thing which makes law-abiding citizens think twice about helping the police when their help is needed."

Got it in one.

I avoid them like the plague; whatever I might once have done to help, I now know it will be turned around and used to hassle me.

Example: while driving I unfortunately hit a stray dog. I thought you were supposed to report this so I went to the nearest cop shop and told them. The only response? "Bring in your licence, insurance and MOT, within seven days".

What about the dog? Nothing about the dog, this isn't about dogs, it's about (yet) another way to annoy and inconvenience law-abiding tax-paying citizens.

The police can help themselves; heaven knows, they're good enough at doing so. They'll get nothing from me.

Mark said...

Compare & contrast the treatment meted out to Mr Leicester here, and the distinctly hands off approach they adopted in the City yesterday to serious criminal damage taking place under their noses.
'What the FUCK has happened to the force?'- Indeed.
If yesterday is anything to go by, rather than using snatch squads to make arrests, the force today prefers to
trawl thru hundreds of hours of cctv footage (in a warm, dry office, on overtime)and only then act against the culprits.

Leg-iron said...

So, if you find a phone and hand it in they put you on the text offender's register, but fiddle with kiddies and you get a caution.

Is anyone in charge out there any more? It looks like random policing to me.

JuliaM said...

"In the words of someone I met recently: this is exactly the kind of thing which makes law-abiding citizens think twice about helping the police when their help is needed."

Couldn't agree more...

"Point at issue is whether or not police over reacted. The youth was seen by a Sergeant who satisfied himself that uniformed officers had acted properly. No complaint was made..."

just because no official complaint was made by the person involved doesn't mean what happened was right. As to whether police overreacted, well, it seems so. Check the comments here, and to that story in the 'Mail'.

"...while driving I unfortunately hit a stray dog. I thought you were supposed to report this so I went to the nearest cop shop and told them. The only response? "Bring in your licence, insurance and MOT, within seven days"."

For what...? Surely the point of having to report it is because it's a domestic (as opposed to wild) animal? How are your details supposed to materially affect anything?

"..the distinctly hands off approach they adopted in the City yesterday to serious criminal damage taking place under their noses."

Although if you read the leftie press and blogs, it was Bloody Sunday redux... ;)

"Is anyone in charge out there any more? It looks like random policing to me."

I don't know about 'random'. It's beginning to look a lot like a pattern to me...

Leg-iron said...

Better link to the paedo story here.

ITN are playing up the protests, with reference to masked anarchists and death by violence and ninety arrests. They don't mention the tens of thousands who didn't cause any trouble.

Balanced reporting, eh?

JuliaM said...

"Balanced reporting, eh?"

They are just bitterly disappointed they didn't get better copy.

Leftie blog Chicken Yoghurt nailed it here...

Angry Exile said...

A comment's been left on my post about this which suggests that
"...this would not be done other than on the orders of an officer not below the rank of Inspector. The principal qualification for this rank is a BA in Onanism."
No idea if it was left by someone who'd know but I'm inclined to believe the onanist remark. However, the problem is that I've met a couple of nobber cops whose behaviour made me wonder who on earth could possibly have thought it was a good idea putting such a knuckle dragger into a police uniform, and I'm sure there are plenty more. I'm talking Constable Savage territory here, except they really don't give a fuck about skin colour and treat everybody as guilty of something. And even if the decent cops outnumber the goons 20 to 1 the impression made by those 5% is hugely damaging to the other 95%.

FWIW the most professional coppers I ever encountered while I still lived in the UK were traffic coppers. The most annoying prick was one who'd started off as a PCSO - a first class Police Cunstubble Walter Mitty.

Von Spreuth said...

"...while driving I unfortunately hit a stray dog. I thought you were supposed to report this so I went to the nearest cop shop and told them. The only response? "Bring in your licence, insurance and MOT, within seven days"."

For what...? Surely the point of having to report it is because it's a domestic (as opposed to wild) animal? How are your details supposed to materially affect anything?


Because it is a traffic accident. Pig, dog, horse, sheep, mule, cow. Are all reportble traffic accidents. For a T.A you need to provide driving documents. IF the police are at the scene.

Interestingly, but theoretically, as the person was NOT driving at the time he spoke to the police, when they ask for a driving licence and M.O.T, you can tell 'em to go and fek themselves.

Von Brandenburg-Preußen.

marc said...

Oi Von Brandenburg-Preussen!!
Less of the scumbag civvies chat!!
I'm a 'scumbag' civvy with my force and I know a damm sight more law than some of the police officers I speak to.
You need to lose that massive chip on your shoulder. Comments like that merely show you up as the buffoon you are.

Anonymous said...

Some of the comments here are so ignorant.
There has to be something else to this story. Anyone attending a police station with property to hand in wouldn't then be arrested.
There's something none of us are being told.
If an allegation had been made about the loss or suspected theft of the phone then it might have been a good idea for some enquiries to be made before formally arresting the lad. Unfortunately the greatest power a police officer ever had, discretion, has been all but removed by this Labor Govmint.
As he was released without charge and has not been bailed pending further enquiries it seems that was the way to go.
That the lad hasn't made a formal complaint is also strange and gives me cause for concern - HE SHOULD DO ASAP.

Von Spreuth. said...

marc said...

Oi Von Brandenburg-Preussen!!
Less of the scumbag civvies chat!!
I'm a 'scumbag' civvy with my force


Ever in Chichester at the R.M.P training wing?

Sergeant; "Lowest form of human life?"

Us; "CIVILIAN".

Civilians have NO place in the legal procedure, from the front desk to the highest court.

If you were any good you would be coppers, and not wannabee scum.

Von Brandenburg-Preußen.

Anonymous said...

Von Spreuth, whoever you are, I beg to inform you that clever and well qualified civilians are employed to assist Police, without whom the services could not function effectively. A little plain courtesy and mutual respect costs us all nothing.

JuliaM said...

"There has to be something else to this story. Anyone attending a police station with property to hand in wouldn't then be arrested."

I suspect the clue might just be in the report where he admits phoning the last number in the phone - perhaps the person he spoke to was miffed at the non immediate return.

Or genuinely believed that the phone had been 'stolen'...?