A police force no longer makes suspects wear boiler suits while their clothes are being tested – because they are “oppressive”.Hmmm, something a bit familiar about that. Now what could it b...
Greater Manchester Police, which used to hand out the blue paper suits, have ordered officers to drive suspects home and help them pick up fresh garments.
*snaps fingers*
Ah. Right. Now I remember:
OK, it's a crime scene. Everyone knows that. We watch 'CSI' and 'The Bill'.*sigh*
But you can't spare someone to take this lad - the innocent victim, not the perpetrator - back to his house to collect his belongings while ensuring he doesn't affect it?
Not for the sake of simple humanity, if the modern police 'service' lacks that (it clearly seems to, at times), but for some good PR..?
What, is there no target for it?
Anything that can be done to humanise GuMPs is a good thing, but in fact much that would make sense isn't happening. Fahey may mean well and he has got his force answering telephones, a big plus over Shagger. Sadly, he has been going round saying he is building on the great work done by Shagger in his odd downtime moments. One assumes this doesn't mean he is using the little black book and visiting the same old people?
ReplyDeleteACO
Escorting a detainee home for fresh clothes seems like a pointless gesture to me. If the Police are so over-stretched, why are they acting as a chauffeur service? If the suspect's in a cell, what does it matter what he's wearing during his detention? If he/she's afraid of making a negative impression on a Judge/jury by appearing in a paper suit, then surely their relatives/legal representative could provide something?
ReplyDeleteThe previous article referred to a schoolboy detained whilst his mother was gravely ill. That must be far less common than (for example) a suspected burglar/car thief whose clothes are removed for testing for glass fragments.
As I seem to recall the incident concerned a young lad who quite correctly used the knife in self defence having been attacked by someone who may have had mental health issues. The first officers on the scene and the investigators then have to try to find out what occurred. Call me old fashioned but in my time in the police I tended to be fairly sceptical of first reports. Until you have dealt with such an incident there is always a mass of conflicting information. It takes time to find out what occurred and you only get one chance to secure the scene. Remember that the detailed investigation of a scene can be used to prove or disprove what was said to have happened. In this case it verified the young lads version of events and no further action was the rightful outcome. The alternative scenario is that the first officers turn up and declare the stabbing justified. The scene is not secured and is subsequently contaminated by letting the young lad (or someone else)get his clothes. The family of the deceased person could then put their version of events, i.e he was harmless and was doing nothing wrong. I can think of several scenarios a barrister could come up with to muddy the waters. You can then have great fun saying how foolish the police were in believing such an obviously false story. No one can understand the trauma that young lad went through. However he could well be sitting at a coroners court while counsel for the family of the deceased puts an entirely different version of events to him, that is that he murdered the deceased and was not acting in self defence. Without a detailed forensic examination of the scene and a medical examination of the young man that is what will happen. Twelve hours sounds like pretty good going to me as some scenes can take days to properly search (this isn't CSI where all is resolved in a single episode). So to conclude, it's not a lack of humanity, rather keeping the scene secure and uncontaminated until the scenes of crime people do their job. Two people have died and their cause of death must be investigated thoroughly. It seems that this was what happened. It's never a good idea to allow a crime scene to become contaminated until the SOCO and others have done their bit. Just my thoughts as to what happened but as so many people seem to live in Daily Mail land where all is perfect and no one ever makes a mistake it probably won't cut much ice.
ReplyDeleteEx Cop
As I seem to recall the incident concerned a young lad who quite correctly used the knife in self defence having been attacked by someone who may have had mental health issues. The first officers on the scene and the investigators then have to try to find out what occurred. Call me old fashioned but in my time in the police I tended to be fairly sceptical of first reports. Until you have dealt with such an incident there is always a mass of conflicting information. It takes time to find out what occurred and you only get one chance to secure the scene. Remember that the detailed investigation of a scene can be used to prove or disprove what was said to have happened. In this case it verified the young lads version of events and no further action was the rightful outcome. The alternative scenario is that the first officers turn up and declare the stabbing justified. The scene is not secured and is subsequently contaminated by letting the young lad (or someone else)get his clothes. The family of the deceased person could then put their version of events, i.e he was harmless and was doing nothing wrong. I can think of several scenarios a barrister could come up with to muddy the waters. You can then have great fun saying how foolish the police were in believing such an obviously false story. No one can understand the trauma that young lad went through. However he could well be sitting at a coroners court while counsel for the family of the deceased puts an entirely different version of events to him, that is that he murdered the deceased and was not acting in self defence. Without a detailed forensic examination of the scene and a medical examination of the young man that is what will happen. Twelve hours sounds like pretty good going to me as some scenes can take days to properly search (this isn't CSI where all is resolved in a single episode). So to conclude, it's not a lack of humanity, rather keeping the scene secure and uncontaminated until the scenes of crime people do their job. Two people have died and their cause of death must be investigated thoroughly. It seems that this was what happened. It's never a good idea to allow a crime scene to become contaminated until the SOCO and others have done their bit. Just my thoughts as to what happened but as so many people seem to live in Daily Mail land where all is perfect and no one ever makes a mistake it probably won't cut much ice.
ReplyDeleteEx Cop
Apologies for double post - google said it was too large and then published.
ReplyDeleteEx Cop
If it was good enough for Hannibal Lecter...
ReplyDelete"Anything that can be done to humanise GuMPs is a good thing, but in fact much that would make sense isn't happening."
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
"Escorting a detainee home for fresh clothes seems like a pointless gesture to me. If the Police are so over-stretched, why are they acting as a chauffeur service?"
Well, I'm guessing it would have to be a police escort for fear of them escaping.
And perhaps letting the solicitor do it risks the danger of the solicitor interfering with evidence at the suspects home?
"Apologies for double post - google said it was too large and then published."
No worries, Google commenting system has been flaky for a few weeks now. I've had the same thing happen to me.
As far as the initial suspicions go, yes, fair enough, in today's 'arrest everyone and sort it out later' mentality, he wasn't treated unlike anyone else.
But the fact that when they realised what had happened, they wouldn't allow him to enter his home - even accompanied by forensics officers to prevent tampering - sorry, but that's just unconscionable.
There were other ways to prevent tampering, and for the sake of basic humanity - the lad had just defended his mother from a known-to-the-police loon, for god's sake! - they should have acted accordingly.
"If it was good enough for Hannibal Lecter..."
Heh!