Mark Reckless is to make inquiries into the alleged arrest and detention of an amateur photographer in Chatham High Street under section 44 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2000 on Wednesday 8th July.As the Kent Police Authoritys lead member for legal services and member of the Professional Standards committee, Mark helps ensure that complaints such as these made against police officers are investigated fully and transparently .
The allegations made against the officers are serious and need to be addressed on an urgent basis to establish the facts of what actually happened on the day, and determine police are acting properly when deploying section 44 powers.
Conservatives will always support the police in the fight against crime and terror, but we will not condone behaviour by particular officers that unjustifiably impacts on law-abiding members of the public going about legitimate personal business.
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10 comments:
It looks as though he may have a reasonable case for wrongful arrest. It makes me wonder whether I should pop down to Chatham with my camera and chance my luck.
I think this raises some very serious issues about policing in the UK and where we are going and how accountable our forces are to local members of the public. I hope Mark gets to the bottom of this because, as I'm reading it, this was a clear case of abuse of powers.
It's lucky the pic Mark used to illustrate the story was a back view of some officers... or he might have been next
I think the UK Police quality and standards has deteriated significantly, consequently losing the respect of members of the public from all age groups and backgrounds. This incident highlights inexperience and bad training, with the Police building up a confrontation instead of using common sense to quickly establish the facts.
The problem with our Police force is huge, with issues from recruitment to training to management all providing us with a very poor standard of Policemen/women
It would be satisfying to have the police uphold the law and if they haven't in this case, I'm sure you will act appropriately Mark to help ensure that the full force of the law is applied to any (errant) officers.
Here's another case:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8163387.stm
At least two locally-known Conservatives will be at this Saturday's "photo walk" in Chatham. I am one of them!
It is not going to be a protest or anything like that, just an effort at a photographic celebration of our Town(s), all captured on the one day for posterity — making an important point in the process.
If the police unwisely choose to interfere with that in any way whatsoever, it will send a very clear message to everyone that something drastic needs to be done about the powers they currently hold — or at least think they do.
We shall know our rights and I for one will have a copy of them with me.
I'd recommend the police to completely absent themselves from the meeting area, and leave all the participants alone throughout: that would be the only intelligent option for them.
It is not about being 'anti-police' as some members of my community are (including two particularly notorious families)but being mature, sensible and sufficiently well educated to appreciate that the police do an important, necessary and sometimes quite dangerous job. However, all I and my fellow tax-payers ask is that they do that job properly. In the many case that I have looked at, at Monaxle's is one of the worst, the police are not doing their job properly. They are abusing their powers and unlawfully interfering with the lawful use of the highway. Amazingly, the Home Office has confirmed that photography in a public place is quite lawful, except for the Official Secrets Acts and there is no presumption of privacy for an individual in a public place. Campaigns will have the desired effect, however, it will take a long time.
I think anonymous above has it just about right. This isn't about being 'anti-police' as they say, it is about the police growing more and more powerful, and less democratic and accountable by stealth. If you want to know more about what I mean then I suggest you look into the activities of ACPO and the APA who are undermining the law of the land in pursuit of their own ends. I know many good, decent Police officers both serving and retired who are sickened by what the modern police force is becoming. We are not that far from living in a police state and people need to WAKE UP!
Hi,
Police forces in UK are nowadays frequently committing atrocities, illegal detention which can tarnish the UK police force image. Police recruitment methods be reformed and policing standards must be improved.
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