Sarah Everard

Follow. Radio for backup. Arrest once accompanied. Not rocket science. Judicial discretion to override any sanction if it can be proved by the arresting officer that an arrest in contravention of these provisions was necessary to prevent a further threat to life or the commission of an imprisonment offence.

 

what if there are 2 sicko policemen or 2 sickos impersonating policemen, you could go on forever

 

You can't cover everything. But you'd have to be seriously unlucky to encounter two nutjobs acting in concert.

 

Reassurance is one thing, freedom to do as they please knowing that they can't be arrested by a lone male officer is another.

 

You'd also have to be seriously unlucky to encounter one nutjob police officer who murders you wouldn't you? According to the femicide census 16 women have been killed by serving police officers in the last 10 years. 13 by their partners completely unrelated to their duties, 1 by their child completely unrelated to their duties, 1 by an acquaintance completely unrelated to their duties and 1 by an absolute nutcase. 1 in 10 years (actually one in more than 10 years but the data only goes back that far). I'd say that's extremely unlucky personally. It's 1 too many but let's be reyt here, it's hardly a reason to ban any man from arresting a woman.

 

Those were my thoughts on the matter. Firstly, seems like sensible advice for the situation of a man who seems shifty approaching you and pretending to be police where something generally feels off. Well, maybe not sensible but what are you supposed to advise? Obviously, get away from them and try and seek help, the example was weird but I get the premise. Secondly, if I ran from a police officer I’m getting chased, tackled and tasered. I told the tale on here before about when I saw two white plain clothed police officers (didn’t know they were police at that point) apprehending a young black guy outside my house one dark evening. Their unmarked car was parked diagonally up on the pavement and they were searching him by torchlight as Will and I returned home. We stood and watched to protect the guy and then when I saw one of them with handcuffs I asked what was happening and for ID. The policeman I asked seemed peed off (I think he was expecting praise) and it was only when I said that if he was a real police officer he would should ID that he finally did. It was a very awkward and quite scary situation and I was with Will and I wasn’t the person being arrested.

 

the poor lass was in wrong place at wrong time, but your facts wont be listened to

 

do you know what proper I D looks like, I wouldn't if they had imitation I D

 

The likelihood is will be an arrest for something that is non violent In that instance I see no reason why they can't have a female police officer making the arrest.

 

No but in that situation I was banking on the fact that some randoms beating up a guy (if that was what they may have been planning) wouldn’t be carrying fake police ID. The position of the car made me think they’d just decided to do it on a whim (whereas they’d actually been out looking for someone who had been reported for a crime earlier and pulled over quickly when they saw him).

 

You wouldn't be able to really helen

 

these randoms were carrying handcuffs though?

 

On the idea of having some form of visible proof I think all unmarked police cars should light up like a Christmas tree as soon as the officers 'engage' with a suspect too. Make it absolutely clear that the vehicle they've got out of is a police car (or that someone has spent thousands trying to impersonate one).

Also think that any officer who refuses to show ID or makes it hard to do so should be reported and logged so that a pattern can be seen.

 

Well at that point Will had already started saying to me that he thought they were police and when I asked why he pointed out that they had handcuffs and batons and generally looked like police to him. We’d been stood there about 10 mins so the situation had started to become a bit clearer than when we’d pulled up and just saw him being held and shouted at by them. That’s probably why I dared asked for ID actually because at that point I thought they probably were but knew I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t check. Had they not looked like police I’d have probably continued to stand around inaffectively and worried not knowing what to do.

 

was good of you to get involved, too many would not

 

Should have got your multimeter out. I hear they can test for anything

 

Yeah, that’s why it didn’t even occur to me at first that they were police because the car didn’t have any lights or anything. I guess it’s because it all happened so quickly that they saw him and jumped out to grab him without taking time to put lights on. I’d have just gone straight in the house had it had flashing lights. To be clear, he wasn’t refusing to show it but was clearly exasperated with me which I thought was a bit dicky but he’d probably had a long and stressful day and adrenaline was probably high as he was doing an arrest. I’d asked what was happening and he said that he was arresting someone who had been called in for something to do with scissors and I asked for ID and he sighed and asked if I was kidding him and I can’t remember the exact words but something again about how he’d just caught someone and I repeated my request and said if he was real police he wouldn’t mind showing it so he sort of rolled his eyes with another sigh and then did.

 

I honestly would have never have forgiven myself if I didn’t and would have wondered what it was about forever more.

 

Surely it can't be that hard for every policeman to have a QR code on a card which they are required to prove on challenging someone. Scanning it will confirm if the police officer is on duty and furthermore will log the scanner's time and position on a database.