Monday, June 27, 2011

It is not an offence to abuse British police: Officers told not to arrest people who scream obscenities because courts won't convict

We read:
"Police have been banned from arresting foul-mouthed yobs who abuse them with the most offensive swear words in the language. The rule change, which has sparked a revolt in the force and anger among MPs, is revealed in secret advice issued to officers and leaked to The Mail on Sunday.

Scotland Yard has issued a card to its officers, telling them to do nothing if they are subjected to a torrent of obscene abuse.

The card, which the police are told to keep on them, secreted behind their warrant badges, says: ‘The courts do not accept police officers are caused harassment, alarm or distress by words such as ‘f**k, c**t, b*****ks, w*****s’.

The guidance has been issued despite existing laws that sanction the fining of people who swear at police and the jailing of persistent offenders.

Officers have the power to arrest yobs who swear at them, either by quoting the Public Order Act – which prohibits the ‘use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour’ – or as a breach of the peace under Common Law.

But the new guidance, issued to officers in London by the Civil Actions Unit of the Metropolitan Police, states that a prosecution for swearing will be lost without ‘compelling evidence of a person within sight or hearing likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress’. It adds that this is ‘very unlikely to be you [the police officer]’.

Scotland Yard says the advice was issued because compensation had recently been paid out to ‘victims’ who had been ‘falsely’ arrested for swearing.

Source

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

A. Lincoln - yet another damned rethuglican.

Anonymous said...

Please delete this and Anon2:40. Posted in wrong article.

Anonymous said...

As i've said all along. Britain is a nation of PC'ized pansy's. This is just further evidence of that fact. But fear not. Soon, Britain will be just another outpost for radical Muslims, and the sooner the better. Let's see how their delicate sensitivities stand up to razor-sharp swords.

Anonymous said...

What a silly self defeating policy. You cannot have law and order if people do not show at least a modicum of respect for officers of the law.

Anonymous said...

To disrespect officers of the law is to disrespect the law. And that's only one small step away from anarchy. I'm sure that when the Sharia Council takes complete control of London they will eliminate all of these problems.

Anonymous said...

To you authoritarians posting here - this is a 'freedom of expression' website.
Posters here should support that ethos.

Anonymous said...

Yes, isn't swearing a use of words and therefore a matter of free speech. Not all police are respectful to the public and not all laws are just.
And do give it a rest with this sharia law soon taking over Britain nonsense, or everyone in the UK is PC-crazy. Most of the PC stories come from UK tabloids which love revelling in doom & gloom, and that's picked up by the US media that's well known for its superficiality.

Anonymous said...

Muslim communities are certainly a nuisance but they are not "taking over" the UK. You just like to exaggerate for effect. Or is it to avoid looking at the ghettos and problems in the US, or somehow to feel better about it thinking it might be worse somewhere else (Schadenfreude?)!

sig said...

Anon 3:14, good God man, get your head out of the sand and wake up! Islam is certainly "taking over" the UK. And it is doing so very slowly, methodically, and effectively. When police can't or won't go into Muslim-run regions because they either fear political repercussions or they fear for their lives, SOMETHING has gone horribly wrong. And it will be short order before similar practices happen here in the good ol' U.S. of A.

Islam is a patient and methodical religion with followers who have a very different perspective of time. It may take years or even centuries to impose Islamic rule and Sharia law, but ultimately it happens. The United States has become a country of quick action and immediate gratification, and its expectations are now, now, now. Islam waits patiently and moves forward slowly and methodically. They infiltrate and establish a presence under the radar long before they are noticed. And once they are noticed as being a real threat, it's too late.

The United States, with its Politically Correct focus, has adopted a stance of tolerance and acceptance that will ultimately be its downfall.

Anonymous said...

Ok Mr. Long-Term-View. What do we do? Forcibly deport all those "sleeper-cell" muslim communities in the West, or herd them into camps. Then you might have written another version of Mein Kampf, whether or not with any more justification.

Spurwing Plover said...

Jerks who scream osinities should have their mouthes washed out with soap