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Post by Jade on Dec 15, 2009 11:09:35 GMT
 Staffs police are said to be "seriously embarassed" at the high jinks of these students - amoungst our brightest and best - who cavorted about in teh station while being questioned about an alleged brawl A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said yesterday that the force and the officers involved 'regretted' the incident at Burton upon Trent and admitted they had failed to keep the teenagers under control.
He said the two PCs and a temporary-sergeant on duty at the station that night had been moved to other parts of the county after a 'major internal investigation'.
The incident occurred after officers were called to a report of a brawl at the town's Barracuda bar late on Saturday, December 5.
A 22-year-old woman was arrested over the brawl and taken to the police station, followed by the four students in the pictures, two of whom were alleged victims with the other two being treated as potential witnesses.
(Mail)I thought it seemed like a bloody good night out (apart from the fight) and that the Rozzers had a bit of a good humour bypass Bet the uniforms thought it was a bit of a lark too - til they got suspended! |
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pippa
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Post by pippa on Dec 15, 2009 12:49:38 GMT
oh tee hee - i so loathe the mail. i expect its because they are pretty - knobheads hey? how about this? its a young woman i know who rang me recently to talk about her ordeal as she didn't want her parents worrying about her. she was also ' taken in' after an alleged saturday night brawl. after a good hiding (notice the shape of the bootprint) she was left in a cell in just her t-shirt and underpants with only three mouthfulls of water in a polystyrene cup - for the rest of the weekend. not quite the same chocolate boxy prettiness as jad'es pic but being lesbian probably didn't help her as she wouldn't have had the same knobhead appeal. no doubt deserved a good kicking instead.   |
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Post by Jade on Dec 15, 2009 13:23:57 GMT
she should sue
that sort of treatment is not to be tolerated
I do hope you advised her to take action?
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pippa
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Post by pippa on Dec 15, 2009 13:37:45 GMT
not quite so simple i don't think.
when they picked her up she was thrown into the van. being drunk at the time attempted to resist and bit one them. initially (before she got hold of a solicitor) they charged her with abh or somesuch. anyhow the solicitor she was allocated questioned her treatment while in custody and asked for the camera footage which they now seem unable to find. as far as i know, i think they said they would reduce the charge. the idea being she doesn't pursue her treatment while in custody. just an ordinary working class gal without the access or resources to proper justice. happens all the time.
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Post by Jade on Dec 15, 2009 13:54:41 GMT
Even so, with rough treatment able to be demonstrated she should still pursue it. Being violent towards uniforms is never a good idea, and she will have to take on the chin the outcome of that. If stuff like that "happened all the time" and I knew any of the details you can be sure it would not happen much longer. Last thing any officer wants is a constant reminder of the poor practice taking place on his watch, and there are very many legals who would love a pro bono like this to get one over on the force. You don't seem any sort of shrinking violet, pippa, you should stand up for her.
The case is of course nothing like the one I started with, which was a goodhearted bit of a lark taken far too seriously by the management.
I do agree that the working class (and the lower middle for that matter) find justice difficult to access, certainly for costly civil disputes, but I would have thought in this case she would not find it prohibive to pursue the case through the courts. Evidence of bruising is clear, film went missing, personal containment was unusual.
But of course she could trade that in for a lesser charge if that was her choice.
Hope she gets a result, however she plays it
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pippa
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Post by pippa on Dec 15, 2009 22:01:49 GMT
arrgh.... my reply has just gone down the pan... all this cut paste and quote - so muddling - blast. Being violent towards uniforms is never a good idea, and she will have to take on the chin the outcome of that. quite so but then she's young and had no idea what was in store for her. i checked and apparently her solicitor got them to drop the charge of abh to common assault as no damage was done. sarge's statement: because she "put her teeth on his arm he open palmed stroked her to the head causing her face to hit the floor. this was meant to take her off her balance". the case against her is adjourned to feb. i can assure you it does - lots. but then in order to take them on one needs to be super squeaky clean yourself. very difficult! those pics were not the handy work of just one and they do close ranks. no doubt also there are those who do not share the pride in their postition in society that you describe. i advised her to take the photographs and visit her doctor - so the evidence is there. but then at the end of the day it is her decision whether to sue or not. my place is to encourage and offer support. litigation is a long drawn out, stressful, tedious and wearysome battle and then having a good solicitor to hand when you need one is a rare thing these days. mostly from what i can see is that it is a profession that feeds itself rather than serving justice, especially when pennies are tight. yes, perhaps a little unfair to bring this up here - just aware of their other face, especially when one one doesn't have the pretty looks to get by on. |
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Post by Jade on Dec 16, 2009 9:23:01 GMT
no worries - I am the last person to automatically spring to the defense of the thin blue line!
But you don't have to take everything they do without complaining, which clearly you are on top of
good luck and pass on my best
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pippa
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Post by pippa on Dec 17, 2009 12:00:07 GMT
12hr journey yesterday to collect daughter and rabbit (should be fun with the dogs  ) for christmas - then attempting to find this place let alone log in on her unfamiliar mac laptop - i was defeated.thanks, Jade - no doubt she'll be pleased with your kind wishes which i shall most certainly pass on. she's down this way for cristmas and will see her sometime next week. i also hope she pursue's it. i just happened to hear another rather sad story last night of a young woman, clearly with mental health problems who "deliberately" ploughed her car into my friends car the day before yesterday. intending to kill herself (she admitted it) and clearly not of a mind to care who she took with her - she was in a dreadful state and obviously not of sound mind at the time of the accident. yet when my friend was giving her statement yesterday she asked after the young woman who she found out was still being held in the cell and had still not been assessed by a doctor (24hours later having just tried to kill herself) to say whether she was in a fit state to make a statement. seems the "system" is all wrong and society from what i can see clearly not thriving. - c'mon pippa, think positive - its christmas 
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Post by Jade on Dec 21, 2009 10:43:38 GMT
I wonder how powerful your local Victim Support chair is
I would take it to them and ask how they are going to challenge the local plod about such poor practice
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Post by lark descending on Dec 21, 2009 21:08:24 GMT
A lot of police forces now contract out their custody suites to private security firms - or at any rate employ civilians. These people don't have the same scrutiny or indeed training as police officers; my O/H knows a guy who got a job there,and he is a right thug!
Records are meant to be kept of refreshments offered. I'm not sure how easy it is to forge these, though!
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pippa
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Post by pippa on Dec 22, 2009 0:37:01 GMT
Posted by Jade on Yesterday at 10:43am worth finding out isn't it? hopefully she will call in over the next few days and we can talk about it. A lot of police forces now contract out their custody suites to private security firms - or at any rate employ civilians. These people don't have the same scrutiny or indeed training as police officers; my O/H knows a guy who got a job there,and he is a right thug! Records are meant to be kept of refreshments offered. I'm not sure how easy it is to forge these, though! they were unable to find any film of her custody when asked for it. these are good points to bear in mind if she does decide to sue them. |
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Post by lark descending on Dec 22, 2009 8:45:12 GMT
Film? Does she mean CCTV or what? I assumed that custody records were written (in huge leather bound ledgers, with quill pens chained up beside them.....) Since typing that I had a quick google and found the relevant PACE code of practice. Before losing the will to live I did discover that a detainees do have the right to see custody records, that these do include meals offered but not include any video footage taken at the station. police.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/operational-policing/2008_PACE_Code_C_(final)2835.pdf?view=Binary |
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aubrey
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Post by aubrey on Dec 22, 2009 10:10:25 GMT
I'd have thought that filming was done to protect the Police. They probably don't have any cameras by the stairs, though, and you know how slippy they can get.
Anyway, not being able to find the film is significant, isn't it? Especially as there should be a system for looking after it - there's no point in ever using cameras otherwise.
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pippa
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Post by pippa on Dec 28, 2009 17:13:09 GMT
thanks for the link lark decending. also for advice and tips.
she came over to visit last night and i passed on the encouragement, suggestions and info here. i also learned that she was stripped seached and has absolutely no recollection of it. the implications of that are very worrying i would have thought. it came out in the preliminary court proceeding. apparently there were 6 of them including a wpc although she has no recollection of a wpc being present till the following day after her strip search. soon after her hiding she was give ibuprofen (anti inflammatory) - smart of them to do that but also surprised they gave it to her on an empty stomach and no food was offered during the 23hrs in custody.
only hope now that her brief will do right by her.
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) for christmas - then attempting to find this place let alone log in on her unfamiliar mac laptop - i was defeated.
