POLICE CRITICISM

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Ten police officers arrested a mother on her doorstep and led her away in handcuffs after she confronted her daughter’s school bullies. Anisa Borsberry had gone to speak to the alleged bullies in the primary school’s playground. She said after one of them swore at her she went to complain to the head teacher but police were called after two of the bullies accused 40-year-old Mrs ­Borsberry of pushing a pupil. The next day, 10 officers in a van and three patrol cars arrived at mother-of-two Mrs Borsberry’s home.

She was arrested, led away in handcuffs past watching neighbours and put in a cell for five hours. She was swabbed for a DNA sample, fingerprinted, photographed, interviewed under caution and later sent home without charge. The bullies later admitted making up the assault claim and Mrs Borsberry has now been told there will be no further action. The local education authority, Sunderland City Council, declined to comment. (Source: Daily Express, Aug/09)

Simon Thompson made the middle finger sign when he spotted a mobile camera as he drove home from work WITHIN the speed limit. Half an hour later two cops, who had been operating the device, knocked on his door and handed him a fixed £80 penalty notice for making offensive gestures under the Public Order Act. Simon said his case was absurdly trivial compared to an attack at the town’s St Benedict’s college a few days earlier.

The school’s headmaster slammed cops for failing to react quickly enough when a staff member was battered by hoodie thugs who gatecrashed an exam. Simon said, "This shows the police have got their priorities completely wrong. I wasn’t giving the officers the finger, I was aiming my anger at the camera. A teacher gets attacked by thugs and by the time the police get there they’ve all scarpered. Yet they pursue me to my own front door for making a gesture at an inanimate object.” (Source: The Sun, Feb/06)

Rachael Farthing was baffled by the mass of signs at a big interchange as she was driving along a motorway so when she saw a police Range Rover on the hard shoulder she pulled over and asked for directions. The officer immediately gave her a fixed penalty £30 ticket for stopping, then told her the right way to the city centre. Sergeant Andrew Moss, of the Central Motorway Police, who patrol the area, said the officer was simply following the law.

He said, "Motorists are only permitted to stop on the hard shoulder if they break down or if they witness a serious accident. If this lady had read the highway code she would know it is an offence to stop there under the Motorway Regulations Act. Each motorway officer has the discretion to act as they see fit. There are not guidelines as such when it comes to fining people and it is up to the individual officer's discretion. But people don't realise how dangerous it is to stop on the hard shoulder." Er ... where was the police vehicle again?

There exists today a twisted system that is creating a new criminal class of which I, and maybe 50% of the adult population, may soon belong. In many counties the police have decided to adopt a policy of zero tolerance with regard to the enforcement of speed limits. Many roads are now "policed" by speed-cameras that take photographs of vehicles and their registration numbers. Exceeding the speed limit on any given road by as little as 1mph may result in the owner being issued with a Notice of Intended Prosecution or NIP. The owner is required to inform the police who was driving the vehicle or, under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, face prosecution for failing to comply.

In other words, the owner of the vehicle is presumed to be a suspect and their right of silence, the right to say nothing that may incriminate them, is removed by the act. Now, if I were to break into your home, strangle your cat, do an Ozzy Osbourne on the budgie and murder your great aunt with a kitchen knife, I would, once apprehended, be cautioned by the police. You do not need to say anything, but anything that you do say may be taken down and used in evidence against you. However, if a car or other vehicle that is registered to me is captured on a speed-camera exceeding the speed limit then my right to silence is removed and I am required to utter or face a penalty at least as onerous as that which would pertain had I been actually driving the said vehicle.

In other words, there is a clear presumption made by those prosecuting that the registered owner is guilty and extreme duress is applied by the issuing of a Notice Of Intended Prosecution which states that one would commit an offence if one did not complete the form they attach and name said driver. Now this is surely entrapment. It is also a breach of the basic human rights of all British and indeed European people. The problem is that prosecuting people by use of duress is intimidation. As I said at the start, I do not consider myself to be a criminal.

I will also not permit myself to become a criminal just because the Government think they can abolish my human rights and require me to make a statement under the threat of a penalty. Such practices were used in the 16th and 17th centuries by the likes of the Witchfinder General Mathew Hopkins, who tortured so-called witches, making them confess to all manner of ridiculous nonsense rather than face the ordeals he offered. Today the police are attempting something similar with their Notices of Intended Prosecution - confess or face a fine and penalty points anyway.

We may be guilty until we prove our innocence and that is an abuse of authority. The truth is that when we are all criminals there are no criminals. We are not slaves, we are not controlled by machines such as speed-cameras. I therefore suggest that if you do get a Notice of Intended Prosecution from the police you send it back blank with a letter saying that Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act breaches the European Convention of 1951. It is up to you to defy the Witchfinder Government and protect your human rights. S Page

Chief Constable David Coleman makes great play of the modest drop in this year's recorded crime of 5.6%. We should not forget that last year in Derby, overall crime increased by 25% and violent crime by 58%. The police base their performance on crime reported to and recorded by themselves. Over the past few years, people have reached the conclusion that it is not worth reporting some crimes because all they get is a crime number and little else.

I am amazed at the nerve of the Chief Constable in asking the Police Authority for extra millions of pounds of council tax payers' money for next year, despite an increase of some 43% over the last two years. In return, all we have seen is an increase in pen-pushers and officers hiding in vans, photographing ordinary members of the public as they travel a few miles over the speed limit, while uninsured, drunken and dangerous drivers travel about freely and yobs run riot and make life unbearable for a lot of our residents. L D Green

Three cops descended on a motorist’s house and fined him £60, for having no windscreen washer fluid. Richard Jeffery was also given three penalty points on his licence after the amazing swoop. He was sitting watching TV at home when officers called and demanded to see his 11-year-old Vauxhall Cavalier parked on the road. In a 30-minute check all they found wrong were a loose battery connection and no water in the windscreen washer bottle. The 'raid' came as latest figures showed an increase in murders, muggings and sex crimes and confidence in the police is at an all-time low.

Drivers are fed up with being targeted unnecessarily while real crime goes undetected. Richard said, “I was watching telly when I got a knock at the door. There were two officers in uniform and one in a boiler suit who was dressed like a mechanic. I thought it was a wind-up and asked them where the camera was. The only reason I can think of for picking on me is the age of the car yet it is fully taxed and tested, has four new tyres and looks good.”

Mr Jeffery even called out a mechanic who fixed the loose battery while the cops were there. But he was still served with a notice for “dangerous parts” and gave him the penalty points. Embarrassed senior West Yorks officers later said they were withdrawing the ticket. Chief Supt Tim Moorby said, “The issue of the penalty notice is not the most appropriate response.” So that's that then, is it?