A Special Cop

Ok, let’s answer “Why don’t you deploy Cops in riot kit immediately when there’s disorder”…👀 It’s a very fair question and one Cops ask themselves frequently too! 🫡 So why do we often deploy Cops in their patrol uniform first? To deploy Cops in ‘Code 2’ or ‘Kit’ or ‘Level Two Kit’ more commonly know to the public as ‘Riot Kit’ we need intelligence in advance. Intelligence that Officers are at significant risk of violence and that they need this PPE to protect them. Intelligence that there might be petrol bombs or flares or fireworks is relevant too because the kit is flame retardant. You may notice Cops wear this kit at significant sporting fixtures for this flare / flammable material issue. 🔥 There’s also the very significant factor that if it’s a spontaneous incident or protest there is limited time to gather that intelligence to plan and deploy Officers in their kit. 🙃 We also have a duty to de-escalate. That is directed by and comes from @CollegeofPolice who are directed by @ukhomeoffice. We are directed on what we can and cannot do in the Authorised Professional Practice (APP) given to us. Already sounding complicated isn’t it? We *have to* consider how the policing approach will affect different communities and whether a significant Police presence is more or less likely to cause disorder. 🤯 There’s also a resilience issue. In #London things are sometimes a bit simpler, we can have Officers on #PublicOrder duties in patrol uniform, and then Officers in Level Two Kit on standby nearby if needed. I don’t know how many Officers were on duty last night in Southport, but that kind of resilience takes a significant number of Cops. So to withdraw the Cops in patrol uniform and get them kitted up can be a complicated and lengthy procedure depending on where their kit is. 😅 Even more complicated, not all Cops are Level Two Public Order trained - it’s voluntary. So we have to take into account that some Cops will need to be withdrawn completely because they cannot wear or use the correct PPE. 🤷🏼‍♂️ The takeaway point here is we are duty bound to try and deescalate wherever possible and if we don’t, we are scrutinised, criticised and punished. 😔 I feel we could be better at communicating all this, which is why I try wherever I can to offer these explainers. ✅ #ThinBlueLine 🚨

I can understand anger, and I can understand the need to vent it, but taking it out on the same Cops that ran to help & arrest the suspect is truly despicable. 🤦🏼‍♂️ Hoping all our @MerseyPolice colleagues stay safe & get home in one peace. Thinking of you all. #southportattack 🚨

There are two ‘any person powers’. 👀 Hang on what on earth is an ‘any person power’? 🤷🏼‍♂️ So let’s start with what’s *not* an ‘any person power’: 🚨 As a Police Constable in the United Kingdom, when using a Police Related Power we are conferred a specific Power to use reasonable force. Section 117 of The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 confers a power on a Constable and other related Officers (Immigration & Customs for example) to use reasonable force in the execution of their lawful duties. For example Section 24 PACE - to Arrest someone, a Constable may use reasonable force under S117 PACE to effect that arrest - handcuffing someone to prevent them from escaping. ✅ There are other powers only Police Constables can use; or specifically designated persons, for example Section 120 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 empowers a Constable or Authorised person to use reasonable force to remove a person causing a nuisance or disturbance on an NHS premises. 🏥 So on to the ‘any person powers’. Why are these important? To defend yourself or another and apprehend someone committing or who has committed a crime. 😅 The overriding Act however to all of this is Article 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998; The Right To Life. ❤️ The Right to life supersedes everything unless you are trying to take the life of another, Murder. Interestingly Murder is contrary to ‘Common Law’ quite literally that simply you cannot take the life of another. The only contradiction to this is someone killing you to stop you killing another, which whilst regrettable, can happen to save the life that someone is trying to take. 🥲 So the first ‘any person power’ is Section Three of the Criminal Law Act 1967 which states; ‘a person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large.’ For example someone trying to escape having shop lifted or in the more recent case of the escaped Prisoner, if a member of the public had detained them they would have used this power to do so as they were ‘unlawfully at large’. 🚔 The second; ‘Common Law’. Common Law is ever so slightly different. It’s not a piece of legislation as such but defined from Case Law; ‘"it is both good law and good sense that a man who is attacked may defend himself. It is both good law and good sense that he may do, but only do, what is reasonably necessary." 📚 This essentially means, you may defend yourself or another, but retrospectively it will be decided whether what you did was reasonable in the circumstances. For example if someone threatened you with a knife and told you they would kill you and you punched them knocking them out, allowing you to escape and call The Police, *most* people would believe that to be reasonable. 🤔 What I find most baffling is that none of this is taught at any stage in your life. We learn it as Police Officers, but most of society is blissfully unaware. 🤷🏼‍♂️ I hope it gives you an insight into the legality around self defence and apprehension of criminals. ☺️ #ThinBlueLine 🚨

You know what’s cool about looking like @harrypotter? #Lego (with a little help from me) have already made him…😉 #ThinBlueLine #OneTeam 🤟🏻💯☺️🚨