They wonder why the police have no respect here!

As an ex military policeman i'd never thought i'd find myself losing respect for the police in this country but tonight i've just about been tipped!

A friend of mine, a lady aged about 50 who is one of the nicest people you could wish to meet found a wallet a couple of weeks ago whilst booking some coach tickets at the local coach station. She picked the wallet up and without opening it took it straight round to lost property and handed it in.
They did'nt give her a slip, they just said thanks and thats was that. She got her tickets and went on her way.

About a week ago she received a phonecall from the coach station asking if she had any complaints about the journey she took earlier. She did have a minor complaint as a matter of fact so the coach station said we will send you some free vouchers. In order to get the vouchers, my friend was asked for her name and address. This she did.

Then two plain clothes policemen arrived at her door a couple of days later asking if she had found a wallet. She told them yes and that she had taken it straight to lost property and handed it in.

Tonight, two uniformed officers came to her house and asked her to accompany her to the police station for questioning related to theft by finding. She had to leave her 14yr old daughter in the house at 8.30pm (her daughter panics and her mother can't leave her for long) and accompany the officers down to the station.

She had to take her shoes off, and the cord that went inside her jogging pants, her watch and all the other personal items on her. She was then photographed, fingerprinted, DNA sample taken and drugs tested before being interviewed on tape under caution.

My friend explained again that all she had done was hand in a lost wallet. They said that they had seen her on CCTV pick the wallet up and take it to lost property, they could see she had'nt opened the wallet however the CCTV stopped in the que of the lost property. When the owner eventualy claimed the wallet, there was appparently £35 missing.

The police showed my friend the lost propety carbon copy slip and the time was 3 hrs after she handed it in. She was not given a copy of the stub or anything to say she had handed it in.

Then, the police said they knew who had taken the money and it was a male member of staff at the coach station. My friend had handed the wallet to a female who took it out the back, at some point a male member of staff had written the property stub with the time 3 hrs later. So the police knew it was'nt my friend as they already had a guy under suspicion.

They asked her if she knew how they managed to trace her. My friend said no. They said they traced her via all the CCTV up to where she booked her tickets, and found her telephone number from the booking form. It did'nt have her address though.
The police then said, "Do you remember that phonecall from the coach company offering you free tickets?" "That was us finding out if we'd got the right person and your address".

So not only have they dragged my friend down the station for just being a good citizen, they took every bit of info she has and even pretended to be the coach company in order to obtain her address. All when they already had a suspect!
My friend does not have a lot of money and the last trip she took was the first in years. She was actualy really looking forward to using the free vouchers on another trip somewhere.

They told her that they would destroy all the fingerprints and DNA samples and that she was free to go. Not an apology or anything.

Personaly i think this is disgusting! As an ex copper myself i never thought i'd see the day when i'd lose all respect completely for our police! Today i have come very, very, close!

CX.

Sorry for the rant but this really pissed me off tonight.

Also, is it ok for police to phone someone up and pretend to be someone else in order to obtain information like an address? If i did that i'd be done for deception like a flash! Do you reckon she'd have grounds for a complaint?

I wish i could have free incident of swearing my head off in a post on ATS, wow would i use it today!!! Friggin idiots!

CX.

[edit on 20/11/06 by CX]

what!!!
CX i will have a look at something (legal) and get back to you, but im 95%sure that she will be able to get a SAR (subject Access Request) done under the Data Protection Act (i know that this would normally be done for persons seeking info about themsleves from companies) BUT as she has not been charged (and bloody rightly so) she may be able to get the courts to ORDER the destruction of the samples etc that were taken from her.

But i would have to look into the legalities of this ..i will do it now.

You being exMP would know that the reason for the cord been taken from her as well as her shoes (only if they were lace up) would be their arguement for her saftey.

But thats neither here nor there, the point is a genuine lady handed into the lost property a wallet she found,and is then herself subjected to treatment that of a criminal
god that makes me angry!!!!

Was she at any time given her rights?
Was she informed that she was under suspiscion of theft?
Was she interveiwed a) under caution and or in a taped interveiw?

Sorry CX reading a bit more info on your post........
the coach station handed her details and their cctv to the police..yeah?
If this is the case then you can 100% deff get the SAR done but this time make it out to the police and the coach station company .

Under this request the coach company would have 40 days to supply you with evrything they have on your friend, ie photos, telephone calls, transcripts, and they have to do this under this act ...

Let me look into this a bit more
pm me with the name of coach company station if you want?

When I was growing up and did my law degree (many years ago), the buzz-phrase was "policing by consent". Now, personally, ALL my dealings with the police have been marked by courtesy and sense on both sides. I've been pulled for driving like an idiot, I've been breathalysed (which was fine as I seldom drink) and just had a couple of chats with guys on duty (I live in Brighton and when Labour come to town, it's bedlam... thank God they're not coming back!)

However, there is a darker side, of which I'm well aware - mostly through my variously ethnic friends (horrible phrase, but it must do). I've known people to be stopped and abused because of their colour... but this is nothing new.

What is new is the unparalleled opportunities for snooping afforded by the police state which is creeping up on us in the UK, and your post provides an excellent case in point.

CX
sorry i have just re -read your post again and some of the questions i asked you you had already answered
appologies mate!

im working on it...there is 100% room for re-dress for your friend.
we will have this sorted.

The authorities cannot keep getting away with things like this, and have businesses, banks and companies falling over themselves to throw our personal information at every tom dick or harry that asks for it!!!!!

I can't say I've had any problem with the police, and I've got a similar story.

I found a wallet on my way home one afternoon, and after looking in it to see if there was any ID I discovered it belonged to a PSNI constable. So I rang the nearest station and a few hours later the guy turned up at my door to collect the wallet. All his credit-cards and things were still in it, but there was money missing apparently. He said he knew it wasn't me that took it and he actually gave me a £20 note as a reward!

I respect that guy a lot cause he didn't make it into a drama. I think some of your English cops don't have much to do, or can't be bothered to do some real police work, and that's why they have all these petty cases.

Right CX
just found out your friend would be able to do a SAR under the DPA 1998, i have got the template letters already wrote your freind would need to fill in The missing details , name , address, etc.
PM me if you want these.

Not to thread jack, but, spymaster who are you? (rhetorical question, my friend ). I'd want you on my side if things got bad!

/Thread jack over/

A question about property rights: CX stated that there was suspicion of "theft by finding". What is that exactly? If it's what it sounds like, finding something of value on the ground and keeping it, that's a quagmire of a law.


[edit on 11/22/2006 by Katolu]

Katolu..i am SPYMASTER lol

Theft by finding, well ther is no legal way on earth that this person could "legaly be charged with "theft by finding".

Theft by finding is basically e.g. you find an expensive watch on the floor of a changing room , you make no attempt to locate the owner or do not hand it into the lost property department or owners of said changing rooms.
You keep the item, then it would become "Theft by finding" if at a later date it could be proved you did nothing to locate the owner.

If you found a £20note on the floor in the street and kept it you could not be charged with theft by finding because it would be impossible for you to locate the original owner
(unless you see it being dropped by a specific person).

The lady CX has refered to has a Statutory Defence in the very first instance of the fact that she made numerouse attempts to locate the owner of said wallet.
Then she went and handed it into the lost property office.

The end result is (she) is a civilian and has handed into a compnay who are then liable for contents of the lost property.
The owness lies with them 100%

She has nothing to worry about and could legally be entitiled to Compensation for a number of things she has been subjected to!

And yes im on your side Katolu hahahahah

Thanks ever so much for your assistance in this Spymaster, it is much appreciated having an idea where she would stand.

Unfortunately she is wanting to put the whole thing behind her and not do anything else about it, i can understand that from her point of view, but it makes me seethe that people are put through this and because of the hassle caused they don't want to do anything else about it for fear of more stress.

I'll see if she would'nt mind me doing something on her behalf, i know you can act on someones behalf in regards to police complaints.

I'll get back to you Spymaster if i need those forms. Again, thanks for your help finding this stuff out.

CX.