Excessive Powers of Arrest by Police petition

*snip*

The email asking people to support his call for the repeal of 110 is
reproduced below. If you want to help Gilbertson's cause, please copy,
paste and circulate it to as many people as you can and of course sign
the petition yourself. Let's see if we can make this one so big that
they can't ignore it.

From: David Gilbertson
Sent: 04 March 2009 14:02
Subject: Excessive Powers of Arrest by Police - Petition to the
Prime Minister

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

PLEASE READ ON, THIS IS NOT A 'SPAM' MESSAGE

Most people are unaware that in 2005 a fundamental change in
police powers was quietly passed into law; a change that directly
affects the life and liberty of you and every person in this country.

Section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 was
'tacked onto' an otherwise acceptable piece of legislation and allows
ANY police officer in England and Wales to arrest, (i.e. physically
detain, handcuff and take to a police station for a DNA sample), ANY
person, for ANY offence, no matter how trivial and whether or not a
power of arrest previously existed for that offence. People can now
be, (and have been), arrested and detained under Section 110 for not
wearing a seatbelt; dropping litter; shouting in the presence of a
police officer, climbing a tree, and building a snowman. Whereas
police officers used to have to justify every arrest and be aware of
whether or not a particular piece of legislation gave them power, they
no longer have to do so. The power to deprive someone of their liberty
should only be exercised in the most extreme circumstances, yet young
and inexperienced police officers, (and soon, PCSO's), are being
trained that arrest and detention of a suspect is the first option in
most encounters with the public. This sweeping power is being roundly
abused on a daily basis in all of the 43 police forces in this country
and puts you, your wife, husband or partner, your children and your
friends at risk of arbitrary action by the police.

I spent 35 years of my adult life in the Police Service and am
appalled by what it has become, largely as a result of powers such as
those granted under Section 110.

Petitioning the Prime Minister will probably do little to stop the
drift of this country to what has been described as a 'Stasi State'
but I would nonetheless ask that you consider placing your signature
on the petition - if only to see how the government responds to
genuine concern from thoughtful citizens.

If you are sympathetic to this project, please forward this
message and link to other friends, colleagues or bodies concerned
about civil liberties.



Mod Note: Terms & Conditions Of Use – Please Review This Link.

1e.) Recruitment/Solicitation:

i) You will not use your membership at The Above Network, LLC site(s) for any type of recruitment to any causes whatsoever. You will not post, use the chat feature, use videos, or use the private message system to disseminate advertisements, chain letters, petitions, pyramid schemes, or any kind of solicitation for political action, social action, letter campaigns, or related online and/or offline coordinated actions of any kind.

[edit on 11-3-2009 by GAOTU789]

Britain right?
Not surprised. You've been on your way to slavery since the gun ban.

Can someone please post the section or give me a link to it? I work in law and am quite interested in seeing what it says- but I've no idea how to look up British legislation!

Sorry to hear you guys are facing this now. The road to slavery will be short in England unless this stops now.