UK Riots: Police Could Get More Powers After Summer Disorder

Police could be given more powers to demand face coverings are removed and to impose curfews to deal with crowds in the wake of this summer's riots under plans being considered by the Home Secretary.

The consultation will also consider whether it should remain an offence to use insulting words amid concerns from some MPs that the law is being used by activist groups and over-zealous police officers to undermine free speech.

So it begins.
Does anybody get the feeling that this is exactly what the plan was to introduce more powers to those who already have it?
It seems to me that step by step were heading for a totalitarian police state.
Everyone knows what happend in the UK and it was a total mess. No one want's that to happen again and so a solution to the problem which was created has been offered.
That's my view on it.

Here's the full article;
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk...

The consultation will also consider whether it should remain an offence to use insulting words

What does this even mean?

Any thoughts on the issue?

I'm simply thinking that we saw some awfully depraved garbage happening during that unrest by the citizens, not the cops. The non-violent mugging in the parking lot where the kid meekly gave over whatever the guy asked for comes to mind, but nothing quite tops the poor kid that was robbed blind by a small crowd while thinking he was being helped on the street.

I'd sure want to see WHAT powers England thinks would help prevent that kind of base behavior from running rampant again, but it's hard to argue that whatever authority they had, they needed more of it. It doesn't need to be gunships and body armor to match a storm trooper like OUR cops have fallen in love with...but something more. I must say, after what we watched..I'm not nearly as comfortable about going there as I once would have been. Cops with the stones or the willingness to DO something about "hooligans" as I think I've heard the term used over there, sure would help make people feel better about being there and staying safe....since self defense is apparently illegal.

Of course they are not going to look at the cause of the riots, just at how to shut us up.

Doesn't surprise me in the least. It will just make everyone angrier.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


It's a classic case of problem reaction solution.
I dont believe that the uk police couldnt end the riots quick and took that long.
If right now an occupy westminster or buckingham palace took place on a major level, watch how quick that would get squashed.

This is exactly why they stood yards away from people who were looting at will.
They let them get away with it for days.

They dont need any more powers as they will just abuse them even further.

First you say this:

Originally posted by Dr Cosma
Does anybody get the feeling that this is exactly what the plan was to introduce more powers to those who already have it?
It seems to me that step by step were heading for a totalitarian police state.

But include this in your OP:

Originally posted by Dr Cosma

The consultation will also consider whether it should remain an offence to use insulting words amid concerns from some MPs that the law is being used by activist groups and over-zealous police officers to undermine free speech.

So it begins.

The consultation will also consider whether it should remain an offence to use insulting words

What does this even mean?

How can this be a "slide to a totalitarian state" when they are actually looking at repealing a part of the Public Order Act which has basically allowed the Polcie to arrest anyone they please for uttering "offensive phrases".

The part they are on about is section 5, which enables a Policeman to arrest anyone for "using words or phrases likely to cause alarm or distress". So getting shirty withn a Policeman over a perceived injustice can land you in trouble should you say one swear word or get agressive and start spouting off. Now though, latest guidance say's that the Police cannot be offended and they have to demonstrate that members of the Public are "offended" before they arrest you. The change is to make this guidance legal.

well i for one hope they choose the power to fly


or x-ray vision

cool. I can't wait for 'thought crime' to be made into a punishable offence.

dare I say it, but if Hitler had won the war we would have more human rights (unless you are Jewish).

reply to post by diddy1234

Has the level of public education with regard to history really fallen so far that people have come to believe Hitler running half the world would have been BETTER than the system we've had since the end of the war?? I'm headed to bed...I've been going all day and night, but on that thought and statement of affairs today, I leave with my head hung low in profound sadness. If that kind of outlook becomes commonplace, the repeat of history is a question of time...and not a whole lot of it.

My harsh comment on life being better if Hitler won WWII is based on a comparison to the failed coalition (and Labour governments) in the UK.

Everyone in the UK has had their 'rights' eroded over the past 10 years.
We now have less rights than ever and bills / policies were all sneaked in via the back door of politics.
Within ten years the right to demonstrate will be removed.

reply to post by diddy1234


Not exactly extolling the virtues of your education there mate. Despite the fact I hate what Labour have done in the past decade, in the bigger picture we actually have more rights as an individual than we did in 1997. Like it or love it, there is the Human Rights Act for starters..

Also, as is mentioned in the OP, there is going to be a change in the law which will amend the old section 5 "offence" of using "threatening or abusive" language, which historically has enabled the Police to arrest pretty much anyone they like as soon as they uttered a single swear word, which to be honest, most people will if being bothered by the fuzz.

It's hardly a Police or Totalitarian state as alluded to in the OP or your postings. I actually wonder if anyone really knows what a Police or Totalitarian state is really like. If they did, they'd realise how daft the notion is.

reply to post by diddy1234

I appreciate that you came back to clarify that. It's a powerful comparison to make for any topic, given that every person has varying ideas when the name comes up. Me? I don't first think of the camps, the Jews or even Hitler himself. My first thought when someone makes a statement about Hitler's Germany is the Gestapo and the overwhelming police state that existed on a foundation of sheer terror, should someone in state security actually take notice of a person for any reason what so ever.

I've heard people over the years who lived that period say even the Nazis lived in real fear of the Nazis. Reading about how purges came and went at the whims of the German 'High Command', I can certainly see their point on that.