The implications of wrongful arrest
Yesterday’s Guardian ran the story of the wrongful arrest of David Mery on its front page, a story he’s written up in a lot more detail on his site.
‘LONDON (Reuters): - A London underground train station was evacuated and part of a main east-west line closed in a security alert on Thursday, three weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 people on the transport network, police said. A Transport Police spokeswoman said Southwark station was closed and Jubilee Line services suspended between Waterloo and Canary Wharf in the east London business district.’
This Reuters story was written while the police were detaining me in Southwark tube station and the bomb squad was checking my rucksack. When they were through, the two explosive specialists walked out of the tube station smiling and commenting ‘nice laptop’. The officers offered apologies on behalf of the Metropolitan Police. Then they arrested me.
At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a digital rights story, but a civil liberties story. And up to a point, it is. It’s an absolute disgrace that someone can be arrested in the UK on the basis of having a rucksack, wearing a rain coat, and behaving in an entirely normal way on the London Underground system. It’s imperative that we protest such kneejerk reactions by the police in the strongest possible terms, and that we let our MPs know that we do not accept that this sort of regime is necessary for the safety and welfare of the nation.
But this isn’t an ORG matter, right?
Wrong.
This becomes a digital rights matter because the data collected by the police about David Mery is now sitting in the police database - his DNA, interview recordings, photograph, fingerprints, name, address, and whatever other details they take. Let’s get this straight. David was arrested for no discernible reason, having committed no crime and, in fact, without there having been a crime for him to have been arrested on suspicion of. The charge of ’suspicious behaviour and public nuisance’ is a ludicrous accusation, considering that he was doing what the rest of us do every day: waiting for a train.
David was released without charge, but his data wasn’t. (Neither was some of the stuff that the police took from his flat.)
2005-08-31 Wednesday
09:00 I arrive at police station to surrender to custody as required by bail, and am joined by solicitor five minutes later. We are invited into a small room by a plainclothes police officer a further few minutes later. The officer tells us that it’s ‘NFA’ (no further action), explains that this means that they are dropping the charges, and briefly apologises. The officer (DS) in charge of the case is away from the station so the process of clearing up my case is suspended until he signs the papers cancelling the bail and authorising the release of my possessions. The meeting lasts about five minutes.I send letters to the Data Protection Registrars of the London Underground, Transport for London (replied on 2005-09-05 that the ‘retention period for recording of stations is fourteen days’), the British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police. The first three letters ask for any data, including CCTV footage, related to the incident on July 28, while the final one is much more generic asking for any data they have on me. They all have forty days to respond.
2005-09-08 Thursday
I talk to my solicitor about ensuring the Police return all my possessions, give us all the inquiry documents (which they may or may not do) and expunge police records (apparently unlikely to happen).The solicitor sends a letter to the officer in charge of my case asking him to authorise the release of my possessions and forward us a copy of the custody record, and conveying to him how upset I am.
[...]
Under the current laws the Police are not only entitled to keep my fingerprints and DNA samples, but apparently, according to my solicitor, they are also entitled to hold on to what they gathered during their investigation: notepads of the arresting officers, photographs, interviewing tapes and any other documents they collected and entered in the Police National Computer (PNC).
The police have absolutely no reason to retain any data on David, but I fear that the chances of him being able to get his police records deleted are nil. Other than recording that he was wrongfully arrested, I see no good reason why they should retain his DNA, fingerprints, photographs etc., but reason seems to be increasingly absent from the way that security is handled in this country.
We will be keeping in touch with David to see what happens.
January 17th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
i was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault which i never did but later cleared wil this affect my record on the crb.
January 20th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
I am sorry that we can’t give you specific legal advice about issues such as this. Whilst we hope in the future to be able to pass such enquiries on to lawyers who might help, at the moment we can’t. I’d suggest you visit your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau for advice.
July 9th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
I agree that the police force and British laws are not brilliant. However, i find your complaint is lacking purpose. The police were attempting to keep the british public at the train station safe. Yes, you were innocent but what if you weren’t? Are the police not to arrest and investigate someone that they suspect of having suspicious behaviour and being a public nuisance just because there is that chance that the person is innocent and will complain of injustice? Keeping your records is a precaution that the police must take, it is entitled in the law and your belongings will be returned after the investigation has been completed and everyone concerned is happy with the results.
Personally, I feel safer when I know that the police do take action towards ppossible offenders. The real problem is when the offenders are protected by the law and nothing can be done to protect the victims. I am truly sorry that you were the unlucky innocent in this but even you must accept the police were just trying to do their jobs and protect the public.
July 10th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Amy, if you’re talking about David Mery’s arrest, then I’m afraid I have to disagree with you. Arresting someone on such spurious grounds does nothing to keep you safe - if anything it makes you more unsafe because the time and resources taken up by wrongful arrests mean that there are fewer police available to tackle real crime. David wasn’t being a public nuisance, nor was he behaving suspiciously. Arresting someone on a whim is harrasment, and we are supposed to be free from that sort of thing here in the UK.
As for his data, as an innocent man why should his data be kept on the police database? Why should his DNA be kept? You have a right to privacy, just as David does, just as I do.
Finally, I do not accept that the police were, in this case, just doing their job. I do not believe that we have police in order to arrest people on the underground for having a rucksack and sitting down.
August 3rd, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Too few people worry about this sort of thing until it either happens to them or someone they know. I’ve been beaten up by police, although oddly enough - I can understand why they did it. With the information they had received at the time, I was probably worth beating up. But the information was wrong. My heart goes out to decent coppers who want to catch villians, not waste their time with punters like me. But there is a sad fact of life we all have to live with - and it’s that there is always going to be an element employed by the police who are as thick as pigshit, and are just incabale of using their noodles when it comes to questioning someone about an incident. My advice to anyone is to at all times stay calm. Most of the coppers you will ever be dealing with are decent human beings who are only acting on the orders and intelligence they have been given, in among all the other dross they have to deal with. Given the abuses of power that do occur from time to time, get to know your rights, know the number of a decent lawyer and always make a point of calmly reminding the enthusiastic state-sponsored thug in a police uniform who is refusing to have any kind of conversation about your rights. Sadlt, the reality about most civil rights abuses is that there is very little you can do at the time - your only recourse is likely to be based on the strength of your determination to get back at them after the event. I’ve been assualted by coppers and beaten the shit out of, but have never taken action because of the way the poeple involved have dealt with the matter, and in my humble experience, it is not always just a matter of thuggery. The cops have a job to do - and the quicker anybody accepts this quicker one can move on from what has happened. This may sound a bit whatever but that’s up to you.
October 10th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
I find this worrying indeed. He comitted no crime and the case is closed so there is no reasson for his DNA to be kept.
The arguments don’t stand up. Innocent people should not be treated the same as criminals.
Police should be able to arrest people for good reasion of course, but they should not be able to abuse the system to build up a DNA database which includes details law abiding citizens. That’s a sure way to alienate people and cause distrust. (more than already exists)
It seems DNA is being gathered by stealth.
October 19th, 2006 at 10:25 am
I was arrested on suspicion of Dangerous Driving as 4 people witnessed against me that I was driving when I had an accident with a friend although I was the passenger and my friend was driving (BTW these 4 people were drinking at the time the police officer asked them if they want to testify and I alerted him to that and he did not listen to me. I was also called a fucking pakie by one of them)
2 months later I went to the police station as that was my attending time and I was told that “No Further Actions will be taken against me, reason being Insufficient Evidence”
My questions now:-
Do I have to mention this everytime I fill a job application, credit agreement, or any other application? Or shall I just ignore it as No Further Action has been taken against me?
Please help as I am so worried
Regards
April 8th, 2007 at 12:01 am
The people in this country have absolutely no idea how much illegal surveillance goes on as the police pay the private intelligence agencies millions of pounds to collect pointless information. I can tell you that i have been under surveillance for at least 15 years. Since 1998 they stepped this up to 24hrs 7 days a week as i have prefabricated phone calls and meeting only to find mappa agents sat next to me in coffee shops sometimes even wearing microphones. Phone intercepts and micro phonic recordings are then played to police to substantiate further contracts , the scale has been enormous and no doubt you will read about the entire operation when i expose this to the media.
Ever conceivable bugging device and techniques that will eventually be exposed and potentially put the security services at risk. for years i have portrayed myself as a dangerous criminal, yet the police cannot see that no crime has ever been committed………………look out for me in the times
June 9th, 2007 at 1:59 am
I was the witness to a road traffic accident. I informed the driver of the vehicle responsible for the accident that I had witnessed his bad driving and that I would wait for the police to arrive. The driver grabbed me by the throat. I pulled his arms away from my neck. He claimed to the police when they finally arrived that I had assualted him by grabbing his arms.
There were several other witnesses present who could have verified my story to the police. I was actually driving my partner to the doctors at the time of the accident and she was having a miscarriage.
II stated to one cop who attended that I wished to leave my details as a witness and infomred him that I needed to leave as I needed to take my partner (who was sitting in the car waiting for me) to the doctors. This cop showed no concern for my partner and told me not to go anywhere as an allegation had been made by the driver that I had assualted him. I explained to the cop what had actually happened and envited him to go and speak to several independent witness. He refused and carted me off to the poice station. I was held in a police cell for 5 hours worried to death about my partner. Finally the cop returned, I made a statement and the cop infomred me that the driver had decided not to press charges against. I was therefore released without charge.
When i got home I found my partner in a distressed state and she informed me she had had a miscarriage while I was in the police cell. I had done nothing wrong, on the contrary, I had examined the motorcyclist who was involved in the accident (I am an advanced first aider) and had also directed the traffic to prevent any further accidents.
The cop could have spoken to the independent witnesses and got the true story at the scene. He chose not to speak to others and instead spoke to just the driver who made the allegations against me and to his son. Based on their comments I was arrested. The independent witnesses were never questioned by the police. Luckily, I gathered their names and telephone numbers before I was taken away by the police.
The cops took my fingerprints, DNA and photo at the station. I did nothing wrong..I was actualy defending myself from the driver who had his hands around my throat. Self defence. I am the one who ended up being arrested for assualt. I am concerned now that I will have to say yes to any job applications etc when asked the question ‘have I ever been arrested’. I feel the whole incident could have been resolved at the scene if the cops had simply spoken to the eye witnesses. They refused to do so.
Any advice on this matter and what, if anything I can do, would be greatly appreciated.
June 28th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
John - have you considered bringing a civil action against the police for wrongful arrest - or against the man who made the false accusation - or both? If you have the names and addresses of witnesses, they should be able to back you up. Also (in the UK at least) prospective employers are not allowed to ask you if you have ever been arrested, or to withhold a position from you because of an arrest that did not lead to conviction. They have no means of checking anyway (records of arrests which did not lead to conviction inaccessible are not viewable to anyone outside the police force.).
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:23 am
My son was arrested last year for sexual assault. It turned out that it was fabrication from the witness statements and also the forensic evidence. My son was 12 years old at the time, and the girl was about 10/11. Apparently it was some kind of revenge thing? which is beyond me. It took six months of us going backwards and forwards to the police station, each time getting no further forward and being bailed for another month. He had a terrible christmas and birthday waiting for the outcome. Eventually one day we turned up and were just told - there is no further action!
However, this young girl and her family are currently waging a hate campaign against us and torment my son in every way possible - he cannot leave the house, and almost every night these kids torment my son by banging on the doors and windows, and throwing tomatoes, eggs, etc, all over our house front.
Although my solicitor assures me there was no evidence whatsoever to connect my son with what happened it seesm that it is sticking. I am currently trying to sell ym houe and leave the area. but would appreciate any advice from anyone who can suggest anything which may help. Does he also have to tell future employers, etc, about this arrest? He is pretty suicidal at the moment. Luckily his school are vry understanding and helping him to deal with his anger, bnut is there any way out of this?
October 5th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Hi to all those who have commented on this thread.
We appreciate everyone’s comments. However, ORG isn’t (yet!) an appropriate forum for discussing or seeking advice on individual legal situations. In addition to Suw’s earlier suggestion that people concerned about how the law surrounding wrongful arrest affects them should contact the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/), those who feel they have been directly affected by wrongful arrest can consider contacting legal aid.
Legal Aid in England and Wales:
http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/
Legal Aid in Scotland:
http://www.slab.org.uk/
Legal Aid in Northern Ireland:
http://www.nilsc.org.uk/
For those who wish to continue discussing this post, please go ahead. But remember:
1) ORG is not a legal advice service
2) ORG is a *digital rights* advocacy group
3) ORG really isn’t a legal advice service
Thanks
Becky (Executive Director - ORG)