International Law

Core blimey

By John Hirst

"Mr Hirst said he was tapped on the shoulder by a police community support officer as he walked to the chemist at lunchtime on April 21.

The officer accused him of dropping the core ? which Mr Hirst denied ? and demanded his name and address".

I hope that Mr Hirst (no relation) sues the police community support officer for assault and battery, at private law, because that is what occurred when he was tapped on the shoulder.

I trust that they have the apple core as evidence? Given that they took Mr Hirst's DNA, if they test the apple core to see if his DNA matches that on the apple core it's case proved. If it doesn't, or they did not collect the apple core as evidence, then the case should be dismissed.

It is advisable to give your name and address to a police officer if he or she asks for it, simply to avoid being arrested and locked up whilst they discover who you are and where you live. However, you still have a right to refuse to give the information and it is not obstructing a police officer to refuse.

In my view, it was excessive to keep Mr Hirst locked up in a cell for 18 hours. Upon arrest, at the police station, he would have had to empty his pockets before being placed in a cell and no doubt the police would have established his identity from the contents, especially if he had a wallet. I suspect that the police were abusing their power to punish Mr Hirst for creating more work for them.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on May 10, 2008 (boomark / email).