I have to say that were this story to have appeared only in the tabloid press, then I would have dismissed it as nonsense; it is something that quite frankly should be unbelievable, given that we live in a country that is meant to be a democracy. However, it has also appeared in the broadsheets, therefore I will work on the assumption that it is true.Thomas Catcheside, a 67 year old who lives in Cambridge, received a Gestapo style dawn raid at his home at 5.35AM from the police.
He was frog marched to his bedroom, where his wife was still sleeping, and ordered to get changed before being driven away in a cage in a police van.
Mr Catcheside was then held in a windowless cell for six hours, had his fingerprints and a DNA swab taken, before being issued with an £80 fixed penalty notice and released.
What was his crime?
Terrorism?
No!
Murder?
No!
He had sworn at a council official six days earlier.
Yes, you did read that correctly!
The swearing incident had been the culmination of a 3 year dispute with the council, he is the chairman of the local residents group, over slippery stairs in his council block.
Mr Catcheside has been campaigning for safety improvements to the internal flight of stairs. However, when a council official visiting the site stopped him from following him downstairs to listen to a phone call to his supervisor on October 30, he lost his temper and swore.
The Telegraph quotes him:
"Don't you tell me what I can and can't do in my own fucking place."
He was arrested 6 days later on suspicion of "causing harassment, alarm or distress in a public place".
The experience so shocked Mr Catcheside that he had a panic attack in police custody, and had to be seen by a police doctor.
Cambridgeshire police claim that they had been following "national policy".
Is it now national policy to barge into people's homes at 5:30AM, and arrest them for not kowtowing to their local councils?
Seemingly it is!
The police will have us believe that they were "responding to reports of an assault, which is a serious offence."
Since when was swearing an assault?
Why arrest a man for swearing, when a simple word in his ear might have resolved the issue?
Why did the council report this trivial issue?
Oh, and here's the killer point, the police then went on to say:
"There was not enough evidence to suggest he had committed an assault but he admitted to being abusive and was issued with a fine and words of advice about his behaviour."
NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE!
Why did the police arrest him in the first place, if there was not enough evidence?
Who are the police working for these days, the people or the politicians?
It seems to me that Mr Catcheside should sue the police for wrongful arrest, and make sure that the council and local political party that "runs" the council suffers extreme humiliation and long term political defeat.
The police, by the way, also added:
"National policy states anyone arrested will have a sample of their DNA taken."
Pathetic!
BTW, you may be wondering why the Gestapo (sorry, "police") raided his home at 5:30AM. Seemingly it was the only "convenient time".
Well, that's alright then!
A bare faced lie if ever I have heard one, they simply could have chosen another day when their officers were not busy hunting down murderers, robbers, muggers etc.
Do you all recall, my loyal readers, that the Telegraph recently said that I had "lost all sense of proportion" when I used the word ZaNuLabour?
Tell me, now that we have dawn Gestapo raids at the behest of our "respected" local councils, have I really "lost all sense of proportion"?
OK, to be fair, Cambridge is in fact a Liberal Democrat council (it is hardly "liberal" or "democratic" employing Gestapo tactics like this!).
Councils and police should not be colluding to arrest people, they most certainly should not be practising Gestapo tactics.
Here is the council's email enquiries@cambridge.gov.uk.
The state has become the enemy of the people, politicians and their organs of state should be ignored and resisted at every opportunity.
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These stories (and there are so many of them) now make me feel ashamed that I spent most of my working life in local government.
ReplyDeleteWhat a disgusting story; It appears to me his only crime was not to agree with the jobsworth and we all know in Labour's Britain that will not be tolerated....Resistance is futile!!
ReplyDeleteMy advice to anyone that decides to Email the enquirey line is to be very careful or they may set the stormtoopers on you tomorrow morning.
Enjoy raiding people's homes reponsibly.
I have quite a few mates in the police force - my goodness, can they swear...
ReplyDeleteTerrible story. Fucking jobsworth doesnt like to be swore at so he called in the boys to deal with the nasty old man.
ReplyDeleteRoll on next year so we can get this shower out of office.
Off topic - My wife went to Sainsburys last night for some booze and got refused service because she had no ID. Shes 29 years old. I went back with her to the same checkout. The girl beamed a cheesy smile and asked if she had brough ID with her this time. I said "Im buying it now and I am obviously an adult". Fortunatley she had enough sense not to argue and served me. I was still looking for an arguement though so I went and complained to customer service. The girl was not interested and said that new policy is that they ask for ID from anyone who looks under 25. I gave her a long tirade about under 25s who are obviously over 18 and about how its legal for over 18s to buy booze ect and how my wife has been drinking legally for the past 11 years ect ect ect.
She listened patiently while a security guard stood by and watched, but eventually I simply ran out of breath and left.
It was fun though.
This reminds me of the time when a bunch of drunken yobs were shouting abuse at each other, for what seemed like hours sometime in the wee hours of a Friday night. We had a brand new Merc sitting on the street, which was a hire car from work. A couple of youths were sitting on the bonnet, drinking beer. As you can imagine, I wasn't happy. But I kept my nose out, at that point.
ReplyDeleteFinally, the Police turned up (in the guise of one female officer), and things settled down. I foolishly went out to give a piece of my mind to the young girls whose party it was had attracted these thugs, and was brazen enough to use the phrase "taking the piss", in a fairly reasonable tone, as one might talk to daft children. The silly young copper who was oh-so gently asking the stupid girls where their parents were, then threatened to arrest me for a breach of the peace!
Given that, you might think that there was more to the story, that I was being threatening in some way, but I wasn't. I was nearly cuffed, swabbed and finger smudged for saying what needed to be said, with a word so ordinary it's barely a swear word these days.
Nobody was arrested or cautioned that night, and ten minutes after the copper had gone, the row started up again, although with less vigour.
Marvellous. If I'd lost my temper and actually gone off on one (which would have been understandable, given the riot going on outside my front door...), then I would have been the only one arrested that night...
Thankfully, the hire company didn't notice the many scratches and small dents the Merc picked up that night.
'Cambridgeshire police claim that they had been following "national policy."'
ReplyDelete"National policy states anyone arrested will have a sample of their DNA taken."
You will notice that when the officials in question combine the words "national" and "policy" they neglect to insert "socialist" into their locution. I guess at this point they assume that it's understood.
Mein leibschun Black Sea velcome to zer neulabour/EUSSR reich. Now, your ID card bitte ach, nein card step into this car schnell schnell.
ReplyDeleteIrrespective of whether it was right or not to swear at the council jobsworth in question (and, under the circumstances, Mr Catcheside cannot be blamed for doing so) the response was way ott and utterly disgusting. Is it any wonder that so many people now hold the police in such contempt, when they behave like the gestapo or KGB? I've said it before, but it's a pity that they don't put as much effort into catching REAL criminals, like the creeps who burgled my home last May (no, the police have NOT caught them, surprise, surprise!).
ReplyDeleteThomas Catcheside has done nothing wrong in my book, so should neither have received this APPALLING treatment, nor had to pay ANY fine. In my opinion, a hefty fine should be levied on the Cambridge police force, which should by law have to be paid personally by the Chief Constable, and not by tax payers. If that were to happen, perhaps he'd keep his uniformed thugs under proper control,and ensure they did the job they are actually paid to do.
ReplyDelete"Cambridgeshire police claim that they had been following "national policy".
ReplyDeleteWhich has, no doubt, been decided by ACPO - the unelected, private company exempt from the FOI which controls "our" police force.
Cunts, the lot of em...
ReplyDeleteShocking eh? totally out of all proportion to someone who was disrespectful to whom he serves. Councils' need to be cut back to emtying bins and sweeping the streets.
ReplyDeleteIf someone slips on the stairs an has an injury do you think the official would be held to account for his negligence? I bet he wouldn't.
"Councils' need to be cut back to emptying bins and sweeping the streets."
ReplyDeleteThey don't even do that properly round here.....
Common Purpose anyone?
ReplyDeleteThis is really sad. It must be galling especially for World War 2 veterans. To think that they fought off Hitler, only to have the UK (like most of the rest of the Western World) turn into a regime that behaves like the Nazis!
ReplyDeleteThe State has indeed become the enemy of the people and we should all be out buying our Gay Fawkes masks... (if they haven't been banned!)
Bad Brad
ReplyDelete"Gay Fawkes masks..."?
What a delicious image!