Kent police officers suspended over 'assault'...

[Ammi]

Three Kent Police officers have been suspended from duty after a suspected shoplifter was allegedly assaulted at a department store in Canterbury.

CCTV footage posted online appeared to show officers restraining a suspect by grabbing him by the throat and then repeatedly punching him.

Kent Police said it was investigating an allegation of assault on 11 July.

The force said the three officers had been suspended from duty pending the outcome of the inquiry.

BBC South East correspondent Colin Campbell said the mute footage was recorded by a CCTV camera in what appeared to be a holding room at the back of Debenhams.

It is understood a man in a white sweatshirt was being detained for alleged shoplifting and is now being treated as a victim, he added.

"Officers I have spoken to off the record say there are many unknowns. There is no audio, so nothing can be heard," he said.

"It is unclear if there are any weapons."

Dover Express uncovered the footage on YouTube.

Kent Police told the BBC the three officers had been interviewed under caution but not arrested.

The matter is now with the Crown Prosecution Service.

The force also said they referred the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which handed the issue back to the force.

Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Ann Barnes said: "As soon as this incident came to light the officers involved were immediately suspended.

"Kent Police is currently carrying out a thorough investigation into this."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-25041577



..there is a small amount of the CCTV in this link but the longer one has been taken down off Youtube...

http://www.aol.co.uk/

[Z]

Reminds me of something that happened a few months ago when I was at home, some guy was allegedly spiked in this bar and he was running around acting like an idiot but his friends say that he never normally acted like that hence thinking he was spiked... anyway, then I think it was 3 bouncers pinned the guy down and knelt on his neck but then he choked and died so they ran away... which was futile because they were all employed by the bar so of course they were going to be caught. Not sure if anything's gone to court yet but they essentially murdered the guy for no reason at all, there was footage of it floating about but I didn't want to watch someone dying...

[arista]

Yes well Dodgy police

[GiRTh]

Throw the w*nkers in jail.

Where's that thread on the police. The one where so many people claim they do 'such' a hard job. Takes a real tough guy to smack an already captured suspect repeatedly around the face.

[Kizzy]

Bouncers are not police, who are trying to discredit them now, one incident is not representative is it?

[Marc]

I wonder if they'd have gotten away with it had it not been for the CCTV footage

[GiRTh]

ZY3LkDHMvOM

Disgusting.,

[Z]

Bouncers are not police, who are trying to discredit them now, one incident is not representative is it?

I know, it just reminded me of it. Either way, they are both roles where you're supposed to be ensuring the security and well being of others. Beating people up is what thugs do.

[Kizzy]

Yes I appreciate that zee, anyone who abuses their position is in the wrong.
That said I feel the police are of late being scrutinised unfairly. There are many more in positions of authority and trust who are being as abusive...

[GiRTh]

Yes I appreciate that zee, anyone who abuses their position is in the wrong.
That said I feel the police are of late being scrutinised unfairly. There are many more in positions of authority and trust who are being as abusive...I dont agree at all. I think the police have always been under scrutiny and rightly so. The more scrutiny the better.

[Ammi]

I dont agree at all. I think the police have always been under scrutiny and rightly so. The more scrutiny the better.

..I think the thing is..(like most things, I guess..)..it's all down to personal experiences, I mean of people we know etc...so it would be easy for me to say that in general, I think the police force do a grand job...and some of them do..?..but that's not the experience of everyone, I know..and that's extremely valid as well because it should be the experience of everyone..?...that's what they should mean/represent...but sadly and wrongly, they don't....

[AnnieK]

Anyone whose occupation is funded by tax payers should be scrutinised and open for public discussion and condemnation if needed

[user104658]

Not that I'm advocating police brutality, but let's be completely honest here: the guy in the video looks like a definite junkie, plus when it goes slight off camera and they come back, it looks like he's kicking off with them. You cant tell at all if he tried to pull a knife. Or a needle. Junkies love that one. But he's definitely throwing a paddy.

not that this excuses punching him whilst three of them have him pinned to a wall... there's really no need... But honestly. Let's not pretend it's some poor innocent young lad who was doing nothing wrong.

[Ammi]

..no, he's no 'innocent' at all..he's a shoplifter/he's broken the law and isn't going to get away with it because he's in the process of being arrested so it will go through the justice system...obviously it's in the stages of investigation atm so we don't know if he was 'kicking off' in any way ...but if he was and there were three of them..that would only add to the charges, assaulting a police officer, which would go through the justice system as well...maybe the justice system isn't the greatest, but it's the only one we've got and one that police officers of all people are meant to uphold and believe in and it's quite clear in that it doesn't allow for any 'add ons' of punches/assault or any other form of brutality/over reactions...because if it did allow for that, then how would we know/be confident in who are the 'criminals' and who the 'peace officers''....

[arista]

I wonder if they'd have gotten away with it had it not been for the CCTV footage


Yes the CCTV
got them
without it they can, break laws more

[Kizzy]

I think it's sickening the respect that the police and nurses get in this country, yes there are the odd bad ones but up and down the country there are 1000s that maintain order and put themselves at risk every day for strangers...
Read any paper lately and there is fraud, bribery, corruption, from those at the very top, those whose job it is to govern and set standards. Why are they never held accountable for their misdemeanors?
Because they can manipulate what is reported thus influencing what the 'angry mob' read over their cornflakes.
" Junkie gets punched!"

Big fat deal!!!
What's really happening, should be what everyone's thinking.
Is this a smokescreen, what's really happening?
The PM just sold Sri Lanka £8 million worth of arms... Oh, but that nasty policeman.

[GiRTh]

I think it's sickening the respect that the police and nurses get in this country, yes there are the odd bad ones but up and down the country there are 1000s that maintain order and put themselves at risk every day for strangers...
Read any paper lately and there is fraud, bribery, corruption, from those at the very top, those whose job it is to govern and set standards. Why are they never held accountable for their misdemeanors?
Because they can manipulate what is reported thus influencing what the 'angry mob' read over their cornflakes.
" Junkie gets punched!"

Big fat deal!!!
What's really happening, should be what everyone's thinking.
Is this a smokescreen, what's really happening?
The PM just sold Sri Lanka £8 million worth of arms... Oh, but that nasty policeman.Who's talking about nurses? Once again in a thread about the police you seem to want to push your own agenda? If you want to talk about corruption among government officials then why not open a thread give us your examples and we can discuss it but this thread is about a vid of police beating an unarmed already restrained man. ie Police blatantly not following procedure and possibly committing a crime. I think thjis kind of vid is very important. There are many similar vid like this so dont know where you get this 'odd bad one' from. Do you have statistics to back up your claims?

[Z]

On the macro level, yes, worrying about the police roughing up a shoplifter is nothing compared to international arms deals and the implications of such sales. But we're just looking at this video of some policemen roughing up someone who was already apprehended. There was no need. I agree we could be doing with some positive appreciation of the police force because it does seem like the media wants to constantly make them out to be a shambles, but the poor decisions made by the few do need to be acknowledged because to not do so would be appalling, in my opinion.

[GiRTh]

On the macro level, yes, worrying about the police roughing up a shoplifter is nothing compared to international arms deals and the implications of such sales. But we're just looking at this video of some policemen roughing up someone who was already apprehended. There was no need. I agree we could be doing with some positive appreciation of the police force because it does seem like the media wants to constantly make them out to be a shambles, but the poor decisions made by the few do need to be acknowledged because to not do so would be appalling, in my opinion.I dont agree with this either. There are those awful programmes mostly narrated by Jamie Theakston where I see the police acting quite brutally toward innocent people yet those programmes are supposed to be some kind of celebration of the police. The police force is IMO inherently corrupt and even when they get the chance to show us how hard their job is I see police acting like thugs. The police have plenty of chances to give us something positive and they usually fail.

[sassysocks]

Anyone whose occupation is funded by tax payers should be scrutinised and open for public discussion and condemnation if needed

That sounds as if those that work in the public sector are second-class or something. Tax-payers are not gods and public sector workers are not servants to them, they are also tax payers. Everyone should be held accountable across the board.

[MTVN]

That sounds as if those that work in the public sector are second-class or something. Tax-payers are not gods and public sector workers are not servants to them, they are also tax payers. Everyone should be held accountable across the board.

The police are servants to the public though

[Novo]

Officer Crawford, Officer Purdy and Chief Officer Hewis are the names that have been leaked

[Kizzy]

The police are servants to the public though

They work in public service, but they work for the crown.
Politicians are public servants.

[Kizzy]

Who's talking about nurses? Once again in a thread about the police you seem to want to push your own agenda? If you want to talk about corruption among government officials then why not open a thread give us your examples and we can discuss it but this thread is about a vid of police beating an unarmed already restrained man. ie Police blatantly not following procedure and possibly committing a crime. I think thjis kind of vid is very important. There are many similar vid like this so dont know where you get this 'odd bad one' from. Do you have statistics to back up your claims?

I'm not pushing anything, and no I don't have any 'statistics' what would you want these statistics to say?
All I've given is my opinion of this as I see it, if you don't agree fine.
One you tube video is not representative of the police in the UK. We are peing presented wit a skewed perspective imo due to the political perspective as it is today.

[GiRTh]

I'm not pushing anything, and no I don't have any 'statistics' what would you want these statistics to say?
All I've given is my opinion of this as I see it, if you don't agree fine.
One you tube video is not representative of the police in the UK. We are peing presented wit a skewed perspective imo due to the political perspective as it is today.You have it right I dont agree. I dont agree this is isolated, I dont agree this is presented with a political perspective - maybe you can explain what you mean by that - I dont think this vid has been uploaded by any political party if thats what you're trying to say. There have a been a multitude of videos like this throughout my lifetime so again I dont agree with your comment 'as it is today'.

I'd like those statistics that you dont have to back up your 'odd bad one' comment.

[MTVN]

They work in public service, but they work for the crown.
Politicians are public servants.

Their job is to protect the public against crime i.e. serving the public

[Kizzy]

Their job is to protect the public against crime i.e. serving the public

It's to enforce law, that by default protects the public.

[Kizzy]

You have it right I dont agree. I dont agree this is isolated, I dont agree this is presented with a political perspective - maybe you can explain what you mean by that - I dont think this vid has been uploaded by any political party if thats what you're trying to say. There have a been a multitude of videos like this throughout my lifetime so again I dont agree with your comment 'as it is today'.

I'd like those statistics that you dont have to back up your 'odd bad one' comment.

You want me to post statistics from the time the Police were established to back up my opinion they're a good idea?...
I'm sorry I can't, you'll just have to take my word.
The Police have no political affiliation as they work for the crown, that said their name changes depending who is in government.
If labour it's a police 'service'..if conservative a police 'force'.
It's only my opinion that the police are being 'given a bad press' quite literally lately, personally I feel it's due to a political agenda to shake public confidence.

[GiRTh]

You want me to post statistics from the time the Police were established to back up my opinion they're a good idea?...
I'm sorry I can't, you'll just have to take my word.
The Police have no political affiliation as they work for the crown, that said their name changes depending who is in government.
If labour it's a police 'service'..if conservative a police 'force'.
It's only my opinion that the police are being 'given a bad press' quite literally lately, personally I feel it's due to a political agenda to shake public confidence.No. I want you to back up your 'odd bad one's' comment. 'odd bad ones' is not my experience of the police but then I didnt make the comment.

Also, as I've said, stories like this have come about thru most of my life so I still dont get and would like you to explain why you feel the police are being shown in a bad light 'lately'. I gave an example of the awful police shows on Tv to back up my argument that the police, even when they try to look good, still come across as thugs. Do you have any such examples?

Your stance seems to be that this story doesnt matter, please correct me if I'm wrong, but you are the only person to have posted in this thread who has made no comment - apart from Novo who was clearly joking - about the behavior in this vid and the punches thrown by the police to a man who was restrained and standing still for, I counted 4 seconds. What do you have to say about the behavior of the police in this video?

[Ninastar]

I think the amount of hate that the police get is disgusting. I mean sure, you get the usual wanker police who think they're it... but jesus, some of the things they've seen... some things they have to do... They have more guts/bravery than I ever will and for that I have a deep respect.

[GiRTh]

^^Sorry but I dont have as much respect. They're well trained - at public expense - to do all the horrible things they come across and my experience of them is not very positive.

[Ninastar]

That's fair enough, I just think it takes more than just training to become someone who deals with things like arresting people on drugs/chasing potential murders/carrying a dead body from a car etc. but each to their own