Author Archives: eveline lubbers

POLICING Netpol has launched a campaign calling on the National Police Chiefs Council to end to the labelling of campaigners as “domestic extremists” before the current lockdown is over. In an open letter that is gathering signatories, the organisation says that “when we finally emerge from lockdown, it is inevitable campaigners will demand real changesContinue reading “2 – 3 May Update”

Policing Checking people’s reasons for being on the streets, South Yorkshire Police went as far as warning people for “saunter in jeans as exercise“, a “visit the shop for egg custard” and a “trip to the cash machine for 20,- to use in the morning”. The online backlash this caused forced the police to apologiseContinue reading “30 April – 1 May Update”

POLICING Campaigners from Big Brother Watch have published its first monthly “Emergency Powers & Civil Liberties” review [PDF], which is aimed at members of Parliament. The 91-page report reveals what it calls “staggering incompetence in police use of emergency laws – including wrongful convictions” and “a postcode lottery of pandemic policing that’s inconsistent and oftenContinue reading “27 – 29 April Update”

POLICING Over the weekend, there were the now-familiar stories about senior police officers urging people to stay home and as many reported incidents of atrocious driving on Britain’s roads as there were about fines for lockdown infringements. In Widnes in Cheshire, police using closure order powers at a home where there had been repeated warnings about breaches of lockdown regulations andContinue reading “24-26 April Update”

POLICING With no parliamentary scrutiny, the government has changed existing lockdown regulations to create a new offence of “being outside” your home, as well as leaving it, without a reasonable excuse – even if you had a perfectly good reason to go out in the first place. The amended regulations are available here and an explanatoryContinue reading “23 April Update”

POLICING Like Sussex Police, Dorset Police is still advising people to avoid driving for their daily exercise if possible, even though last week the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the professional standards body the College of Policing published a document that categorically stated it is “lawful to drive for exercise”. Apparently, Dorset Police haveContinue reading “21 – 22 April Update”

POLICING Chief Superintendent Paul Griffiths president of the Police Superintendents’ Association warned today that police must prepare for a “more volatile and agitated society” after the end of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown. Perhaps appropriately, therefore, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) of the House of Commons and the House of Lords met to examineContinue reading “20 April Update”

POLICING There was widespread national media coverage of a video shared on Twitter showing a Lancashire Police officer threatening to fabricate a charge to detain a young man up, saying “I’ll lock you up… We’ll make something up… who are they going to believe, me or you?” in what Netpol called an unusual moment ofContinue reading “18 – 19 April Update”

POLICING The BBC’s Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw has reported on revisions to guidelines for officers from the National Police Chiefs Council and the College of Policing that seem even more complex than before. Officers in England are told they can stop people working in parks or sitting on a park bench for a longContinue reading “16 April Update”

POLICING Coastal police forces are using number plate tracking technology to identify and fine “holidaymakers” who have driven to their areas. Sussex Police issued more than 100 fixed penalty notices to people from outside the county and more than 50 fixed penalty notices to day-trippers in Brighton living outside Sussex. An Aberdeen surfer was finedContinue reading “14-15 April Update”