Wiltshire Police - assuming someone is guilty just on the say-so of a member of the public?
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2014-12-16 14:15:41 - Graham Ellis
I read the following on Facebook yesterday ... posted by a PCSO with the Wiltshire force.
"If you think that a bogus caller may be at your door ... you must report it to the police immediately by calling 999. ... The more details you remember, and the earlier that you tell the police, the quicker we will be able to investigate the crime." (See [here] to see if it's still there!)
It worried me. The policeman (sorry - posted by a PCSO, so a civilian assistant) started off by suggesting rightly that you contact the police if you think there's a problem then, in my view very VERY wrongly ASSUMED that a crime has been committed by saying that they will be able to investigate the crime ... he did not say, you'll notice, "a possible crime" nor "whether a crime has taken place".
It worries me because there's an assumption that someone's guilty before it's investigated - where I thought we were supposed to be considered innocent until found otherwise, and it worries me because this police assistant seems to be taking the law into his own hands when it should be the courts that decide. I appreciate he probably helps deal with a lot of guilty people, but it's dangerous for him to assume that people are in the wrong.
I posted a follow up to ask for clarification. His first response didn't answer the question - it answered something I hadn't asked. Someone else popped up with a personal insult to me (nice woman!) suggesting that this isn't important. The PCSO hasn't answered my follow up. Me thinks that he is avoiding the question.
My question remains - if you THINK someone at your door is a bogus caller and report it to the police, how can they be certain (s this PCSO clearly is) that a crime has been committed? Or was the original post wrong in what it said. Or was the original post trying to quietly move the goalposts of what the police can do (e.g. decide guilt) in Wiltshire?
I will be very interested to see if I get a reply to this when I post it on Facebook, or if it gets deleted. Never mind - if it gets deleted, I'll ask a proper policeman I know by email.
I have had a couple of instances of heavy-handed activities by the police and other authorities which have resulted in a complete clearing of what had been suggested, and I feel they should be very careful indeed in making any assumption of guilt. I admire what most of them do. A few seem to be there because they like the power and go beyond what they should, as (I believe) in the wording of their helper's post.