Citizens Arrest

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Citizens Arrest

• Heather Brooke
• Author and Freelance Journalist

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Citizens ArrestBetter policing through openness

• Heather BrookeReporter and Author of Your Right
  to Know

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State vs Individual

• Britain has the densest CCTV coverage of public
  places anywhere in the world. A recent estimate
  puts the number of CCTV cameras in Britain at 2.5
  million 10 of the worlds total.
• A study conducted for the Information
  Commissioner's office by Sharpe Research
• DNA Database
• IDENT1 (suspect id)
• ANPR (number plate recognition)
• Criminal Records Bureau
• Congestion Charge
• Oyster Cards
• NHS choose and book database
• Childrens database
• ID cards

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Individual vs State

• Freedom of Information Act
• Media
• Elections
• Public need to know
• Are there other less intrusive ways to solve
  crime?
• Are the current systems working effectively?
• Is information being used properly?
• How and why are decisions made?
• Information sharing is not a one-way street. In
  order to have an informed debate, the public
  needs information!

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What do the public need?

• Detailed and timely crime incident statistics
• Access to police reports
• Budgets by line item
• Information about the hiring and internal
  discipline of police officers
• 999 logs
• The names and number of staff
• Logs of those arrested or held in police custody
• Open discussion of controversial policies such
  as shoot to kill.
• Staff handbook and code of conduct
• Policies (eg stop-and-search, shoot-to-kill,
  etc)
• Information held after a case has gone to trial

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Police reporting in the USA
The Indianapolis Star analysed 947 police
pursuits. Found were chasing at up speeds of 170
mph and people dying for largely inconsequential
crimes. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Twenty
Years of of police shooting inquests revealed
none resulted in criminal charges. In one case,
an off-duty police officer shot and killed
someone who tried to steal his lawnmower.
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Police reporting in the USA
New York Times Reporter obtained the hate
crimes database from NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force
and analysed trends over time. She analyzed
anti-ethnic crimes, hate crimes by type, hate
crimes by location and by frequency to develop a
comprehensive guide to hate crimes in New York.
She discovered Jews are the targets of most NYC
hate crimes, and that most hate crimes occur in
Brooklyn.
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Police reporting in the USA
WOOD-TV, Michigan Used Freedom of Information
Act to obtain hundreds of pages of police
reports, video tapes, photographs and transcripts
about the deaths of a Michigan State Police
officer and the suspect during a standoff and
manhunt in 2003. WTVJ-TV, Miami 911 records
revealed call centers in South Florida were not
answering calls in 10 seconds and some calls took
30 seconds to a minute to be answered.
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Police reporting in the USA
. The Advocate, Louisianna Investigated how the
1 billion retirement fund was managed and found
it took a 200 million hit in the stock market,
then spent 20 million on golf courses, then made
a 6 million land deal with a non-existant
company.
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Florida A newspaper investigation revealed that
of the 80 suspects shot in the last six years by
Central Florida police almost half of them were
unarmed. The officers who shot the unarmed
suspects were rarely disciplined, even in cases
where evidence or witnesses contradicted the
officer's account of the shooting. Newspapers
around Washington state teamed up to test whether
local government agencies would comply with
public records laws. Posing as average citizens,
journalists went to police and sheriff stations
to request documents that should have been
available under open records laws. Levels of
compliance varied and many agencies refused to
give out records or charged more than was
lawfully allowed.
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Reporting in the UK
Times Justice by Postcode CPS figures show
levels of prosecution by crime type across
country BBC Essex police caught over 5,000
times in 6 months and not one ticket issued.
Reporter Sally Chidzoy requested data from 9
forces. Three refused Northamptonshire -
exemption, Cambridgeshire claimed 300 hrs,
Norfolk no records kept!
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Reporting in the UK
The Kent Messenger Group revealed a scramble for
votes by politicians during the general election
left Kent Police with an overtime bill of
40,000. The Sun obtained figures through FOI
showing cops can make as much as 100k a year
from overtime.
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Important stories, but no info!

• Binge Drinking
• Football Violence
• Anti-social behaviour
• Violence on the tube (British Transport
  Police-awful!)
• Domestic Violence
• Honour Killings
• Rape and sexual assaults

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Why disclosure helps the police
Levels of trust halved since 1950s. The only way
to build trust is to open up. Disclosure, open
days, ride-alongs, speaking to outside groups.
Put the law-abiding citizen first and share
power with him/her. Compare with US directly
accountable through taxes and elected sheriffs.
They must listen to the public otherwise no money
and no job! If UK Police want local autonomy,
need to re-connect with the local community.
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