The short sighted, self interpreted and may I say, bigoted definition of The Bail Act and PACE by a Salford District Judge who took a perfectly good system and then threw it in the bin was then backed up by the High Court.
Today's ruling left yet another bitter pill to swallow when the Supreme Court dismissed an attempt by Police to suspend a legal ruling limiting Police Bail in England and Wales to a maximum of four days only.
MP's are voting on an emergency legislation this Thursday to attempt to put things right.
What this idiot of a DJ has done has taken the law and because he can, use his interpretation and change a piece of legislation.
What this has done to the police has caused utter chaos.
A colleague of mine who works on big fraud cases has said to me that they will find most of their cases collapsing due to constantly having to re-arrest someone.
For example. What used to happen was, the person was arrested for fraud, then taken to the police station, interviewed. Mean while their documents, computers, etc would be seized to be investigated into. Then this person would be "freed" on police bail but their items kept for investigation. This person would then return at a later date after more evidence has been gathered where they will either be charged or released without charge.
Now what happens is after the person has been interviewed they must be bailed to within 24hrs of their time of release. This DJ has stated that the custody clock keeps running so you only have in the first instance 24 hours to deal and maybe with extensions up to 96 hours.
That's four days to look into a major fraud case
If after those four days nothing further is found then this person must be either charged or released with no further action.
Problem here, is if someone has been effectively "NFA" as nothing has been found at this stage to charge, then technically all their property must be returned to them and with it, goes any possible evidence. The police will have no right to hold onto it as they have been released without charge.
The second further evidence crops up, this person can be re-arrested.
However, how many times will someone need to be arrested to finally bring a charge?
How long will it take before some smart arse Barrister to suggest that their client was "stressed" "embarrassed" and "harassed" by the police and the officers dealing were in breach of process and or their clients Human Rights because they were arrested "too many times"?
How big will arrest rates soar yet charge rates for serious crimes fall drastically?
That's the big cases what about "simple" cases like a theft from a shop. The person is brought in but is deemed unfit to interview as he is drunk. The suspect when eventually sober has now asked for a solicitor who takes time to arrive due to heavy traffic and dealing with other clients. The CCTV cannot be obtained then eventually when interviewed the suspect gives an alibi which cannot be chased up due to the person not answering their phone and your shift is drawing to a close and you need to hand over.
This person now needs to be bailed, but because of the new ruling, there may not be any time left on the clock as because, I stated above, the custody clock now continues to run. So, if this person has been in custody overnight sleeping off the drink and has been in for 16 hours you can only bail them for 8 hours.
That's later that day and you still need to chase up that CCTV and the alibi statement.
What with every other job police officers have to do these days, how can they complete a thorough investigation within the given time slot?
A short time ago, Ken Clarke reversed his decision on halving prison sentences.
I think he got his wish in a roundabout way, as there will be no one charged to court any more to be sentenced to prison.
Call me a conspiracy theorist but it all seems too convenient to me.
Prove me wrong on Thursday, MP's when you vote against this stupid ruling and impose the emergency legislation.
Also I think the DJ needs to be shown how a night in custody works or out on patrol.
He may feel differently from our side of the fence.
.....Who am I kidding?!
