When the authorities push back

By The Truth Reporter:

If there’s one issue that’s being ignored in the white heat of the COVID19 crisis I firmly believe it is the erosion of civil liberties. I have voiced my concerns in previous articles about the rampant self policing evident on social media where people seem extremely keen to become judge and jury over their communities. 

Already there have been instances where key workers have found themselves the target of either direct or social media harassment for the crime of venturing outside their homes. Instead of simply minding their own business the neighbourhood instead decides to vilify these people for daring to go out to work to care for the sick or work in vital infrastructure. 

If this wasn’t bad enough it seems that the police have metamorphosed almost overnight into a bizarre version of the Staatssicherheitsdienst. Despite continual warnings and statements by the Home Secretary about using the new powers granted under the Corona Virus bill with tact and proportionality the police seem unable to comprehend what these terms mean. 

Perhaps people are surprised at this terrible transformation, I am not. I think I may even have an explanation for it. 

Tucked away on the margins of YouTube is a fascinating group of people – broadly speaking they call themselves photography auditors.  Their modus operandi is to take a camera and film the outdoors. Sounds a bit tame? Try innocently filming in the vicinity of a police station. Despite there being absolutely no law against filming in a public place the police will often try to convince these auditors that there is. 

If the police don’t get the instant compliance they feel entitled to they start to use more aggressive and unlawful tactics to get the information they are demanding. 

Of course the auditors have a good understanding of the law and the limits to police powers and are able to rebuff the often heavy handed approaches of the police. Some of them have been arrested and then quickly released again once a senior officer sees the error that the beat officers have made.

This is not a hobby for everyone, to say it is niche is probably a huge understatement. Some might say that they’re causing a public nuisance – but they’re just minding their own business, it’s the police that choose to accost them. Some might say that they’re deliberately baiting the police for a reaction so that they can ridicule them on YouTube, some might say they should have better things to do with their time.

There is something in all these criticisms but remember the auditors make absolutely sure they are doing nothing wrong, their cars are taxed, insured and have MOT. They do not use foul language, threats or any form of abuse, they’re just exercising their rights – but the police don’t like your rights.

If you search YouTube for ‘photography audit uk’ you’ll find plenty of examples of what I am speaking of. I believe there is a pent up desire in the police ranks to push back against people asserting their rights now they have been given the tools to do so. 

The corona virus bill means that there are now very strict and limited conditions under which people can be outside their homes. The delight that police have in enforcing the rules and interpreting them to suit themselves speaks to a worrying rise of authoritarianism which the public seem to be utterly oblivious to.

There has been a growing concern that public services have increasingly been subverted by a secondary power structure that functions by placing people within their sphere of control within the public bodies, effectively usurping the normal chain of command and replacing this with another.

When we see the Home Secretary smacking down police forces for heavy handed and bizarre applications of the new legislation we expect that they might change their behaviour but this has not happened. If anything the police are acting beyond their authority and ignoring their own guidelines more and more frequently. 

What is driving this phenomenon? Why are the police so ready to extrapolate beyond their authority and apply the law incorrectly? I can’t say for sure that the shadow power structures like Common Purpose are to blame as I have no evidence but the facts and the growing body of video evidence show clearly that the police are out of control and that Priti Patel’s admonishments have not been heeded.

What I fail to understand is why the police feel they can act this way. At some point the future the restrictions will be removed but the destruction of the social contract between public and police will be permanent and the evidence of their misconduct will continue to be played back to them for a long time to come.