Human Rights, Right?

Human Rights Act 1998

I HAVE RIGHTS!

Yeah we all have rights, as in we all have legal rights that came into force in the UK in October 2000 even though the act (The Human Rights Act, also known as the HRA) was drafted in 1998. Why did it take so long before the act was preformed? Simply because it needed time to make the world (or those basically involved in the European Union) aware of this new act that they were now bound by. So what are they? They are a set of rights that everyone is bound by simply by being human, but if you really want to be philosophical then you could ask what does it mean to be human?

After WWII the idea of human rights emerged when the countries realised that committing war crimes were a crime against peace and against humanity. After all over 6 million were killed by German Nazi's. Governments became committed to establishing the United Nations which has the goal of preventing conflict and to keep international peace. They wanted to make sure that the denied freedom and quality of life would never repeat in the future. That is why The Human Rights Act was created, with 19 articles and 2 protocols each covering the fundamentals for every human being.

All public bodies after 2000 were made to follow these rights otherwise face lawful prosecution. These public bodies include

• courts
• police
• local governments
• hospitals
• publicly funded schools
• and other public bodies.

So lets look at what the articles actually are..

Right to life   2

 Right to freedom of torture 3

 Right to freedom from slavery 4

 Right to Liberty 5

 Right to Fair Trial 6

 No person can be punished without an act 7

 Right to privacy 8

 Right to conscience and religion 9

 Right to expression 10

 Freedom of association 11

 Right to marriage 12

 Right to effective remedy 13

 Freedom of discrimination  14

 

CAREFUL OR CAUTION

CAUTIONS (in the UK)

What are they?
A police caution can sometimes in minor cases be used as a formal alternative to prosecution. Otherwise it is a formal warning to the person that what they have done is wrong and that it breaks the law. Cautions can be given to anyone over the age of 10, because if you are younger then you are still legally classed as your parents responsibility. 
THEY ARE TO MAKE SURE YOU REALIZE YOU HAVE RIGHTS AND KNOW WHAT THEY ARE!(See i'm even putting the important content in bold for you, aren't I nice?) 


Looking legal
Like with many police duties there is a legal act (a law) that covers the cautions that an officer should give. We will focus on just two at the moment. If you are from the USA then I am afraid this wont be of any use to you since cautions are given differently in the UK. However that doesn't mean you have to leave! No you can just look at some fun pictures here and relax for a bit.                                                                    https://www.reddit.com/ 


Now for those in the UK who this does apply to, then the law is the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (also known as PACE) in particular we are looking at Code C in the Code of Practice.  <--- the police bible! 


Under Code C, paragraph 10.5 you'll find the first caution which should be given at the start of the investigation. It can be told to a suspect either 

• when they are not under arrest but suspected for an offence and the police wish to question them on that offence. 

OR

• when they have just been arrested.

The caution here is:

"You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defense if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you may later rely on in court. Anything you say, may be given in evidence."

(wow mouthy isn't it? You should see the welsh version!)  

For those who are welsh, here it is:

"“Does dim rhaid i chi ddweud dim byd. Ond gall niweidio eich amddiffyniad os na fyddwch

chi’n sôn, wrth gael eich holi, am rywbeth y byddwch chi’n dibynnu arno nes ymlaen yn y

Llys. Gall unrhyw beth yr ydych yn ei ddweud gael ei roi fel tystiolaeth.”

There is another caution that the police have to remember, (I know as if we haven't got enough to remember!) this one is different to the first by a matter of one word. This other caution should be given towards the end at the point of being reported or being charged. It is here that if the person has any special needs they should say before their court hearing. Under paragraph 16.2 there is the second one:

"You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defense if you do not mention now something which you may later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."

Here's the welsh version:

"‘Does dim rhaid i chi ddweud dim byd. Ond gall niweidio eich amddiffyniad os na

fyddwch chi’n sôn, yn awr, am rywbeth y byddwch chi’n dibynnu arno nes ymlaen yn y

llys. Gall unrhyw beth yr ydych yn ei ddweud gael ei roi fel tystiolaeth"

Remember that cautions are not always required:

• When making inquiries of people that are not suspected (asking for someone)
• To establish ownership of a vehicle
• To confirm a persons identity
• Due to a persons behaviour/condition at the time (it may be given later)

ALL CAUTIONS MUST HAVE A RECORD OF BEING SAID! YOU ALSO MUST MAKE SURE THEY UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS. Explain it to them if you need to!!

WRITING OR TYPING PNB'S

Using the PNB

Every police force has their own regulations on police notebooks. However, they should always be used as a comprehensive record of an event. They may then later be used for writing statements or reports; both of which are just the formal writing of the event in questioning. (I'll cover them again later) 

In courts we do:We must not forget that at any time, the courts are allowed to scrutinize the officers pnb if they believe it was not filled correctly or following the rules that have been established for them.  Basically if you write what you're supposed to, then you'll become a reliable witness and BOOM YOUR JOBS DONE, WELL DONE OFFICER! Failure can result in them questioning your accuracy and honesty, or the exclusion of your evidence and then the dismissal of the case....which is BAD!



NO PNB? NO PROBLEM!

Say something happens and oh no you haven't brought your best friend the PNB along, what will you do? How can you record what happened? How will you show you toke action in the name of justice?    SIMPLE  - You are allowed to use any available piece of paper and pen to write the notes down, but considering PNB's are considered 'exhibits' you will need to add those notes in to your PNB whenever you then get a chance to. DO NOT STAPLE IT IN!

SOCIETIES CHANGING...SO SHOULD WE?

Many believe that now society and the world are evolving, the police too should evolve and start using technology such as smart pads to record information. Personally i'm not sure if this is a good idea simply because stuff can be erased from computer systems. By mistake or intentional...i'm sure I speak for enough students when I say that so many times it is easy to press the wrong button by mistake and boom there goes your work. Not just that but what happens if for whatever reason that item gets dropped or broken. That officer cannot obtain anymore information from the rest of his or her duty. How is that efficient?

However...I still can see the downside of paper and pen, such as if it rains....then bye bye paper (unless you can get under shelter) plus in pen its harder to cheat so to speak. Every day is underlined which means that nothing can be added afterwards so nothing can be changed or added at a later date. So if you forget something....TOUGH LUCK!



 

WRITE THAT DOWN! PNB

Police Notebooks

  (Also referred to as Pocket notebooks)

What are they?
The PNB's are basically the police officers best friend! 
You'll always see them with them (if they are doing their job properly) and will always be jotting down notes in them. They can be used to record evidence or any information that is related to an offence or incident. It is an official document that must be with them all times and is often referred to in court cases where they recall the events of the incident. 


Why are they needed?
You might be good at remembering information but when it comes to an offence every tiny detail counts! You may need to cite to a court what happened during the offence but it's been a few months since then and you (being the justice seeking officer you are or strive to be) wont be able to tell them every detail from the top of your head. Therefore, ta-dah police notebooks are made. They allow the officer to write down key information to keep the facts accurate.


When are they used?
Basically every time the officer has arrived at the scene of an incident, out pops his or her best friend! All around them will be valuable information that they need to jot down. If the officer is needed in court to cite what happened on the day/night they are then allowed to refer to their pnb's which can help them to remember what had accurately happened. These will always then be checked over by the supervisor.





WHAT GOES IN THEM?Make sure these are written down and written in black ink!

• All direct speech to be recorded.
• Details of any actions taken
• Name/age/D.O.B (date of birth)/occupation/address/self defined ethnicity/telephone number for those involved.
• Who was present
•  Time/date/location -time to be in 24hour clock!
• The incident/occurrence/offence

SCRUB NO ELBOWS!

As weird as it sounds, this is actually really helpful Mnemonics to remember what to put into your pnb! So ... lets go into what I mean by that properly. 

SCRUB
These are basically how you write the information.
S Start each entry with the Day, Date, Year and Time on Duty 

R Rule across the page at the end of your Duty.

U Underline the Day, Date and Year.

B BLOCK CAPITALS for Surnames or Family Names

C Corrections need to have a neat line through the mistake with your initials above. 

NO ELBOWS!

These are what shouldn't be in the book!

E erasures

L leaves torn out

B blank spaces

O overwriting

W writing between lines

S  statements always need to be written in "direct speech"





Lets just look at an example...oh look, here is one I

prepared earlier! 

TIME - As you can see the time has been written in the margins in 24hour times (e.g 8pm=20:00)

DATE - Written in capitals to make it stand out and underlined. 

NAMES - All surnames have been put in capitals including place names.

SPACES-  All spaces have had a line to fill them in since spaces are not allowed.

NEW ENTRY- A line has been drawn under the last entry and the new date has been written, leaving no spaces. 

MISTAKES - Luckily no errors have been made on this example, however if they were they would be lined through and initialed. SL

NOW GO WRITE YOUR OWN POLICE DIARY OUT! :) 

Got any questions feel free to ask in the comments below or to send me a message. How will you know if you don't ask?