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Bouncers and car park attendants given powers of arrest

We have written several times about the dangers posed by the 'Community Safety Accreditation Scheme', so the details of this latest story from the Daily Mail came as little surprise:

Senior police officers have ordered a dramatic expansion of a controversial scheme that allows authorised civilians to issue fines for littering and other minor offences.

They may also stop members of the public in the street, take their photograph and ask for their name and address.

Critics have called for a halt to the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, say it amounts to 'state-sanctioned vigilantism'.

Bouncers In case you're wondering who the critics are; last month I wrote a blogpost titled 'State sanctioned vigilantism'; and Big Brother Watch has called for a 'stop in the transfer of police powers to private security firms and council wardens' in our new election manifesto.

But the real shocker in this latest report is the news that, as the Mail explains, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) is actually encouraging Chief Constables to target bouncers and security guards for the CSAS, because they can afford the assessment that Acpo charges:

Security companies pay between £450 and £600 for an assessment by a private company owned by Acpo, and between £32 and £132 for each accredited employee.

Councils and other public sector organisations pay between £300 and £315 to be accredited, and £35 to £90 per employee.

Acpo is making a profit out of giving away police powers to untrained bouncers and it is the British public that are paying the price.

By Dylan Sharpe

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Overbearing state
  • http://faustiesblog.blogspot.com/ FaustiesBlog

    I’ve been following this, too. While it’s a shocking expansion of the police state, might it be worse than they are reporting it to be?
    For instance, do these accredited persons have right to the police database? Might they be granted such rights in the future?
    I ask, because database access for these people was mooted a few years back, and if Labour’s record is anything to go by, rather than the policy dying a death, it is more likely that it was implemented anyway – the government keeping quiet about it.

  • Victor Cardiss

    In East Germany under the Communist regime the Stazi police employed one in five of the population to watch others. While some activities were not considerred to be criminal you could find yourself labelled as a ‘type’ of person because of your activities or your associations.
    In Britain being a practising christian used to be mark of good character but now christians are a ‘type’… right wing, homophobic, old fashioned, illiberal, intolerent…
    We heard the radio adds that tell us all to call the terrorist hot line if we know someone who is shy or uses cash (Government can’t wait to get rid of cash as they can’t monitor what you’re doing with it)
    Truth is… I fear my own government more than any other threat in all the world. What you are or what you do may not mark you out as a criminal today but things change and you may be targeted soon. For the liberty and freedom of all we need to stop it altogether right now!

  • zorro

    ACPO is a cartel and needs to be abolished. It inveigles its way into giving ‘best practice’ guidance to police forces whilst charging enthusiastically for its services and encouraging things such as ANPR in which it has a vested interest. Who does ACPO serve? It gets its money from grants and whatever it can….A nice little earner for ex copper bigwig troughers….http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1145581/Body-charge-UK-policing-policy-18m-year-brand-charging-public-70-60p-criminal-records-check.html

  • http://www.jess-the-dog.blogspot.com Jess The Dog

    Only answer is disobedience. If some ‘accredited person’ tries to arrest you, it is assault and self-defence using reasonable force is entirely appropriate. This adds the complicating prospect of litigation or prosecution of the ‘accredited person’ if they fail to follow procedures to the letter and over-react. Only a warranted police constable should be empowered to arrest a person and they tend to know a bit more about the law, following selection and fairly intensive and in-depth training. In fact, I bet far more ‘accredited persons’ will end up in the dock or facing legal action than those they try to arrest.
    Why not build a database in the spirit of the police state? Get photos of those wearing ‘accredited person’ badges and identify their organisations.

  • NeverSurrender

    Victor said – “Truth is… I fear my own government more than any other threat in all the world. What you are or what you do may not mark you out as a criminal today but things change and you may be targeted soon. For the liberty and freedom of all we need to stop it altogether right now!”
    Well said Victor! Our own government is the biggest threat to the population. We must reverse all the Orwellian laws enacted by this Stasi-like government and get back to some form of normality. The question remains though, “How do we motivate an apathetic public into action?” Nothing can be done until that happens.

  • Redacted

    Yes, our government is scary. We fear them, and they presumably fear us too.
    An interesting read on this subject, recently highlighted by Bruce Schneier:
    http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000512.php
    Which suggests that a major psychological factor in evaluating risk is the amount of control over the situation.
    Is this why the government wants control of every last detail of our lives? Because they are in fear of us?
    Also, the more control they have over us, the less control we feel we have in our daily lives, and the more likely we are to be fearful of any risk, no matter how small it is in reality.
    So it is a vicious circle, basically.

  • Chris Holvor

    This scheme has been running for some time now, and mostly involves the security of shopping malls and precincts.As a licensed door supervisor, my company asked if I would like to attend one of these courses-my answer was an emphatic NO.There is a degree of misinformation in some of the replies here-since the inception of the Security Industry Authority all front line security staff are CRB checked,trained-albeit to a minimal standard,and licensed(245.00 for three years).All citizens have a residual power of arrest ANY PERSON powers under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.Very aposite date!

  • David Thomson

    This expansion or delegation of authority should not be encouraged. Policing should be reserved for professionally trained officers with the title ‘police’.

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    If you own a home with wheels on it and several cars without, you just might be a redneck.

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    Temporary detaining till the police arrive on the scene is more like it. They cannot arrest a person and create a private jail for them anyways!
    Just a bit of reading into things too much.

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    Don,
    I was about to tear your comment to shreds, but I do need to ask a legit question first:
    Where do you draw the line between a commercial work and noncommercial work? What’s the difference to you?

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    I fear my own government more than any other threat in all the world. What you are or what you do may not mark you out as a criminal today but things change and you may be targeted soon.

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    As a licensed door supervisor, my company asked if I would like to attend one of these courses-my answer was an emphatic NO

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    Man this is terrible, there are many cars in the word, much more then parking spots, please give us a break!!!!

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    I don`t think it`s a good idea

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