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David Mery Arrested under the Terrorism Act

Posted on September 22, 2005
Filed Under Daily Links, UK National Database and ID Card |

I’m jsut going to post this link to David Mery’s website. David is some I have regular contact with via All About Symbian, and quite frankly, this post is chilling. THis is only a small quote, you’ll want to read the whole thing.

So, basically the Police have decided that wearing a rain jacket, carrying a rucksack with a laptop inside, looking down at the steps while going in a tube station and checking your phone for messages just tick too many checkmarks on their checklist and make you a terrorist suspect. How many other people are not only wrongly detained but wrongly arrested every week in similar circumstances as myself? And how many of them are also computer and telecoms enthusiasts that fit the Police’s terrorist behavioural profile so well? I accept and understand spot checks can be useful, but profiling… this would be a joke if it didn’t affect many ‘innocent bystanders’.

The Police eventually decided to take No Further Action (NFA): ‘a decision not to proceed with a prosecution’. In a democratic country such as the UK, one would be forgiven for naively thinking that this is the end of the matter. Under the current laws the Police are not only entitled to keep my fingerprints and DNA samples, but apparently, according to my solicitor, they are also entitled to hold on to what they gathered during their investigation: notepads of the arresting officers, photographs, interviewing tapes and any other documents they collected and entered in the Police National Computer (PNC). (Also, at the time of this writing, I still have no letter stating that I’m effectively off the hook and I still haven’t been given any of my possessions back.)

Aren’t the Police supposed to keep tabs only on convicted criminals and individuals under investigation? So even though the Police consider me innocent, otherwise they would have had a duty to prosecute me, there will remain some mention (what exactly?) in the PNC and, if they fully share their information with Interpol, in other Police databases around the world as well. Isn’t a state that keeps files on innocent persons a police state?

Link: Gizmonaut

Comments

2 Responses to “David Mery Arrested under the Terrorism Act”

www.gadgetguy.de - The GadgetGuy » Geeks, you’d better stay away from britain… on September 22nd, 2005 10:38

[…] Now this is scary: “So, basically the Police have decided that wearing a rain jacket, carrying a rucksack with a laptop inside, looking down at the steps while going in a tube station and checking your phone for messages just tick too many checkmarks on their checklist and make you a terrorist suspect. How many other people are not only wrongly detained but wrongly arrested every week in similar circumstances as myself? And how many of them are also computer and telecoms enthusiasts that fit the Police’s terrorist behavioural profile so well? I accept and understand spot checks can be useful, but profiling… this would be a joke if it didn’t affect many ‘innocent bystanders’.” […]
Earle Martin on September 22nd, 2005 11:31

I was interrogated by armed police myself the other night. On the other hand, I was just having a walk though Whitehall at night, which I suppose is a much higher “threat” than being in a Tube station. David’s story is shocking.

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