Never Mess with a copper :-)

Fair enough that that lad got what he deserved but it seems a bit dodgy to me. What if hypothetically your cousin had been hammered and played a good part in starting a scuffle and the other participants had then been charged for assaulting a police officer. I'm not at all saying he would ever do such a thing but it seems a bit silly for that charge to be in effect if he was off duty and other people had no idea he was a police officer. He was after all a peer to the rest of the people out on the lash at the time.

Not meaning to have a go at you if thats how it sounds but it just scares me that i could be out one night and end up in a fight that i may not have instigated and before i know it im up in court for assaulting police. There are plenty dodgy coppers out there im sure.
 
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Is it possible to charge somebody with assaulting a police officer if they are not on duty?
 
I'm sure he won't have been charged with assault police. The actual offence is assaulting a police constable in the execution of his duty.

a) He wasn't executing his duty
b) It's not reasonable to expect the assailant to know he was a police officer.
 
Clum said:
Fair enough that that lad got what he deserved but it seems a bit dodgy to me. What if hypothetically your cousin had been hammered and played a good part in starting a scuffle and the other participants had then been charged for assaulting a police officer. I'm not t all saying he would ever do such a thing but it seems a bit silly for that charge to be in effect if he was off duty and other people had no idea he was a police officer. He was after all a peer to the rest of the people out on the lash at the time.

Not meaning to have a go at you if thats how it wounds but it just scares me that i could be out one night and end up in a fight that i may not have instigated and before i know it im up in court for assaulting police. There are plenty dodgy coppers out there im sure.
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I know what you mean but the copper who arrested the guy could see that it was an unprovoked attack. apparently my cousin put his arms up and was walking away at the time it was seen by the copper.

The end of the day I know where people are coming from. A few years ago I was attacked and left with minor brain damage. The police took 3 days to get to my house and even though I gave them the names and address of the people involved it took them 6 months to even begin to question the guys which meant they ended up getting away scot free
 
JBuk said:
Is it possible to charge somebody with assaulting a police officer if they are not on duty?
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In short, yes, as a police officer can place himself 'on duty' whenever he likes, should he see fit.

However in this situation, see above :)
 
I wonder if that'll become one of the new "buzzwords" people use to ensure the police actually bother to turn up to incidents these days.

"Yes...yes, I've seen one of them waving a knife.....and there's an OFF DUTY POLICE OFFICER ON THE FLOOR!"
 
killsta said:
In short, yes, as a police officer can place himself 'on duty' whenever he likes, should he see fit.

However in this situation, see above :)
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Similar to what I already thought

Would it have made an difference if he announced he was an officer? especially after having a few drinks?
 
Oh ye no doubt the guy deserved to get arrested for that but i still think that unless the offender knew that your cousin was police then its harsh to charge him for doing so. Thats assuming your cousin didnt make it clear to the guy that he was an officer at any point. Most people would think twice about hitting a copper over joe bloggs given the more serious ramifications of the crime. Reckon there should be a massive penalty for unprovoked assault on anyone although it would be so complicated to prove who attacked who in most cases that this prob wont ever happen. Drunken fights are often as much one partys fault as the others in my experience.

In fairness to the police though i was also attacked years ago and they were brilliant at dealing with it and had the guys in custody within hours.
 
JBuk said:
Similar to what I already thought

Would it have made an difference if he announced he was an officer? especially after having a few drinks?
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It all depends and is based on common sense.

In an ideal situation an off duty officer can announce he is police, show his warrant card and then deal with a situation, and technically any following 'assaults' on him would be assaulting a constable.

In this situation though, on a night out, announcing yourself to be a police officer is a foolish thing and can most likely result in you getting your head kicked in. If any 'assault police' charges were to get past the custody sgt they would most definately get thrown out in court as any drunk can shout 'police'.
 
At the end of the day weather it was a copper or not who the guy hit. They guy is still in the wrong. Even if it does get thrown out of court hopefully the guy who did it will think twice about running up and smacking someone for no reason
 
Have to agree. Ignorance isn't often a good defence in law, but in this case, it probably is - at least to the specific charge of assault police. It's still assault though and the guy got a free ride in the back of a van, so job done.
 
arrested for assaulting an off duty, possibly intoxicated police officer? I have some doubts about this story...

Also are you suggesting that the police turned up faster because it was mentioned there was a police employee there. Good to know they're on the publics side.
 
i dont understand, random drunk gets knocked down and calls for backup.
how is that dont mess with a copper?
if he would have turned around, arrested the bloke while dishing out some Judge Dredd style justice then cool. but being put on his ass with his friend is hardly something to not mess with him for!
 
Sorry guys my story telling is quite rubbish.

The main point I wanted to get across is that they guy who hit my cousin started crying in front of all his mates when he found out he was a copper.
Its not very often these chavs who go round picking on random people start crying in front of their mates is it
 
its not like he put it in a choke hold and made him cry or anything though is it.
it was a case of being potentially in the **** in a big way.
 
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