No, the police can not arrest anyone they want, and I refuse to believe they would try to arrest someone when they have no suspicion of the person having committed a crime. Yes, innocent people get arrested sometimes but only when there is reasonable suspicion. For example if I was to go and tell the police you had committed a murder, they would come and arrest you. Obviously they would eventually find you innocent, but they have to arrest you before they can come to that conclusion. Obviously you get police abusing their powers at times, most notably when beating up protesters, but it doesn't mean they can just do this and get away with it. A policeman caught abusing his powers will be punished. And like I said before, I don't even know why we're talking about this because it has no relevance to this thread.
Like all things these tend to be less complicated cases...so the turn around tends to be very quick. Just to correct another statement about arrest by the police. The police cannot just arrest who they like when they like....it might seem like that but trust me that is not the way it works. They have to have justifiable cause and if they haven't they are open to being sued for false arrest. Many a policeman has fallen foul of this and been dismissed from the force and it has cost the force a lot of money in the past......these days there is less likely hood of getting away with that so they will in the main arrest only when necessary.
It also depends what the charge is. If not serious, could be easier to plea guilty. Barnard wouldn't plead guilty because a) he was innocent or b) an expensive brief might get him off.
What I was trying to put across was not every police man or women follows the letter of the law. Some have massive egos and think they can do what they want, my mate was cleared beyond doubt. Yet he still has a record that he got arrested and what for and all his dna etc, so basically if a case the like the one they made up for my mate comes up in future. He will be looked into, even tho he did nothing wrong(the police actual said this). I think because this has happened to some one close to me I have a different view on police and their workings to others.
I can understand where you are coming from......If there is a problem in the future then you are right that will be on his record however it is not a criminal record and therefore cannot be used in any way by the police other than to inform. His past arrest would only come to light if he had a criminal record. To use this information in any other way is against the law and European law too.
What I find interesting about all this is, how many of the people, who think it's OK to make up and chant nasty songs at any football match, about people who, through no fault of their own, have a different lifestyle or, are from an ethnic minority background etc; would go up as an individual in the street to another individual from the aforementioned minorities and shout the same horrible things at them? About 0.01 % would be my guess. To all the people doing this in the safety of a big crowd and are still thinking it's ok, how about this. Next time you see someone who is different in sexual orientation, different colour skin, religion, to you, in the street, on the bus, whereever you are, I bet you don't go up to them, get up in their face and chant the same rubbish 1to1 you were chanting at the oppositions fans, the last Saturday you went to football. Do you know why I know you won't? Because you're cowards!
I have written, above. "at any football match" I'm talking about all fans here. It's not my style to single people out.
Well said......Winding up opposition teams is fair game.......but do you need to use homophobic chants....No..... especially against a team like Brighton who give you enough ammunition without needing to lower yourself to having to use homophobic chants to get at them. What Meowth says is right 1 on 1 you would not consider shouting such rubbish! As he says how would you like to have someone shouting stuff about you. It would make you very angry. So to those who applaud the behaviour of those lads that thought it was funny to abuse the fans in that way it may be a good idea to have a re-think! OK, I can hear you say, but it was only a bit of fun!! Unfortunately it wasn't fun to some was it? A valuable lesson perhaps about responsibility in free speech.......... Having said that though, I have to say it is not the worse case of homophobic chanting I have heard in the past and not necessarily at Saints, I am talking in general. I hope the lads just get a strong warning as to their future behaviour.
I agree with everything pompeymeowth says. The irony here is that, as someone else pointed out on a different thread, as well as people who actually are gay possbly taking offence at this sort of drivel, the other sort of people to be offended are homophobes. I'm all for banter and taunting the opposition fans, but, as Beddytare says, it should all be about the football and the history, and the personalities associated with the clubs, not about generalised stuff which only applies to a small minority of people who, as pompeymeowth says, don't actually have any choice about their lifestyle.
One of the issues is that people do have a different view of waht is acceptable at a football match, and what is acceptable in the "real world" We accept players sweraing at a ref, who is effectively a paid subcontrator of their employer, but would never consider effing and blinding at the man who is fixing the photocopier! Football seems to be the last area of society where poor behaviour is still tolerated. I guess its the pack mentality. 10,000 singing abuse is more acceptable than 1 person singing it. Racist chanting seems a thing of the past, well certainly in England, but still happens in mainland europe, and is rife in many eastern european countries. Genuine homophobia is to be deplored, and I think in general most people are very tolerant of homosexuality, and really could not care less how people conduct their sex life. However, I dont really think the chants at brighton fans are any worse than the chants at scousers (does the social know you're here, and in your liverpool slums) to be honest. Its hardly going to make anyone turn to gaybashing is it??
Unhelpful. That goes into the category, was funny 40 years ago when people were ignorant of the situation.
