Police strip and violently assault woman in cells....in the UK

[PosieComeHereMyPreciousParker]

I am astonished and ashamed that this can happen in Britain. The victim is taking action against Police....surely the Police should be prosecuting these officers?

disturbing images

Shw was clothed at the start of the clip.

Yes she was stripped by police officers and left in the cell.

At some point later on when she is sitting there quietly they come back in and throw her onto the ground. It's not one clip, some time has obviously elapsed. they say on the report that the assault happened after she asked if she could call her mum.

what the hell! they cut her clothes off?!?

"we only see what the CCTV shows us"

erm, yes. Your point is?

What do you see on teh CCTV?

ISNT where does it say it was thrown out of court? I can only see where it says the charges against the woman they stripped have been dropped.

Ah - actually I think I have misunderstood you?

She was in court accused of attacking police officers but when they showed the CCTV footage in court the charges against her were dropped, and she is now pursuing an action against them - that's what the clip and article say.

Really concerned by the attitude that she must have done something wrong to be in a police cell. That is not the case. What happened to innocent until proved guilty?

Even if she had done something wrong, is that how we want to treat people in police custody

There was no need for any of that, its disgusting, she was not a risk to the officers.

jesus christ that is bloody disgusting. how anyone who has watched that can defend the officers is beyond me. she was bound and left lying face down, naked on the floor with a bleeding face. it was unprovoked. she was sitting on the floor covering herself when they threw her on teh floor.

and as for everyone who is arrested has done something to deserve it???? words fail me. a lot of attitudes need checked.

Absolutely sickening.

Yes, we can't just wade in and judge when we don't have the facts, but we don't need to as the judge corroborates the woman's story, so clearly she was able to convince him.

What I hate as well is that male police officers seem to be allowed to strip and restrain female prisoners. How can that be right? Does being in a police cell mean you are stripped of even common decency?

Shocking behaviour.

(I hope, and believe, most police officers would also be mortified at this, however).

Hello, newbie and lurker here :)

Thought the footage was awful, very shocked!

The attitudes which suggest "no smoke without fire" are understandable - it's similar to hearing that people are involved with Social Services - they couldn't possibly be involved for no reason, must be more to the story etc.

The majority of people in this country need to feel secure in that the State mostly acts fairly and humanely according to procedure. People who have had a different experience of the State's agencies and the legal system quite often suffer the double humiliation of not being completely believed when things go wrong, and are permanently embittered by the experience.

From my experiences, I can honestly say that because human beings act for the State, it will never be 100% fair and efficient because human nature is rarely 100% fair and efficient itself.

My response to this is simply to remind myself that until you've walked in another's shoes you cannot know their truth, and then to try to form my opinions based on the evidence I'm shown. IMO therefore I see no justification for the way that woman was treated in the video footage, and feel best practise was simply not followed.

great post Toxickitten

I can't see the clip - just something about the plane bombs.

I believe that there some aspects of the police in this country are out of control. I was with my brother when he was stopped and searched and just because my brother asked a question during the search the policeman grabbed him pinned him against the wall whilst the police woman searched him.

I was shocled and wanted him to complain but he didn't as he just wanted to forget about it.

The only reason they ever strip anyone IME is if they are threatening to make a ligature/ arent in a cell ith cctv, are using the cothes to obscure the cctv

popelle all your db did was ask a question and they did that?

grannie i wondered that too about the male officers being allowed to do that. i guess they get away with it by saying there aren't enough female staff to carry it out.

I don't think there are any gender requirements regarding strip searches by the police

byrel, do you mean male police officers can just ask a woman in a cell to strip - and force her if she refuses? Surely not??

wow, imagine what that must be liek for a woman who has been raped being forced to remove her clothes by a man. can women ask for a female officer to perform the search?

I think you can ask but if there aren't any availible then you've got to have a man (don't know though).

god, i can't imagine what that must be like. horrific.

There was a case recently where a womans rape case collapsed because she had not made eye contact with the men who were performing the medical examination afterwards (ie she must have had something to hide ). I think we still have a long way to go with all of this. I was under the impression that women performed examinations after rapes, now I find that my other idea that female police officers perform strip searches has turned out to be incorrect. I honestly assumed that both of these things would be the way it was done. You learn something every day.

ISNT that is terrible. a victim of rape lost her case because she was nervous around men while they were examining he intimately? what the hell is happening in the world? it really disgusts me the way women are treated by those that are supposed to protect them.

OK. Just to clarify a couple of points, BUT NOT TO TRY TO JUSTIFY THIS CLIP.

Male officers are not involved in rape examinations of female victims - unless the victim specifically requsted it (very, very unusual). Male Doctors are, unless the woman objects.

Male officers do not search or strip-search women. BUT, if a woman is being violent and has to be searched for her safety and the safety of others, and it needed doing urgently then male police officers/ custody assitants would get involved, if enough female officers were not immediately available.