Thread by @DaveASpencer

The footage that has come out of Manchester Airport of a police officer apparently kicking and stamping on a person on the floor has shocked a lot of people… here are a few thoughts about the police use of force in this case /1🧵

The use of force almost always looks terrible - even when it is entirely lawful - it is often chaotic, with heightened emotions and noise there are usually more things going on than any single person could process quickly enough to get things 100% right every time /2

Early commentary based on a few seconds of social media footage rarely tells the full story - on the flip side it usually takes far too long for the police and other authorities to ensure that the full story is told /3

Speed in finding out what happened is critical - this case is having a substantial impact on the public. Last night there was a protest outside a local police station - I am reminded of the start of the summer 2011 London Riots following a controversial police use of force /4

To have any chance of knowing what happened quickly enough this case needs the same level of investigative resourcing a murder inquiry would have - many will say this is too much but they are under-playing how badly this is impacting public perception of policing nationally /5

It would seem that preceding the widely circulated clips there was a highly violent incident which led to the hospitalisation of at least three police officers and the arrest of a number of people /6

I wish the injured officers the best - I hope they have a swift recovery and are being fully supported leaders in @gmpolice /7

It is difficult to see how kicking someone in the head while they are apparently handcuffed on the floor would be justifiable - but the only way to know is to gather all of the evidence and assess the actions against the law /8

Police officers are empowered by the law to use force – the law sets out when that is lawful. There are three main legal ‘powers’ – S3 Criminal Law Act 1967, S117 PACE 1984 and common law /9

Section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 says that reasonable force can be used to prevent crime or to assist in the lawful arrest of a suspected offender

/10legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/58/…

Section 117 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 says that a police officer may use reasonable force to exercise a power conferred under PACE – for example conducting a stop and search or arresting someone

/11legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/…

Common Law recognises that someone may use force to protect themselves from attack or in defence of others - no more force than is reasonable to repel the attack may be used /12

Section 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 says that whether the force used was reasonable is as the person using it genuinely believed it to be – even if that genuinely held belief was mistaken

/13legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/4/s…

Given all these pieces of legislation (and there is a whole load of relevant case law as well), an officer needs to ask themselves:..... /14

Does the use of force have a lawful objective – for example, the prevention of injury to others or to effect a lawful arrest? /15

Is there any way, short of the use of force, capable of attaining the lawful objective identified? /16

In the circumstances what is the minimum level of force required to attain the objective identified? Would the use of that level of force be proportionate or excessive? /17

Where officers are found to have failed to follow the law then they should be held to account - that includes through the criminal courts and police misconduct processes - currently those processes take far too long for everyone involved /18

The sooner the full facts of this case are known and published the better - I can't emphasise enough the negative impact this incident is having - the usual speed of response by policing and other authorities will be woefully insufficient /19