somone’s lost the plot
But Ch Supt Derek Barnett, Vice President of the Police Superintendents’ Association, denied that PACE was being breached.
He told Law In Action, “In such circumstances it may not be the wish of a detainee to have a solicitor present.
“They may feel uncomfortable discussing other matters in their presence or there may be a conflict of interest with other people known to the solicitor or indeed there may be issues of confidentiality that the detainee has,” he said.
“What I should point out is that there is absolutely no obligation to take part in these debriefings and it is difficult to envisage that it would be fruitful if a detainee was denied his wish to have a solicitor present.”
This is an excerpt from a news article published by the BBC and refers to a recent practice by the police of holding suspects for a further 10minutes for questions not related to the crime they are accused in an attempt to “gather intelligence”. As the accused legal counsel is excluded this is in violation of the 1984 PACE act which aims to protect individuals accused of criminal offences from forceful and improper questioning techniques practised by the police. The full editorial can be read here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/law_in_action/6722617.stm
These sounds like words spoken by the Police Chief in a communist state and not in the United Kingdom. Tell me there is still a difference between the two. What makes this all the more disheartening is the countless people who will waive their rights to having a lawyer present when interviewed by the police because they didn’t know better.