police arrested daughter at work for alleged hub cap incident - help!

[sanpez]

My daughter had a hired car from her work place whilst a mechanic worked on hers,

 

on Saturday night she drove into a car park to go to a local store, it was closed so she then left.

 

Today 1 CID officer and 1 in uniform turned up at her work and arrested her,

 

she had phoned the police this morning when she had found out they had contacted the garage

and offered to go to the station after work, she was told that was not acceptable,

as a HUBCAP (1) was stolen off a car in the car park.

 

The car she was driving was seen on CCTV entering the car park,

they phoned her work to find out who was driving the car hence arresting her at work.

 

They came to the house to inspect her car, as her car was the same as the one who had their hub cap stolen,

she has plastic hub caps and the one stolen was metal.

 

They then took her to the police station where she was kept for 3 1/2 hours being questioned

about this 1 hub cap which would probably cost £20-00 to replace.

 

She is now worried about going back to work in the morning in case she gets sacked for being arrested at work.

 

The police eventually released her with no further action.

 

Whilst I agree if you have items stolen then it should be investigated

but I am just after an opinion if others think this was a bit over the top.

 

She is a young girl who if she wanted hub caps as she works for a garage would get them from there.

 

She has just cried herself to sleep over the embaressment of being arrested at work.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Indeed sounds a tad over the top, she could a senior officer for an explanation and or make a complaint regarding the actions of the officers concerned.

[unclebulgaria67]

Have a feeling there is more to this story.

The Police do not arrest someone on suspicion of stealing a hubcap.

 

In fact I would be surprised if they even bothered to investigate such a crime.

 

The cost of making even a few enquiries would be more than the value of such a crime.

 

There must be some issue with the car she was driving or other issue, which the Police had flagged up on their systems.

 

For example if the car registration was marked as one suspected of being involved in criminal activity, then the Police might take more of an interest.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

The possibility here is insurance/ownership of the vehicle it could be on motor traders insurance etc.

[steampowered]

Unfortunately I think it is just one of those things. Noone's fault in particular ... it is inevitable that sometimes the police will think someone committed a crime but it turns out on questioning them that they are innocent. Its just part of life.

 

She is clearly embarassed ... rather than trying to ignore it, the best thing would be to get there early and have a chat with the boss to explain what happened and clear up any doubts. I can't see why this would result in getting sacked.

[unclebulgaria67]

Unfortunately I think it is just one of those things. Noone's fault in particular ... it is inevitable that sometimes the police will think someone committed a crime but it turns out on questioning them that they are innocent. Its just part of life.

 

She is clearly embarassed ... rather than trying to ignore it, the best thing would be to get there early and have a chat with the boss to explain what happened and clear up any doubts. I can't see why this would result in getting sacked.

 

If this happened to me, I would not treat this, as just one of those things.

 

I would be contacting the Police commissioners office to make a formal complaint.

 

We do not live in a Police state and this type of behaviour would be seen by most people as oppressive.

 

It would be fair enough if a serious crime had been suspected and then I would not have a problem.

 

Hence the comment about thinking there must be more to this story.

 

You don't get arrested at work over a stolen hubcap and taken down the Police station for nearly 4 hours.

[steampowered]

If this happened to me, I would not treat this, as just one of those things. I would be contacting the Police commissioners office to make a formal complaint. We do not live in a Police state and this type of behaviour would be seen by most people as oppressive. It would be fair enough if a serious crime had been suspected and then I would not have a problem. Hence the comment about thinking there must be more to this story. You don't get arrested at work over a stolen hubcap and taken down the Police station for nearly 4 hours.

 

I understand your point. 3.5 hours does seem like a rather long time. But at the end of the day, the police do not need to be 100% sure before arresting someone they only need reasonable grounds. It sounds like the police did have reasonable grounds to suspect this poor lady of theft and question her.

[Ganymede]

Complaints should be made to the IPCC not the Police Commissioner.

[neil6534]

i agree with unclebulgaria67 this is somewhat of a trivial matter and i doubt the police would even get involved unless there was far more to this than just a hub cap.

 

however if it was truly just about the hub cap then i would complain to the police complaints authority for unecessary treatment - also surely your daughter would have requested a lawyer as soon as she was at the station??? if not then why not?

 

her work can not fire her unless she has been there for under 1 year (any employer can fire you without reason if you have worked for a year or less)

[phaitun]

these are the exact circumstances that Code G of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act was designed for.

 

the arresting officers would have to convince the custody officer that it. 'was absolutely necessary' to arrest your daughter.

 

if it was me and the true circumstances are as the OP has posted then I would be making a huge complaint.

 

Your daughter is entitled to a copy of the custody record and interview cd's

 

I would definately seek to get those items in the first instance

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Quite clearly the arresting officer and the custody officer were satisfied there was reason to suspect a crime had been committed.

[sanpez]

Thank you all for your comments, unfortunately it was just over a hub cap, whilst she was in the holding cell another officer said that the situation was silly but they had to be seen to be taken action and she was just on the wrong place at the wrong time. She was released after they interviewed her with no further action. I think the whole thing was handled incorrectly as she was not allowed to phone me to let me know where she was. Not sure about a solicitor although as she has never been arrested before in had contact with police, and as she had not done anything wrong she may not have thought she needed one.

[unclebulgaria67]

If I were your daughter I would make a formal complaint to the Inspector in charge at the Police Station concerned. I think there must be some issue that your daughter is not aware of. I wonder how many other drivers who entered the car park, were arrested and taken down the Police station for over 3 hours.

[steampowered]

I think it might be difficult to complain about the fact of the arrest itself. Although arrests should be "necessary" the meaning of "necessary" is quite widely defined.

 

However it sounds like there are grounds for complaining about her treatment at the police station. I'm not a criminal law expert but my understanding is that, on being questioned at the police station, there is a right to telephone someone. This right can only be delayed in restricted circumstances and I can't see there were any grounds for delay here. If she was arrested she should have been interviewed under caution, which would have included a statement about the right to legal advice (although she may not have decided to take up that right). Whether your daughter feels it is worth pursuing this another matter.

[citizenB]

This thread is now in "General Legal Issues"

 

It is purely an administrative move.