Gatecrashers spoil wedding party.....

[maestro]

Oh dear, it seems their big day was well and truly ruined.....

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... blunder.do

[DigitalFX]

This only adds to my long list of why I hate the Police, need I say more...

[bensonby]

All that based off a single tip, that is insane, those cops need to be fired and this couple should sue the department.

Sometimes a single tip-off is all you get.... should the police not bother turning up to a burglary in progress, or a fight in the street because only one person rang 999? "I'm sorry sir, we didn't come out to you when you were robbed as there was only a single tip off"

Imagine if it had been a forced marriage and the police didn't act in any way.... the police would be [and have been i the past] criticised for not acting. They really can't win can they?

To be frank on the surface, whilst it is horrible for the family involved, it doesn't look like the police did very much wrong: They received information that a crime may have been committed [presumably that information was credible] - they turned up to the location and investigated the matter. When it transpired that the information was false they ended the investigation.

As for turning up with 15 officers it hardly seems "mob handed" - there were 200 people at the location....if they all decided to kick off I doubt 15 would have been enough.

The police have a duty to investigate allegations of crime. They do that by questioning people, arresting them and so on... just being arrested or questioned is not an implication of guilt or some kind of conviction. A police officer can arrest anyone he suspects to be guilty of an offence - suspicion is a very low threshold. One of the reasons a police officer may arrest someone is to enable that person to be investigated and questioned about the alleged offence. If it transpires that person is not guilty of an offence they are released with no mark on their character. The police need to arrest people who come under suspicion of offences and that, invariably, will mean some innocent people will be arrested. The alternative is that offences go un-investigated and people get away with all sorts of horrible crimes.

Anyway, a complaint has been made and the IPCC are looking into it....they will have the full facts while we only have an Evening Standard article to go on. It would be improper to comment much further.

This only adds to my long list of why I hate the Police, need I say more...

another helpful comment there displaying general ignorance...

[sfhyouthforum]

Could the police not have dealt with it the next day? Why raid the actual ceremony? I'm baffled?

[bensonby]

If it was done the next day the wedding would already have taken place wouldn't it....

[maestro]

According to the article, the wedding had actually taken place the week before.

[The bride was left in tears as detectives questioned her and accused the groom of orchestrating a forced Muslim marriage. The young British-Pakistani couple, who had married in a ceremony the previous week, were then held at Lewisham police station for nearly two hours, despite showing their marriage certificate.]

[JeeBee]

I read about this and thought it was pretty disgusting, especially given the cost of the preparations for the day (£20k IIRC), which I doubt the police will be wanting to pay back to the couple. I hope they had wedding insurance that covers police overreaction and stupidity.

[bensonby]

Damned if you do and damned if you don't springs to mind around policing.

On these facts stated how was it an overreaction or
stupid? Additionally, provided the police actions were lawful - and there is nothing to suggest they weren't - why should they reimburse the couples
money (save perhaps out of goodwill).

Are you of the opinion that people who are arrested but who it later transpires are innocent should be compensated? Provided an arrest wad lawful then of course they shouldn't. For an arrest to be lawful all that is needed is suspicion....not
proof. Arresting, raiding, detaining people who
a constable suspects of an offence is not an overreaction, it's not stupid; it's their job.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Annie]

Thank God we have the police force that we do,
anarchy would reign without!

[The Clown]

It would seem that whoever it was who wasted eveybody's time by making the false accusation in the first place is at fault, not the police.
All this media led blame-culture sensationalism nonsence is so depressing.
Find a minority group, misrepresent the facts and expect a load of ooh's and aaah's.
I suspect that the reporting wasn't as the couple had thought it would be either and that they feel that they were misrepresented as so often happens. Lets hope the police did treat matters sensitively (as was reported) and that the couple end up laughing about it at some point during a long and happy marriage.