An Isle of Wight man has been convicted of a public order offence after swearing and being abusive towards police officers who stopped and searched him.
Dylan Mark Kemp, 24, care of an address in Ward Close, Carisbrooke, Newport, admitted one charge of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour when he appeared at Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court on Friday, 16th October 2020.
It is an offence under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 for a person to use threatening or abusive words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby. The maximum penalty on summary conviction is a fine at level 3 (currently £1,000).
Prosecutor Liz Miller told Magistrates that Kemp had been in an area of Newport known for drug dealing when police officers stopped and searched him.
Clearly unhappy at the situation, Kemp started swearing at the officers. Nothing was found during the search, so Kemp was allowed to leave the scene. He continued swearing and being abusive towards the officers, which resulted in his arrest.
James Cameron, mitigating, told Magistrates that his client, who suffers from ADHD, had "lost his cool" at being stopped and searched unnecessarily.
Addressing the bench directly, Kemp said: "I think I have been stopped about 17 times lately and I haven't done anything wrong for four years.
"I felt harassed and scared. There were seven other people there and none of them got searched. It's because of my age and the way I look. They wouldn't stop and search you."
Kemp was fined £120 and ordered to pay £34 victim surcharge and £85 towards prosecution costs.
Leaving the courtroom, he shouted: "It's an absolute joke".
This is an interesting case in the sense that it is not often section 5 charges are laid when the only complainant is a police officer. There is a myth circulating that police officers cannot be the complainant in section 5 cases, but that is legally incorrect.
It is generally accepted, though of course not acceptable, that police officers are subjected to threatening and/or abusive behaviour by virtue of the role they perform.
That being the case, the level of threatening and/or abusive behaviour likely to cause a police officer harassment, alarm or distress is higher than that which would be likely to cause an ordinary member of the public harassment, alarm or distress. It is entirely a matter for the court whether or not that level has been passed.
The abuse directed at the officers in this case has not been reported, but we can surmise that it consisted of some pretty unsavoury comments.
As the old adage goes, whether you're speaking to police officers or anyone else for that matter: if you don't have anything nice to say, best to say nothing at all!
1 comment:
Its worrying that Police are so easily disturbed by such language and/or behaviour.
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