Arrested, caged and DNA tested - for using MP3

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For your consideration.

Fred

Metro.Co.UK:

In Great Britain today:

Arrested, caged and DNA tested - for using MP3

Tuesday, February 12, 2008
A commuter was arrested at gunpoint and had his DNA and fingerprints taken simply for listening to his MP3 player while waiting for a bus.

Darren Nixon was surrounded by armed police after his music player was mistaken for a gun.

When a passer-by saw the 28-year-old get out his black Philips machine to change tracks, she panicked and dialed 999.


Police tracked Mr Nixon using CCTV. As he got off the bus home from work he was surrounded by a firearms unit, who bundled him into a van.

He was then put in a cell and his fingerprints, DNA and mugshot were taken before he was released.

Although police realised it was a false alarm, Mr Nixon, from Stoke-on-Trent, now has to live with his DNA stored on a national database.

The force will also keep on record that he was arrested on suspicion of a firearms offence.

Mr Nixon said: 'It was unreal – I had a completely clean record before this and have always been a law-abiding citizen.' The mechanic said that, as he got off the bus, he saw a policeman gesture but could not hear what he said.

Mr Nixon added: 'As I got closer, I could see that two of the cops had guns. My heart was racing a mile a minute. One of them was hiding behind a car door, looking down his sight at me, and the other was shouting orders and pointing a gun at me.

'I turned the music off and they were telling me to put my hands up in the air.'

DNA records are kept for life so that they can be matched to future samples.

Even suspects who are wrongfully arrested normally stay on the database. Staffordshire Police said a member of the public reported seeing a man pull a gun from his pocket, grip it with both hands and aim.

A spokesman added: 'An operation was put in place and a man matching the description was detained.'
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The police in GB seem to be a bunch of thugs. Why didn't they release him as soon as they found no gun on him? I don't believe there is a bill of rights in GB so this guy probably has no legal recourse.
 
The problem with most european countries is that they are old. GB as well as sweden and other countries are countries created by a monarch and populated by subjects. Subjects who have gained a few civil rights, but who have never actually been free. In most of the european countries the subjects have taken some steps towards being citizens, free men, but in no country have we come all the way to being citizens rather than subjects and in the past twenty years or so we have been pushed back towards full subjecthood, faster and faster since 9/11 after which the ruling caste have used said tragedy as an alibi for cutting away our liberties as fast as they can without too much unrest.

The big difference between USA and any other country in the world is that USA was founded by the people for the people. Take care of that heritage, dont let would be monarchs take it away from you.
 
The police here in the US are thugs, too. I was detained for carrying, despite the state trooper holding my license to carry in his hand, and no reasonable suspicion of guilt of any crime.
 
Welcome to THR

sprithitler, welcome to The High Road. I've read two posts from you and the first one really impressed me.

So, since we here in the U.S. have usually followed the example of the brits (cameras, road tax, etc.), how long qwill it be before mandatory DNA samples will be taken for either false arrest or to purchase a firearm?
 
I don't see why you folks can't critically read and comprehend articles like this or why the supposed author could not get it right either. This is the sort of stupid knee jerk reactions done by the likes of Al Sharpton.

A commuter was arrested at gunpoint and had his DNA and fingerprints taken simply for listening to his MP3 player while waiting for a bus.
Click to expand...

This statement is an obvious sensationalized misrepresentation of what happened. The commuter was NOT arrested, DNA'd etc. for listening to his MP3 player. There is no law that makes it illegal to listen to your MP3 player while waiting on a bus. So this is not WHY he was arrested.

Darren Nixon was surrounded by armed police after his music player was mistaken for a gun.

When a passer-by saw the 28-year-old get out his black Philips machine to change tracks, she panicked and dialed 999.
Click to expand...

All this happened because somebody called 999 and reported that he had a gun. THAT is why he was arrested, not because he was listened to his MP3 player. Misrepresenting the actual facts to sensationalize a story or to make it sound more interesting here is just plain wrong.

So now the thrug has fostered a sense of "police are thugs" because they did their job and responded to an emergency call about a person with a gun, which is a big no-no in GB and prclamations of abuse of power.

Why blame the police and government for the mistake of a passerby who made the call?

The guy went through GB's due process for suck activities and when it was determined he had done nothing wrong and the action was based on a mistaken report, they did what they should have done and released the guy.
 
-1911guy.
Unfortunately, not too long i am afraid. Though, there are no real reason for the US to follow England in legislation. The US have the Constitution, to counter powermongers. The british has got "praxis" to help the crown controlling its subjects.
The big problem everywhere in the western world though, is that we are being conditioned to be security junkies, paying whatever the price for a short fix of the feeling of being protected. What the problems with that is, i dont think i need to tell you. Unfortunately, the only cure i know of is merely an temporary inoculation, lasting for roughly a human lifespan, in the best case one and a half. That inoculation is callled holocaust. The jews are reasonably aware that there is no such thing as safety, only preparedness.
 
-double naught spy.
That a passerby reports something on partial info is good, better that the police responds five times to nothing, than that they fail to respond one time to something.
The big thing here is that the guy was registered on "suspected guncrime" and that he without having done anything wrong was fingerprinted and dna registered. The Fingerprints and DNA samples should be destroyed and he should get an apology from the officers involved.
 
In my book thay should have done a lot more then simply release the guy. They might, or might not be forgiven for the mistake, but not clearing the record and destroying the DNA evidence is reprehensible. After all the man did absolutely nothing wrong.

A police state can be defined by the way "mistakes" are corrected, or not as the case may be. :uhoh:
 
He was tracked by CCTV just sounds Big Brother to me. Creepy. The guy should have never been taken to the station,fingerprinted or DNA taken. If the POPO knew from the scene he had no firearm. Scary. Why go through that mess. Dumb.
 
"Why should he get an apology?"

Are you serious???? That is the very MINIMUM he should get? I just cannot understand that when police to something stupid or wrong they almost never do what any other company or individual would do, and make things right. Cops are NOT above the ethics that the rest of society follows.
 
Are you serious???? That is the very MINIMUM he should get?
Click to expand...

Don't forget where this happened. There's a reason we had that little dust up back in '76......

Don't be shocked that the reasons we rebelled still exist there.
 
being taken into custody at gunpoint after doing nothing wrong is a pretty traumatic experience for many people, and I think that's why the officers should apologize. at least I would apologize for wasting hours of someone's time. they should also apologize for and correct his record, who wants to be recorded as a criminal over someone having poor eyesight?

also, regardless of what written into his previously clean criminal record, most people reading his record later will read between the lines of "suspicion of guncrime", and he will most certainly suffer lost opportunities because of it. when i'm wrong I apologize and try to correct it, and I'm sure the rest of the board here does too.
 
Double Naught Spy-

Yes, you are right, the headline was sensationalized and did misrepresent what happened, but that does not give the police a free pass. They should have responded, investigated, and released the guy. Now he has his DNA on file and a mark on his record. Their actions are inexcusable.
 
The police were operating on what they knew at the time. The man wasn't harmed. His arrest record and DNA sample should be destroyed. An apology is pointless when it isn't sincere. Do you honestly believe they're sorry?
 
A police state can be defined by the way "mistakes" are corrected, or not as the case may be.
Click to expand...

That is an accurate statement. In addition every record made of that occurrence should have been destroyed along with an apology.
 
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Get used to it people

"Calling it you job don't make it right Boss" Cool hand Luke
This is where we are going people, and the excuses on the trail are good enuff!
robert
 
The guy went through GB's due process for suck activities and when it was determined he had done nothing wrong and the action was based on a mistaken report, they did what they should have done and released the guy.
Click to expand...
Ordinarily I would totally agree with you, if what you say were all there was to it, but when we get to
He was driven to a police station, kept in a cell and had his fingerprints, photograph and DNA taken.
Click to expand...
The cops or at least the policy is starting to look a little wrong
And this
Although police realised it was a false alarm, Mr Nixon, from Stoke-on-Trent, now has to live with his DNA stored on a national database.
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Now we are entering the realm of the totally absurd
 
All this happened because somebody called 999 and reported that he had a gun. THAT is why he was arrested, not because he was listened to his MP3 player. Misrepresenting the actual facts to sensationalize a story or to make it sound more interesting here is just plain wrong.
Click to expand...

Sorry, these guys are still thugs. They arrested a guy for listening to his MP3 player. He did not produce a gun, he produced a MP3 player. The moron who called 999 was an idiot, but the police were also culpable as they should have seen it was an mp3 player and waddled off to the scone shop and let the guy on his way when it was apparent he was unarmed.

I am very curious about the race of the victim. Purely speculative, but I am wondering if he was arrested for being black.
 
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