Submitted on Thursday 8th June 2023
Rejected on Tuesday 13th June 2023
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: no-action (see below for details)
Protect free speech and prevent unnecessary or unreasonable arrests
The government should help prevent unfair/unreasonable arrests against the public. Section 5 of the Public Order Act is a flawed offence. I want the government to exempt on duty officers from being a victim of this offence, and require a victim to approach police in order for an arrest to be made.
Police Constables regularly abuse the Section 5 of Public Order Act offence to arrest people if they say a word they decide is “abusive”, such as a swear word. Cases in court have previously suggested that many swear words do not qualify as they’re frequently used. Despite this, many officers persist. This is damaging to free speech as nobody should be arrested for using swear words or any other words, for emphasis or description. Amending this act as appropriate, would be a suitable response.
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The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
Petitions need to call on the Government or Parliament to take a specific action.
We understand that you are concerned about how Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 is being enforced, but it's not clear if you just want changes to when an individual can be arrested for this offence, or if you also want the definition of the offence to be changed.
You could start a new petition explaining clearly what you would like the Government or Parliament to do.
18.219.246.211 Sun, 02 Jun 2024 23:11:04 +0100
