Last Saturday, at White Hart Lane for the Spurs v Man Utd game.
I was walking up the Paxton road, where I sit with my Dad and my brother and this copper walks over to me and says “Can you come over to these two officers over here, we would like to search you”.
Now let me explain a little bit about myself to paint the full picture. I am Jewish, I look Jewish, I am there with my 60 year old Dad and my brother, it is quite obvious we are related, my brother and I both look like my Dad. It would be quite obvious to anyone who saw us that I was going to a football match with my family and could therefore think of no conceivable reason why a police officer would want to search me.
Needless to say I felt quite pissed off about this and thought it was a little bit intrusive. I was handed some leaflet about the Terrorism Act, which basically gives the Old Bill the right to search ANYONE they bloody well like!!! And then to add insult to injury the officer who was searching me then asked to take my details. This was the icing on the cake…why the hell would I want my details to go onto a police database? I’ve not committed a crime, I’ve not been suspected of a crime. So I asked “What if I don’t want to give you my details?” to which I was told I didn’t have to if I didn’t want and so I walked off.
Now I understand that the threat of terrorism is real, however why should the police be given the right to search whomever they like for absolutely no reason at all. Anyone with half a brain looking at me and who I was with wouldn’t for one second suspect me of being a potential terrorist and the only reason I think I was stopped and searched is so that the police aren’t seen to be just picking on particular ethnic groups. I still find this inexcusable though, when the law allows coppers to rifle through your pockets just because they can.
On a lighter side when I was being searched I thought to myself…“I hope I have a really snotty tissue in one of my pockets”