I fought the law

One of the differences between Canada and the UK which cannot be missed is the massive and obvious police presence in the UK. Whether it’s in the form of police and dogs at the train stations, or police with humungous machine guns at airports and government offices, it’s everywhere. This police presence has manifested itself in two distinctly different ways in the last week.

First, anyone in the UK is subject to the Terrorism Act, 2000. This Act allows police officers, in uniform, to stop and detain any citizen in any area for the purposes of a search to prevent acts of terrorism. In order to exercise these powers, a police officer does not need to have reasonable grounds to suspect the individual stopped or searched of carrying offensive weapons or being actively involved in terrorism. In other words, police can stop anyone, at any time and conduct a search for no particular reason. This is not the way the game is played in Canada. Last week, I was stopped under the Terrorism Act and subjected to a search. I was leaving the Leeds train station on my way home from work when an officer stopped me. My first question, as would be anyone’s, was why? Upon receiving an in-depth briefing on the Terrorism Act, I relented to the search. My search record identifies that I was stopped and searched according to Section 44(2) of the Terrorism Act, that no clothing was removed, that no intimate parts were exposed and that I was not carrying weapons. Luckily, after further probing questions, a thorough search of my back-pack and other items it was determined that I was not a terrorist.

Our second exposure to this police presence came a few days later we spent the day in Harrogate. Harrogate is like the Niagara on the Lake of Yorkshire. It is a picturesque town with nice shops and restaurants. There seem to be more Porshe Cayenne’s per capita than in any other city in the North of England, which immediately gives an impression of the average income in Harrogate. After a nice day of walking around, enjoying some scones and clotted cream, and shopping we took the train back to Leeds. Our train got into the station at the same time as the train from Elland Road where Leeds United play football. We watched this train come into the station beside us. We knew something was up when five police officers were easily visible on the first car. We got off our train and were greeted with no less than 100 police officers. They were not just milling around, they were organized into a line, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Leeds United fans and the fans from the away team, Ipswich. This is a regular occurrence on days when football matches are played due to the upstanding moral character of many football hooligans. Admittedly, the police force was probably a bit more organized than on usual match days due to the fact that the Leeds fans had rioted and charged the field earlier that day at the stadium. We made it through the police line alright, but once outside we were greeted with the sound of loud chanting and yelling. We looked over the bridge to the street below to see Leeds United Fans on one side of the street, taunting and singing at the fans from the away team who were on the other side of the street. For an amusing video of this event see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFEj02j6OV4.

In some ways we are grateful for this police presence. We’ve heard that the heavy police presence on football match days came into being by learning the hard way that football hooligans are very good at causing trouble. Our nice day in Harrogate could have ended in many more distasteful ways had the police line not been present in the station that day. But at the same time, the police presence is another reminder that we are a long way from home. Can you imagine a massive police presence outside the ACC or Rogers Centre; possibly during the final game of the World Series or the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but not on an ordinary Saturday afternoon. It makes one appreciate the mild mannered, polite, fair minded Canadian way of life.