I'm 20 years old. I was waiting for the York train back from Leeds standing up as there was no seats with a backpack on with college stuff. A police woman comes up and says excuse me sir what's your name then ridiculous questions that she doesn't really need to know like why am I here? Where am I going? What in my bag? Have I bought tickets? How old am I? Who am I with?. I did say to her when she asked the first question that it's really none of her business and Im waiting for a train but she threatened to arrest me if I didn't answer her and she wouldn't tell me why she was questioning me out of 100s of other people and there were even suspicious looking ones. Then she walks of and speaks to another police woman as I get on the train. I just don't understand why she did this all I was doing was waiting for a train so I could grt to College there is nothing wrong with that.
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You are not required to answer police questions; you can simply tell the officer that you refuse to answer. The police cannot arrest you solely on the grounds that you refuse to answer their questions (although they can arrest you if you they suspect on reasonable grounds you have committed a crime).
In this situation, I'd have asked to see the officer's ID, asked why she was asking these questions, and unless they had a valid reason, I would have refused to answer any questions.
I will never understand why people have a chip on their shoulder about this sort of thing. People genuinely seem to labour under the bizarre idea that police officers do this sort of thing for fun. I can tell you, they don't. They're perfectly harmless questions, why do you object so much? They're just trying to do their job. You probably matched the description of a missing person or a wanted criminal and she was just trying to ask some questions to get a better idea of whether you were the person they were looking for. Did she say you'd done anything wrong? No. She just tried to ask you some questions. Get over yourself. Straight away you've gone on the defensive which is suspicious in itself. If you had a family member that went missing and were concerned about them, wouldn't you want the police to follow every lead?
it is not possible for a normal police officer to approach you on the platform of a railway station, as its outside their jurisdiction, the railways have their own police force, called the british transport police,
you would be entitled to ask to see their id to confirm which force they represented.
British Transport Police - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jurisdiction|Establishment|History|How the BTP is funded
The British Transport Police (BTP) is a special police force that polices railways and light- rail systems in Great Britain, for which it has entered into an agreement ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Transport_Police - Cached
You do need to answer with your name and date of birth and show ID if asked.
Beyond that, you don't need to tell them where you're going or what you've been doing, or what's in your bag. Always ask "Have I done something wrong?" They may not answer, but that will at least remind them that you aren't brain-dead and you know they're supposed to have "probable cause" before detaining you.
The last time I was asked for inconsequential information by a cop was during a traffic stop. He asked "Where are you going?", to which I answered "East" (since that's the general direction the road went in). He must've realized that I know the law and he just left it at that. Of course the ticket was already a given, nothing I said would have changed that, so maybe that made him happy enough that he left me alone.
Now, having said all of that, cops have a lot of power (maybe more than some of them as individuals should have), and answering like that can result in further delays, and possibly more trouble, and despite it being illegal to detain someone on a whim, it's difficult to seek recourse, as it's easy for them to just make up a reason to harass you. Always be polite with your answers, even if they aren't what they're hoping to hear.
You probably came close to matching the description of someone they were looking for. Why are people afraid of answering a few simple questions or so obnoxious about it? It costs nothing.
Because they are on alert for terrorists and you were carrying a backpack. She has every right to ask you questions. Thank goodness they are awake for the sake of everybody's lives.
They do it because they thrive on harassing people & it makes them feel so badassed.
You looked dodgy. If you are not dodgy and they are dodgy they can make you dodgy. But karma will take over. Luckily most police are sound and the psychopaths amongst them are being watched.
They have the right to ask for identification. Give them that. As to the other question you are on personal Business. As for the threat ask for her badge number and report her. You are right it is none of her business. Your age she should be able to get off you I.D. And other information on it. If she wishes to take you to jail go with her be cooperative. That will open her to a lawsuit there. Remember they are frame up experts here.
Petty, pathetic and power-mad sums up a lot of police these days, unfortunately.