News / avon and somerset police
New verification process enables public to confirm police officers’ identities
A new “officer verification process” has been introduced by Avon & Somerset Constabulary following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer.
The new process is for members of the public who would like to confirm the identity of any officer they come into contact with.
But Avon & Somerset bosses say that they “fully recognise the onus is on us as a police service to reassure people who have concerns about lone officers and the reason for their interaction with them”.
is needed now More than ever
All officers should from Wednesday be able provide their name and collar number to anyone who asks.
They will then call the control room on their police radio asking an operator to confirm their identity and location, and put their radio on loudspeaker.
As well as confirming the officer’s identity, the control room operator will also send a reference number to the officer’s radio which the member of the public can visually check.
A police statement says that “officers are equipped with body worn video cameras and they will also make clear to people it is switched on and recording. Officers are unable to edit or wipe footage from these body worn cameras.”
This comes despite bodycam footage unable to be found after officers unlawfully entered a student flat in the Old City during a raid on two neighbouring squats.
Avon & Somerset officers also dressed as postal workers to trick their way into the home of another student following the ‘kill the bill’ riot.
The police statement adds that if a member of the public feels in danger from a police officer, they can call 999.
The process has been introduced less than a week after Wayne Couzens was sentenced to a whole-life prison term after kidnapping Sarah Everard under the guise of an arrest.
Couzens abducted the 33-year-old as she walked home from a friend’s house in south London on March 3.
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read more: ‘I calmly told police that I was a journalist, but they said they didn’t believe me’
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