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A chief constable has told a journalist wrongly arrested while covering Just Stop Oil protests he is \u201ctruly sorry\u201d for his officers\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n
Charlie Hall, who leads Hertfordshire Police, wrote to LBC reporter Charlotte Lynch admitting \u201con this occasion we clearly got things wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n
The force was heavily criticised after Ms Lynch described being handcuffed and left in a cell on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance \u2013 despite showing officers officially recognised media accreditation.<\/p>\n
She had been reporting on the activists from a road bridge over junction 21 of the M25, in Hertfordshire, for around 45 minutes on November 8 when she was approached and questioned by two officers.<\/p>\n
Documentary maker Rich Felgate and photographer Tom Bowles were arrested the day before for trying to capture footage of the activists.<\/p>\n
Amid outrage, and senior officers as well as the Prime Minister emphasising the importance of press freedom, Chief Superintendent Jon Hutchinson from Cambridgeshire Police was called in to review the force\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n
Mr Hall\u2019s letter said: \u201cHe ultimately concludes that your arrest was not justified and that changes in training and command need to be made.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe review, however, found no evidence to indicate that officers engaged maliciously or deliberately behaved in a manner which fell below that expected of police officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fully accept, however, that we made mistakes we should not have made.\u201d<\/p>\n
I recognise the significant impact that an arrest can have, and on behalf of my organisation I am truly sorry.<\/p>\n
Hertfordshire Chief Constable Charlie Hall<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWhilst policing public order incidents is fraught with difficulty and there was no malicious intent from my officers, on this occasion we clearly got things wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recognise the significant impact that an arrest can have, and on behalf of my organisation I am truly sorry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the actions we have taken indicate how seriously we have taken this matter and our clear intent to prevent this from happening again in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The force has carried out a review to make sure all public order officers have undergone awareness training about the work of the media, and an assessment of the number and experience of its public order commanders.<\/p>\n
It is also bringing in measures to make sure commanders have access to public order advisers and mentors when carrying out operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emails A chief constable has told a journalist wrongly arrested while covering Just Stop Oil protests he is \u201ctruly sorry\u201d for his officers\u2019 actions. Charlie Hall, who leads Hertfordshire Police, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n