Information about breach of the peace

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.031834

I note you seek access to the following information:

RE: Do "the police" deal with BoTP (Breach of the Peace) in progress or not in England?

I'm being told by Kent Police that "the police" in the England don't respond to BoTP and that if I don't refrain from calling 999 as a series of crimes were in progress my number'd be banned from making 999 calls.

They then attended and cited me doing BoTP as the reason, lying about the call that I was still on with visible call duration demonstrating that I'd called first. They admitted knowing about the call through total sub-normal IQness as one of them commented on notes he'd taken on my report to the call handler when she'd said that they don't deal with that and it's a matter of a "101 investigation", and that I'd be blocked from 999 calls if I didn't stop insisting on them preforming their most elementary duty as peace officers, Peel's Principles, etc..

As the leading police force in the country who deal with cross county lines and international issues (as with federal police in other places) I thought that you may be able to help, as as far as I'm aware the law in terms of what you attend and what you don't isn't a matter of local government to decide akin to what day they'll collect the rubbish in which part of their area.

In the event that you feel unable to provide an answer, please advise as to who does decide the latitude or lack thereof of various country forces.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

- Do "the police" deal with BoTP (Breach of the Peace) in progress or not in England?

Yes, police do responded to Breach of the Peace. We however cannot comment on individual cases.

Advice and Assistance
If you’re unhappy with the service received from Kent Police, you can make a complaint to the individual police force.

Please access the below link to the Kent Police Contact us page.

Legislation
Legislation can be found on the College of Policing - Breach of the peace website.

Breach of the peace
Breach of the peace gives police powers to intervene and/or arrest when an individual causes harm, or appears likely to do any of the following.

• Cause harm to a person.
• Cause harm to that person’s property, in the person’s presence.
• Put that person in fear of such harm being done through an assault, affray, a riot, unlawful assembly or other disturbance.

Police officers may take reasonable action, including arrest, to stop a breach of the peace, or to prevent one that the police officer reasonably anticipates will occur imminently. Reasonable action may also be taken where a breach of the peace has been committed and where it is reasonably believed that a recurrence of the breach is threatened.

Police action should target the persons responsible for the breach of the peace. Action taken that is not directed at the person committing the breach will generally be unlawful.

The guiding principle is that lawful conduct will rarely, if ever, be other than reasonable. Conversely, a violent reaction to the lawful conduct of others will rarely, if ever, be other than wholly unreasonable.

Where there is a reasonable belief that there are no other means to prevent a breach of the peace, the lawful exercise by innocent third parties of their rights may be restricted by the police. This is a test of necessity, which can only be justified in truly extreme and exceptional circumstances.

Before the police can take any steps that restrict the lawful exercise of rights by innocent third parties in any way, they must take all other possible steps – including making proper and advance preparations – to ensure that the breach, or imminent breach, is prevented and that the rights of third parties are protected.