Although the jist of this story is inappropriate use of force and improper detention of a young female student by male police officers, I see a more worrying aspect.
These two female students who have no previous criminal history attended a protest in Bristol. After the fact, the police were able to identify them down to their address, gain entry and arrest them. It's already said that the cctv coverage in the UK is probably more dense than in most other nations. It's a given that facial recognition technology is advanced and the rapid scans of criminal facial databases as seen on CIS is a very real capability. I worry that the laws that allow this essential aid to crime detection and prevention to exist also allows for the arbitrary identification and targeting of anyone and everyone right down to their home. I appreciate that someone who has no previous criminal record can still commit a crime for the first time and at any time. Since the Avon and Somerset police realized pretty quickly that "she was not the person they were seeking", their apology for the inconvenience doesn't distract from the scope for enormous abuse of anonymous public data.
With regard to this case and in particular the letter of apology, their words, “I would like to apologise for the areas where it is felt that the service was not acceptable.” are not an apology but a defence. With the simple inclusion of "it is felt that" suggests that while they acknowledge that other people 'felt' it was not acceptable, it still remains totally acceptable to them. I believe that new laws that enable this sort of 'guilty until proven innocent' style of law enforcement was precisely what these protests were about. The 'You were seen near' or 'You fit the description' catch-all of US law enforcement is enabled by cctv that was installed by successive governments that claimed it was to improve public safety and make the public feel secure and more comfortable.
And she and her flat mate weren't black either.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... nt-in-raid