r/unitedkingdom • u/RandomUsername1604 • 26d ago

Police officers say cannabis is effectively ‘decriminalised’ in the UK .

https://www.leafie.co.uk/news/police-cannabis-decriminalised-survey/
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u/Any_Turnip8724 26d ago

this is the key bit for “not smell alone”- on a busy street. I’d be bonkers to target one in a crowd of fifty.

If I’ve walked past you on your own with noone around, smelt it (not a vague whiff but a recently-departed cloud’s worth), doubled back, can still smell it and you’ve turned away, walked off, discarded summat, done the awkward “ahhh feck” face while still holding it, etc etc, I’ll still declare the smell as part of my grounds and record it on the stop because it’s what “drew my suspicion” initially.

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u/After-Anybody9576 26d ago

Yeah for sure. It was OP's link I was objecting to, he seemed to be implying the police can just pull up minorities at random, stick "I smelt cannabis" down on the report and it's all A-ok.

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u/Any_Turnip8724 26d ago

I can guarantee if I did that I would be ripped apart.

As I always tell people if they think I’m somehow not following the rules- it’s not worth my pension or my paycheck.

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u/After-Anybody9576 26d ago

Glad an actual PC has come on here to back me up on this haha.

Every officer I know IRL has said much the same, even going so far as to say they actively avoid stop-searching unless there's something really jumping in their face as it's not worth the hassle anymore.

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u/Any_Turnip8724 26d ago

my decision to stop/not do so is very context based, but I’ve spent most of my time in a proactive unit where we get a bit more flexibility.

If I’m one of two officers out, and I walk past some teenager with one joint- I’m going to just take it out your hand and stamp it out and tell you to not be such a plum and go somewhere that I’m not, because I’ve probably got far worse things just around the corner. Changes if there’s loads of us about.

If it’s weapons or stolen property, I don’t care what’s going on, you’re getting searched.

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u/AspirationalChoker 25d ago

Stop search is basically only used when you've had a proper report and description given where I'm at anything else and you're probably getting investigated for years or sacked and so on its the same with use of force