A protester's body camera accidentally left recording captured four damning hours inside a police station, including an officer admitting she illegally stops and searches black women.
Gemma Barnes, 36, went to Bethel Street Police Station in Norwich on January 14, 2023, to deliver a petition calling for a man to be charged with killing a pigeon. She and other protesters were 'pushed out' of the station, leading to her arrest after challenging an officer she said pushed her into a busy road. Her body camera was confiscated, but police did not realise it was still recording.
Officer admits illegal stops
Over the next four hours, the footage captured one female police officer saying: 'I illegally stop, search IC3 (black) females and then I arrest them.' Other officers can be heard laughing while watching footage of her arrest, with a female voice saying she 'asked for it'. They used derogatory terminology against Barnes and her fellow protesters.
Barnes, who got the camera back 11 months later, said: 'I was called a f***ing waste of space, called a dirty critter and that I should have been left outside in the rain to wash.' Officers also discussed a previous livestock protest she had attended and how they tried to pin false charges against her. They were recorded discussing an earlier attempt to secure a Criminal Behaviour Order against Barnes, including claims that officers had sought to generate an additional charge from historic bodycam footage.
Lawsuit and misconduct review
A charge of public nuisance against her was later dropped, and she was acquitted at Norfolk Magistrates' Court for a Section 5 public order offence. Barnes is now suing Norfolk Police for wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, assault and battery, and trespass to goods.
When the camera was returned to her, she assumed the video would have been wiped, but it still contained five hours of footage. Barnes said: 'I was outraged; to say it was unprofessional is an understatement. It is a damning indictment of the environment in policing – it was appalling.'
Other conversations captured
In one section, a police officer can be heard talking about a massage parlour, saying: 'I got there, what I find a bit strange is that each room has like a card reader in it.' Another officer asked where, and he responded: 'The Chinese well-being place, it does happy endings.' He was asked whether he received hand stimulation and replied: 'pretty much, yeah.' Someone responded: 'Honestly though, I'm going back outside of work hours.'
Barnes said: 'As I continued to watch the footage, I realised the magnitude of what they were saying. The transphobia, racism, brothels, picking me up with false charges.'
Police response
Her lawyer, John Hagan from DPP Law Solicitors, said: 'This footage shows us what goes on inside many police officers' heads and behind the closed doors of the police station, and it is not a pretty sight. Officers can be heard describing my client as a f**king waste of space, discussing other officers attempting to generate an unsubstantiated charge against her and describing a transgender person as a “thing”. They are gleeful about the violence they have used against Gemma, a peaceful protestor, and frankly the whole atmosphere is akin to a school in which the teachers are absent and the bullies have taken over.'
A Norfolk Constabulary spokesperson said they had reviewed the footage and considered 17 aspects of a single complaint. They said: 'Following that investigation, a number of matters were addressed through the appropriate misconduct processes. We also reviewed arrest and stop and search records for the officers involved and found no wider evidence of discriminatory behaviour. This investigation is currently subject to a complainant's right to review with the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Part of the footage currently being circulated on social media has not previously been provided to the Constabulary in its current format and we are therefore further reviewing this. As a matter of fairness, we will not comment further on this while that assessment is ongoing. We know that some of the content currently being shared will undermine public confidence in policing. People rightly expect high standards from police officers and staff, and some of the content being circulated falls short of what the public would expect to hear.'
