Henry Porter reports today on a new campaign, led by retired senior police officer David Gilbertson, against the police's hugely expanded powers of arrest:

This is important and we should pay attention to what this eminently sensible man is saying. "For one and a half centuries, powers of arrest were linked to the fact that the offence was imprisonable," he told me. "Now you can be arrested for anything."

The change came in section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, oddly enough the measure that started me writing about civil liberties three years ago. For the first time in the history of policing in the UK it allowed anyone to be arrested for "any offence no matter how trivial and whether or not a power of arrest previously existed for that offence," says Gilbertson's email. "People can now be (and have been) arrested and detained under Section 110 for not wearing a seatbelt, dropping litter, shouting in the presence of a police officer, climbing a tree, and building a snowman."

He adds: "Whereas police officers used to have to justify every arrest and be aware of whether or not a particular piece of legislation gave them power, they no longer have to do so."

Henry Porter

Quite apart from the damage done to civil liberties, what about the damage done to the police? Public confidence in the police is alarmingly low, and one can't help but wonder if it's because increased police powers have changed the culture of policing away from 'citizens in uniform' who work alongside the public towards uniformed heavies who have to keep an untrustworthy public in line.

You can sign the online petition on the Number 10 petition site.