Concerns raised over officer safety after police station panic button failed

A Police Federation boss has raised concerns about officers’ safety after it emerged that a panic button failed when a terror suspect attacked two female detectives who were interviewing him.

Ahmed Alid’s agitated behaviour during questioning at Middlesbrough Police Station, following the murder of pensioner Terence Carney in Hartlepool the day before, had caused detective constables Angela Harvey and Emma Stevenson concern.

Alid, from Morocco, was becoming increasingly angry with the Tunisian interpreter who was translating into Arabic for him, to the point that Dc Harvey got in between the two men.

Dc Stevenson pressed a panic button in the interview room, but it did not work.

Alid was blocking the doorway so officers observing the interview from another part of the police station could not get in to assist.

The situation became so frightening that the defendant’s solicitor rang 999 from inside the police station.

Alid then grabbed Dc Harvey in a bear hug, which led Dc Stevenson to try to help her and the three of them ended up on the floor, with the two officers reporting being assaulted.

CCTV from inside the police station showed a large number of officers pile into the interview room, then Alid being carried away under restraint.

Dc Stevenson said in a witness statement that she was left “shaken” by the experience.

She said it was fortunate colleagues were watching the interview remotely, adding: “If this was not the case, who knows what would have happened?”

A senior officer later tested the panic button and confirmed it was not working.

Paul Crowley, Cleveland Police Federation chair, said the panic button issue raised concerns about officer safety.

He told the PA news agency after the trial: “It’s obvious that mistakes have been made.

“It’s a dangerous role that police officers do and they have every right to expect to be safe in their work place.

“It is for Cleveland Police to rectify the issues and make sure that it does not happen again.

“The officers, by the sounds of it, have done everything that is expected of them.

“No-one should go to work and expect to be assaulted and to be put in a situation where their safety is at risk.

“Thankfully, because of the way the interview was conducted, what unfolded was being observed, it’s because of the seriousness of the offence that there was someone overlooking the interviews.

“But interviews take place day-in, day-out that don’t have anyone observing.”

Speaking outside court following the verdict Deputy Chief Constable Victoria Fuller told the PA news agency: “Middlesbrough Police Station is actually owned and maintained by a third party company, they’re the ones that are responsible for maintenance and they did have a schedule of checks in place for things like that buzzer.

“Obviously we know that that didn’t detect the fault in that interview room on that day, but I am pleased that we had an officer as security directly outside that room and that the interview itself was being video monitored by officers from within the building and that meant that there was many officers that ran to the assistance of people in that room.

“We have engaged with the company, we have made sure that their schedule of testing is much, much more robust, and we’ve also made sure that there’s welfare support in place for those officers who experienced that.”