Handcuffed when already inside custody suite and showing no resistance?

[dazed]

Just want your opinions after chatting with a retired police friend about my experience.....

Back in October, I voluntarily attended the police station after they said "can you come in on Tuesday, we just want to ask you some questions".
They buzzed me into the secure area in the custody suite, and THEN as soon as I had confirmed my name, the officer slapped handcuffs on me and did the "I'm arresting you for...".
Given that I was already within the custody suite and had shown NO attempt to resist arrest, nor had I shouted, sworn, been drunk or in any way disorderly, nor was the charge related to any violent crime etc, was that an attempt to intimidate me? Was that normal?

[dslippy]

It is a judgment made by the officer making the arrest. His judgment not yours. He may have thought it necessary to get across the reality of the situation to you.
There is a possible question about the need for an arrest at all, but that depends upon several questions and answers.

[dazed]

As a 50 year old who had never been arrested before, I can assure you the words "I am arresting you" would be serious enough!
My friend said handcuffs weren't automatically used in every arrest, and within the station only if a detainee started kicking off.

That seems to be the same here: https://www.gov.uk/police-powers-of-arrest-your-rights
"If you try to escape or become violent, the police can use ‘reasonable force’, for example holding you down so you cannot run off. You can also be handcuffed."

[Sam101]

It may be that the arrest was in error, but just suppose that it was for a battery or murder charge, even though mistaken, the officer may have felt handcuffs were necessary,

Were you harmed in any way, or just upset by not understanding why handcuffs were used. Did you actually ask why they were being used, as normally some sort of reply would be given.

[dslippy]

"If you try to escape or become violent, the police can use ‘reasonable force’, for example holding you down so you cannot run off. You can also be handcuffed."
Do not misread this as:
"If you try to escape or become violent, the police can use ‘reasonable force’, for example holding you down so you cannot run off, and you can also be handcuffed."
Being handcuffed is not made dependent on trying to escape etc. It is a separate sentence. It stands alone.
I say again that the necessity for the arrest at all may be a better question / challenge.

[dazed]

I did very much take the conjunctive "also" to mean "also". As for the reason, this is yet another bit of documentation I seem to be missing.

I've spent the last few months with people like ex police, ex magistrates etc saying things like "why didn't they..." , "did you get the....", "we've never done that...", "that doesn't sound right", and so on, so I'm compiling a list!

OK, so it's "uncertain" on this one. If I ever get my info from the police (November and counting, local MP got nowhere) I'll post back with more!

[Sam101]

I doubt you will find more than has already been said. Whatever you seem to be looking for does not exist.

You were handcuffed for reasons that the police, at the time, thought necessary.

For goodness sake, accept it and move on with your life!

[dazed]

Whatever you seem to be looking for does not exist.

What makes you say that with such confidence? The custody record and all the docs I seek not only must exist by law, but the CPS have written to me telling me that the police DO have those docs, and they asked them to provide them to me.

It's very difficult to move on with my life when I have a 5 year order which has already resulted in the loss of my business of a decade and which bans me from having any job which starts, as most do, between 8 and 9:30 in the morning (due to road geography), based on a minor Cat 3C breach of an order based on work by a PC no longer with the force who issued an unsigned, undated PIN. The court documents refer to the wrong case number, wrong hearing date and wrong court location. It also states there are 2 charges, even though the two charges are identical, same time, date, incident and person.
Oh, and the order is written only in Welsh, which I don't speak, and also has the wrong case number on it but if I breach it, I could go to prison. I already did a night unlawfully held in prison due to paperwork errors by the court.
I have already lost my business of a decade and my DBS. On top of that, the solicitor has done a bunk with a substantial amount of money and the SRA / LO are currently nudging close to 2 years backlog.

I wish is was as easy as "move on" - but I cannot and will not let corrupt policing continue to ruin my life. And this is all my life is now. I've gone from productive business owner, never arrested, to recipient of Universal Credit of £297 per month, owing family and neighbours £21k.
It's 10:55 as I write this, and like most days, I've been at this, and only this, for over 12 hours, calling, emailing, chasing up the ICO, MS, MP, various ombudsmen, journalists, reading and writing on forums.
Every time I feel like giving up, I read another chapter of this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0091905699/

"The daughter of a policeman, wife of a solicitor and a solicitor herself, just when she was grieving from the tragic death of her second child the system she'd always believed in turned against her. Justice suddenly seemed a far-off principle as she was convicted and her initial appeal quashed. Her family, lawyers and various volunteers were relentless in their fight to clear her name. Finally, following three long years in prison, suffering abuse and the bleak horrow of bereavement, Sally Clark was finally acquitted by the Court of Appeal in 2003."

And THAT is why I fight on.

[Sam101]

It just goes to show that if you don't give all the information when asking for help, then your questions may not obtain the response you hope for. Your initial posting said nothing of this, which is why I replied in the way I did.

You should obtain far more help seeking the right solicitors to help you. Good luck.