Man arrested in Chatham incident released without charge

One of the men arrested during an altercation in Chatham Counterguard earlier this month has been released without charge, after police acknowledged “mistakes” in how they had handled his arrest.

The altercation, during which police made other separate arrests, happened while officers were being filmed for a UK documentary and prompted angry responses from the public at the scene, many of whom believed some officers had been too forceful in their response.

“After having conducted an assessment of one particular arrest and a review of the police actions surrounding the detention, the individual concerned has since been released from arrest,” the Royal Gibraltar Police said in a statement.

“The Commissioner of Police, Richard Ullger, has said that he regrets this incident, pledging that, at a de-brief, his officers identified mistakes and have quickly turned the event into a learning opportunity.”

Asked whether disciplinary action had been taken against any of the officers involved, a spokesman for the RGP told the Chronicle: “‘The incident has been dealt with using learning outcomes and understanding risks better, rather than resorting to any disciplinary measures.”

In the statement, Mr Ullger said he was grateful to the young man “…who understood the complications of policing and the challenges faced by the RGP during Covid-19 restrictions.”

“The Commissioner is keen to improve upon the RGP’s positive interactions with the community and has said that his officers will continue to police by consent, indicating that the legitimacy of policing in the eyes of the public is based upon a general consensus of support, that flows from transparency about their powers, their integrity in exercising those powers and their accountability for doing so,” the RGP statement added.