HC Deb 22 July 1985 vol 83 cc339-40W
Mr. Soley

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for reports from the chief constables concerned as to whether property confiscated from people taken to police stations during the operation at Stonehenge on 1 June and not required for evidence has been returned.

Mr. Giles Shaw

The Chief Constable of Wiltshire informs me that all such property has been returned except that required in connection with criminal proceedings and certain items which have remained unclaimed.

Mr. Soley

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for reports from the chief constables concerned as to whether the police have disposed of photographs and fingerprints of those arrested and subsequently released without charge following the incident at Stonehenge on 1 June.

Mr. Giles Shaw

The Chief Constable of Wiltshire has informed me that when police inquiries have been completed the fingerprints and photographs of any person in respect of whom no charges are to be brought will be destroyed.

Mr. Soley

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers, and from which police forces, were deployed during the operation at Stonehenge on 1 June.

Mr. Giles Shaw

I understand from the Chief Constable of Wiltshire that the number of police officers available to him on 1 June at Cholderton were as follows:

Police force Number of officers
Hampshire 243
Avon and Somerset 214
Thames Valley 147
Wiltshire 81
Gloucestershire 49
Dorset 46
Total 780

An additional 250–300 Wiltshire officers were on duty elsewhere within the force area, including about 80 at Stonehenge monument itself and Ministry of Defence police were also on duty on Ministry of Defence land nearby.

Mr. Soley

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for reports from the chief constables concerned about whether all police officers from all forces present during the operation at Stonehenge on 1 June were wearing visible identity numbers.

Mr. Giles Shaw

The Chief Constable of Wiltshire is aware of reports that some of the officers under his command on 1 June wearing flameproof overalls did not display identification numbers. Initial issues of this clothing did not provide for numbers to be shown but it is the chief constable's intention that officers in his force display numbers and to modify existing uniforms where necessary in line with the policy of the Association of Chief Police Officers, endorsed by the Department, to which I referred in reply to a question from the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Deakins) on 30 October 1984 at column890.