6 ms·

I read this bracing myself for the usual kafkaesque story of somebody jailed for months or years on a groundless charge, going through endless sloppy trials, hy

by Udik 10y ago

I read this bracing myself for the usual kafkaesque story of somebody jailed for months or years on a groundless charge, going through endless sloppy trials, hysterical sentencing, and the predictable tragic consequences on career, relations, together with the trauma and abuse of being jailed. But this case happened in the UK, not the US. After he was "arrested" this man appears to have spent a grand total of three weeks "living with his mother". After these three weeks, his laptop was returned to him by the police and he had been cleared from all charges. However, he laments that "because of what happened" he's suffering of PTSD and he's unable to go back to work. That during the three weeks he was away, his younger son would cry. That the £60k compensation he received from the police for the mistake it's not enough, since he "didn't even get two and a half years' wage". That he hasn't had his day in court, and he needs the world to know he's not a paedophile. The events happened six years ago. I might be underestimating the impact on one's life and mental health of this kind of things. But this story smells of trying to get a better deal or of some deeper personal issue.

macintux 10y ago
When you work with troubled youth, an accusation of child pornography is almost as bad as it can possibly be. Since the police didn't give him an explanation for the mistake up front, I'm sure he lived under a cloud of suspicion after that, hence the concern about being alone with young women. For 3 weeks everyone around you assumes you're guilty. How do you prove the absence of pornography in your life when the police have all your equipment? Yes, it could have been much worse. No, I'm not shocked that it was devastating. (Update: forgot to add, I imagine there's a very real fear during those three weeks that you'll be permanently separated from your children.)
- Udik 10y ago
  Ok, but the police cleared him of the charges. Then he hired a solicitor and thanks to him the mistake was made clear, and he got a totally justified, and very handsome, compensation. One would think that this should be enough to put at rest any possible suspicion. Three weeks are not such a long ordeal, especially when you know from the start it's all a mistake.
  - Jabanga 10y ago
    What happened to him was terrible, but I tend to agree that he received adequate compensation. My armchair judge verdict: calls for further compensation should be strongly discouraged, but the lesson this story teaches of how devastating a sex crime charge, particularly a child sex crime charge, is, should be spread far and wide, and anyone who goes through ordeal similar to Nigel's should be similarly exonerated in a very public way.
    - mjevans 10y ago
      I agree with no further direct monetary compensation... but I can see how this would literally 'break' him. He is no longer the calm, re-assuring, blissfully ignorant individual he once was. He should probably be re-evaluated for current aptitude and skills, receive refining education towards a promising related career field and live a reborn life. I don't know, does the UK actually do the right thing (unlike the US)?
      - Jabanga 10y ago
        He may subconsciously sabotage his own rehabilitation because doing so could net him even more compensation. I strongly believe that now that he's received compensation and full public exoneration, he should be expected to return to supporting himself. There are a lot of people who are in much more difficult circumstances than him. We cannot provide unlimited aid to every person who's been wronged or suffered trauma. It has to be proportionate and within society's ability ability to support.
  - nikanj 10y ago
    If you pay any attention to the news, there's been numerous cases where innocent people spent years or even decades in jails before they were found not guilty.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - 10y ago
- edblarney 10y ago
  I'm very sympathetic to this guy. I understand how hard it might be to be accused of something. That said - I don't feel this is a case for outrage. Surely, most of his colleagues will be well informed of the mistake. He received basically $100 000 in compensation. That's a lot of money. Given the clarity of his exhoneration - i.e. this was not something that 'went to court' or there wasn't some kind of 'Michael Jackson style payoff' to keep someone quiet - and that it was an obvious police error - I think that any circumstances around is guilt should be relatively clear. He is not a public figure - his personal reputation that 'matters' is limited to his colleagues, friends, family and the people he helps at work. That's a manageable thing from a PR perspective. His $100 000 in 'compensation' can surely be enough to pay for some lifestyle helpers. The notion that it was too much for him to go back to work, I think is a stretch. There should be no lingering doubt. This is a sad story, I feel for him, but it's not one of the scary stories we here about that need serious redressing and law changes etc.. As far as his pursual of the police action - it's clear that this boiled down to a single digit in an IP address. That's it. Innocuous error = consequence. There is no 'evil secret police' or 'malign intent'. The fact the he feels he needs to pursue this is really only going to keep him in problem zone. What kind of closure can he expect? That police will change their operating procedures to make sure they 'write down stuff correctly'? Surely there's tons of data that's passed around in an investigation and this is liable to happen. I guess this is newsworthy, but I think context is required here.
- timv 10y ago
  > For 3 weeks everyone around you assumes you're guilty It sounds like it was worse than that. After 3 weeks they gave him back his laptop because they found no evidence on it, and stopped pursuing charges. But the police never explained why they suspected him, nor did they uncover their own mistake regarding the IP address. So, at the end of the 3 weeks he went from being actively under investigation for child pornography to no longer under active investigation for child pornography. That's a small step forward - now not-quite-everyone around you assumes you're guilty. It took years before his solicitor uncovered the error and there was enough information available to demonstrate that he should never have been a suspect and it was all due to a police screw-up.
  - mjevans 10y ago
    Probably way worse. I imagine it hit the news, and even if they didn't name him, //EVERYONE// that KNEW him then KNEW it was him. Then, he shows up, as you say, no longer being actively investigated for X, but still not cleared of X. Public Perception (most probably): 'Likely guilty, but they couldn't nail the bastard.' Compounded by the other details everywhere else in the thread.
- UpDownLeftRight 10y ago
  And even if cleared, everyone still thinks he's guilty. Ask a random person on the Left about the Duke lacrosse players. Even though they were exonerated... not just found not guilty... and the prosecutor was put in jail, and the accuser is now in jail, most progressives still think something happened, and their lives are ruined.
zkms 10y ago
> Lang was bailed, but under strict and devastating conditions. Social services had visited his partner at home while he was being interviewed to conduct a “safeguarding assessment”, and it was decided he could not live at the family home, visit his son there, or have any unsupervised contact with his son anywhere. “Not being able to look after my kid, it was heartbreaking,” Lang recalled. > He also has a grandson who was 14 months old at the time and was due to undergo a major brain operation while Lang was on bail. He said he felt unable to help the boy’s mother due to the strict conditions. “It was a really fucked-up time. I couldn’t give them any support.” > He was working as a drug recovery worker helping troubled teenagers at the time, and when he informed his employer what had happened, he was suspended immediately. > Their son, meanwhile, suddenly saw his father as unreliable, Lang said, and would cry, not understanding why he had disappeared and couldn’t come home for three weeks. > He remembers his young son asking: “‘Why can’t Daddy come home?’ That brought me to fucking tears. I’m welling up now thinking about it.” > Today, neither he nor his partner is working. Lang is effectively a full-time carer for his disabled mother, and in the years since his arrest his partner developed ME, something they blame on the stress caused by the whole ordeal. He got his career torpedoed, got publicly accused of being a pedo, and had relationships with multiple members of one's family get fucked up, and his father died before he got exonerated. Career and family and relationships with friends -- having all those sources of meaning in your life get instantly eviscerated (in a way that was impossible to predict and that is very difficult to find sympathy from others for) seems like it would induce pretty deep dysfunction in most anyone.
- Udik 10y ago
  He spent a total of four hours in a police station. Four hours. Then three weeks (three weeks!) at his mother's waiting for his laptop to be scanned. And that's it. Daddy can't come home because he's on a holiday, or on a business trip, and he'll send you a postcard, and now off to bed. Employer, same thing: "horrible mistake, accusing me of something I haven't done, in three weeks I'll come clear" and that's exactly what happens, with excuses from the police. If this has impacts on your work, then you don't have great colleagues for sure.
  - bdamm 10y ago
art-w 10y ago
While I agree I was expecting a more visual story from the synopsis, I strongly recommend the movie "The Hunt" with Mads Mikkelsen to get a feeling of what he may have gone through. It's a really good movie.
- Udik 10y ago
  It's actually one of my favourite movies from the last few years. But that story is very different, at least because he's accused by the children themselves, whose parents happen to also be his closest friends. Anyway, really excellent movie.
- saiya-jin 10y ago
  ah, that was really chilly movie! pedophilia charges stick super easily and don't go off at all (I guess we all heard whats happening to pedophiles in jail, yet murderers receive gentler treatment from inmates)
BinaryIdiot 10y ago
I think you're severely undercutting the affect it can have when one is accused of being a pedophile. It can ruin your entire life even if it's discovered to not be true immediately. Once it's out there it's pretty much impossible to remove.
- edblarney 10y ago
  I'm not sure if I agree with this. This is not some kid who made a false claim, leaving the doubt lingering etc.. This is the case of a mistaken IP address - something cleanly and resolutely exonerating. His 'reputation' matters to people in his immediate circle, and people are reasonable: they can be informed of the error - and frankly are probably sympathetic to him - not suspicious. Imagine if this happened to a co-worker of yours. 'In Jail' over a bad IP address. Would you think 'oh, maybe he did it?' - or - would you think - 'OMG, I feel bad for that guy'. I understand your statement would be valid in a foggy 'he said she said' situation, but this is not that at all.
- wruza 10y ago
  >can ruin your entire life Thanks to the society that tears everyone suspected and doesn't mind reporting or judging on minor crime feelings. I see what Ubik tries to bring to this thread, but noticed years ago that cultural differences effectively disallow that sort of communication. In simple words: Social justice over real justice. It is $subj's society that is wrong, not police officers. Police CAN do mistakes and WILL do them and they can take LONG time to fix. That's because police does actually a lot of work instead of doing nothing. It is okay to spend few time in PD for everyone. It is okay to be suspected, because every crime has several suspects, filtered out by evidence collected over time. It is also okay to take a compensation for your time and inconvenience. What is NOT okay: to live in stupid society that does ruin your life when you're charged. Single data point, but pretty common in my country: I was locked for 4+ hours so many times in my life that I cannot remember the exact count. I was suspected at least in stealing things, threatening and robbing people (well, I did things, but nothing of that). Sometime you get half-day off because an investigator asks you out on a date. It is no big deal at work and many relatives make jokes on that. But for $subj people I am probably a monster. Their laws and principles exist in theory, but do not actually work because of themselves, not because of database records.
zouhair 10y ago
Yes, you are underestimating the ravages that such calamity can do to one's life.
coldtea 10y ago
>That during the three weeks he was away, his younger son would cry. You seem to conflate the story as retold by the journalist, with highlighted parts and observations for flourishing, with the impact such an allegation had on the person, his friendships, public standing, work relations, etc. >I might be underestimating the impact on one's life and mental health of this kind of things. But this story smells of trying to get a better deal or of some deeper personal issue. I find it hard to believe that if this happened to you, you wouldn't too have screamed bloody murder.
Svexark 10y ago
You don't understand. He was arrested for being a pedophile. All of his friends and family will know about it. Everywhere he goes people will be looking for suspicious behavior involving children. Forever. He had a career working with children that he had to abandon. If a single child or parent made a false accusation, it could confirm everyone's suspicions about him and his life would be over. His neighbors would demand he move. His wife would probably leave him. He would probably never see his kids again. Every day he has to live with knowing he did nothing wrong but that other people have the ability to destroy his life on a whim at any moment.
- Udik 10y ago
  Sorry, but I think you're commenting the wrong story. He didn't have to leave his job, he chose to leave. While the idea of peadophilia might linger in the minds of his colleagues and acquaintances for some time, the mistake is clear enough for everybody to shake it off immediately. He got cleared of any charge, then it was even made clear that the mistake was due to a typo. What makes him different from any other random person walking the streets? Absolutely nothing. Get over it.
  - literallycancer 10y ago
    Then you wouldn't mind swapping places with him? I sure as hell would prefer to be the "any other random person".
  - mdpopescu 10y ago
    I was supposed to start a one-year contract with a large financial company in London - went there for two weeks, just got back. They asked me if I had any problems ("any civil suit" or something like that) and I told them "yes, I had a copyright violation 15 years ago, it got settled out of court". That led to an immense scandal and my agency is still trying to convince them to accept me anyway, because their immediate reaction was "no hire". This despite the fact that they are desperate for people (seriously, they want eight more people besides me and can't find them) and despite the fact that everyone agrees that my experience is perfect for the role. The reason they're so stubborn about it? "What if something happens and I am asked why I accepted him despite knowing he had problems? Then I'll lose my job". People love CYA.
omeid2 10y ago
The standard of life and suffering doesn't revolve around that of United States, just because you have an unimaginably fucked up _justice_ system doesn't discounts the struggle and suffering of others.
chris_wot 10y ago
You are underestimating it. Being accused of something by authorities and not being believed is dreadful, even when you KNOW you are innocent. They double down on you even though they caused all the problems and are responsible. This is currently happening to me with the Australian mental health system. For the last 10 months they have lied in writing and verbally, denied violating written policies and state law, and brought me to a point where I very nearly committed suicide. They continue to do so. I have now been trying to get basic justice for 10 months. I finally might have them admit what they did to me was wrong. Once I have them admit it, I'm going to take the fuckers to court. The lawyers can keep all the money for all I care, my goal is to crap all over them and give them a taste of what it feels like to be powerless and humiliated. My anger is enormous, and after they've said sorry I will make them say sorry for at least 10 months after. And I will make the fuckers pay.
inflagranti 10y ago
Well whatever the exact impact it can't be that the police can't be bothered to validate the main evidence trail. Or not type shit by hand that is electronic in nature in the first place for crying out loud! There's just no excuse for such mistakes. What if they raid a wrong house because someone put in the GPS coordinates wrong!?

by Udik 10y ago

macintux 10y ago

When you work with troubled youth, an accusation of child pornography is almost as bad as it can possibly be. Since the police didn't give him an explanation for the mistake up front, I'm sure he lived under a cloud of suspicion after that, hence the concern about being alone with young women. For 3 weeks everyone around you assumes you're guilty. How do you prove the absence of pornography in your life when the police have all your equipment? Yes, it could have been much worse. No, I'm not shocked that it was devastating. (Update: forgot to add, I imagine there's a very real fear during those three weeks that you'll be permanently separated from your children.)

Udik 10y ago
Ok, but the police cleared him of the charges. Then he hired a solicitor and thanks to him the mistake was made clear, and he got a totally justified, and very handsome, compensation. One would think that this should be enough to put at rest any possible suspicion. Three weeks are not such a long ordeal, especially when you know from the start it's all a mistake.
- Jabanga 10y ago
  What happened to him was terrible, but I tend to agree that he received adequate compensation. My armchair judge verdict: calls for further compensation should be strongly discouraged, but the lesson this story teaches of how devastating a sex crime charge, particularly a child sex crime charge, is, should be spread far and wide, and anyone who goes through ordeal similar to Nigel's should be similarly exonerated in a very public way.
  - mjevans 10y ago
    I agree with no further direct monetary compensation... but I can see how this would literally 'break' him. He is no longer the calm, re-assuring, blissfully ignorant individual he once was. He should probably be re-evaluated for current aptitude and skills, receive refining education towards a promising related career field and live a reborn life. I don't know, does the UK actually do the right thing (unlike the US)?
    - Jabanga 10y ago
      He may subconsciously sabotage his own rehabilitation because doing so could net him even more compensation. I strongly believe that now that he's received compensation and full public exoneration, he should be expected to return to supporting himself. There are a lot of people who are in much more difficult circumstances than him. We cannot provide unlimited aid to every person who's been wronged or suffered trauma. It has to be proportionate and within society's ability ability to support.
- nikanj 10y ago
  If you pay any attention to the news, there's been numerous cases where innocent people spent years or even decades in jails before they were found not guilty.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - 10y ago
edblarney 10y ago
I'm very sympathetic to this guy. I understand how hard it might be to be accused of something. That said - I don't feel this is a case for outrage. Surely, most of his colleagues will be well informed of the mistake. He received basically $100 000 in compensation. That's a lot of money. Given the clarity of his exhoneration - i.e. this was not something that 'went to court' or there wasn't some kind of 'Michael Jackson style payoff' to keep someone quiet - and that it was an obvious police error - I think that any circumstances around is guilt should be relatively clear. He is not a public figure - his personal reputation that 'matters' is limited to his colleagues, friends, family and the people he helps at work. That's a manageable thing from a PR perspective. His $100 000 in 'compensation' can surely be enough to pay for some lifestyle helpers. The notion that it was too much for him to go back to work, I think is a stretch. There should be no lingering doubt. This is a sad story, I feel for him, but it's not one of the scary stories we here about that need serious redressing and law changes etc.. As far as his pursual of the police action - it's clear that this boiled down to a single digit in an IP address. That's it. Innocuous error = consequence. There is no 'evil secret police' or 'malign intent'. The fact the he feels he needs to pursue this is really only going to keep him in problem zone. What kind of closure can he expect? That police will change their operating procedures to make sure they 'write down stuff correctly'? Surely there's tons of data that's passed around in an investigation and this is liable to happen. I guess this is newsworthy, but I think context is required here.
timv 10y ago
> For 3 weeks everyone around you assumes you're guilty It sounds like it was worse than that. After 3 weeks they gave him back his laptop because they found no evidence on it, and stopped pursuing charges. But the police never explained why they suspected him, nor did they uncover their own mistake regarding the IP address. So, at the end of the 3 weeks he went from being actively under investigation for child pornography to no longer under active investigation for child pornography. That's a small step forward - now not-quite-everyone around you assumes you're guilty. It took years before his solicitor uncovered the error and there was enough information available to demonstrate that he should never have been a suspect and it was all due to a police screw-up.
- mjevans 10y ago
  Probably way worse. I imagine it hit the news, and even if they didn't name him, //EVERYONE// that KNEW him then KNEW it was him. Then, he shows up, as you say, no longer being actively investigated for X, but still not cleared of X. Public Perception (most probably): 'Likely guilty, but they couldn't nail the bastard.' Compounded by the other details everywhere else in the thread.
UpDownLeftRight 10y ago
And even if cleared, everyone still thinks he's guilty. Ask a random person on the Left about the Duke lacrosse players. Even though they were exonerated... not just found not guilty... and the prosecutor was put in jail, and the accuser is now in jail, most progressives still think something happened, and their lives are ruined.

zkms 10y ago

> Lang was bailed, but under strict and devastating conditions. Social services had visited his partner at home while he was being interviewed to conduct a “safeguarding assessment”, and it was decided he could not live at the family home, visit his son there, or have any unsupervised contact with his son anywhere. “Not being able to look after my kid, it was heartbreaking,” Lang recalled. > He also has a grandson who was 14 months old at the time and was due to undergo a major brain operation while Lang was on bail. He said he felt unable to help the boy’s mother due to the strict conditions. “It was a really fucked-up time. I couldn’t give them any support.” > He was working as a drug recovery worker helping troubled teenagers at the time, and when he informed his employer what had happened, he was suspended immediately. > Their son, meanwhile, suddenly saw his father as unreliable, Lang said, and would cry, not understanding why he had disappeared and couldn’t come home for three weeks. > He remembers his young son asking: “‘Why can’t Daddy come home?’ That brought me to fucking tears. I’m welling up now thinking about it.” > Today, neither he nor his partner is working. Lang is effectively a full-time carer for his disabled mother, and in the years since his arrest his partner developed ME, something they blame on the stress caused by the whole ordeal. He got his career torpedoed, got publicly accused of being a pedo, and had relationships with multiple members of one's family get fucked up, and his father died before he got exonerated. Career and family and relationships with friends -- having all those sources of meaning in your life get instantly eviscerated (in a way that was impossible to predict and that is very difficult to find sympathy from others for) seems like it would induce pretty deep dysfunction in most anyone.

Udik 10y ago
He spent a total of four hours in a police station. Four hours. Then three weeks (three weeks!) at his mother's waiting for his laptop to be scanned. And that's it. Daddy can't come home because he's on a holiday, or on a business trip, and he'll send you a postcard, and now off to bed. Employer, same thing: "horrible mistake, accusing me of something I haven't done, in three weeks I'll come clear" and that's exactly what happens, with excuses from the police. If this has impacts on your work, then you don't have great colleagues for sure.
- bdamm 10y ago

art-w 10y ago

While I agree I was expecting a more visual story from the synopsis, I strongly recommend the movie "The Hunt" with Mads Mikkelsen to get a feeling of what he may have gone through. It's a really good movie.

Udik 10y ago
It's actually one of my favourite movies from the last few years. But that story is very different, at least because he's accused by the children themselves, whose parents happen to also be his closest friends. Anyway, really excellent movie.
saiya-jin 10y ago
ah, that was really chilly movie! pedophilia charges stick super easily and don't go off at all (I guess we all heard whats happening to pedophiles in jail, yet murderers receive gentler treatment from inmates)

BinaryIdiot 10y ago

I think you're severely undercutting the affect it can have when one is accused of being a pedophile. It can ruin your entire life even if it's discovered to not be true immediately. Once it's out there it's pretty much impossible to remove.

edblarney 10y ago
I'm not sure if I agree with this. This is not some kid who made a false claim, leaving the doubt lingering etc.. This is the case of a mistaken IP address - something cleanly and resolutely exonerating. His 'reputation' matters to people in his immediate circle, and people are reasonable: they can be informed of the error - and frankly are probably sympathetic to him - not suspicious. Imagine if this happened to a co-worker of yours. 'In Jail' over a bad IP address. Would you think 'oh, maybe he did it?' - or - would you think - 'OMG, I feel bad for that guy'. I understand your statement would be valid in a foggy 'he said she said' situation, but this is not that at all.
wruza 10y ago
>can ruin your entire life Thanks to the society that tears everyone suspected and doesn't mind reporting or judging on minor crime feelings. I see what Ubik tries to bring to this thread, but noticed years ago that cultural differences effectively disallow that sort of communication. In simple words: Social justice over real justice. It is $subj's society that is wrong, not police officers. Police CAN do mistakes and WILL do them and they can take LONG time to fix. That's because police does actually a lot of work instead of doing nothing. It is okay to spend few time in PD for everyone. It is okay to be suspected, because every crime has several suspects, filtered out by evidence collected over time. It is also okay to take a compensation for your time and inconvenience. What is NOT okay: to live in stupid society that does ruin your life when you're charged. Single data point, but pretty common in my country: I was locked for 4+ hours so many times in my life that I cannot remember the exact count. I was suspected at least in stealing things, threatening and robbing people (well, I did things, but nothing of that). Sometime you get half-day off because an investigator asks you out on a date. It is no big deal at work and many relatives make jokes on that. But for $subj people I am probably a monster. Their laws and principles exist in theory, but do not actually work because of themselves, not because of database records.

zouhair 10y ago

Yes, you are underestimating the ravages that such calamity can do to one's life.

coldtea 10y ago

>That during the three weeks he was away, his younger son would cry. You seem to conflate the story as retold by the journalist, with highlighted parts and observations for flourishing, with the impact such an allegation had on the person, his friendships, public standing, work relations, etc. >I might be underestimating the impact on one's life and mental health of this kind of things. But this story smells of trying to get a better deal or of some deeper personal issue. I find it hard to believe that if this happened to you, you wouldn't too have screamed bloody murder.

Svexark 10y ago

You don't understand. He was arrested for being a pedophile. All of his friends and family will know about it. Everywhere he goes people will be looking for suspicious behavior involving children. Forever. He had a career working with children that he had to abandon. If a single child or parent made a false accusation, it could confirm everyone's suspicions about him and his life would be over. His neighbors would demand he move. His wife would probably leave him. He would probably never see his kids again. Every day he has to live with knowing he did nothing wrong but that other people have the ability to destroy his life on a whim at any moment.

Udik 10y ago
Sorry, but I think you're commenting the wrong story. He didn't have to leave his job, he chose to leave. While the idea of peadophilia might linger in the minds of his colleagues and acquaintances for some time, the mistake is clear enough for everybody to shake it off immediately. He got cleared of any charge, then it was even made clear that the mistake was due to a typo. What makes him different from any other random person walking the streets? Absolutely nothing. Get over it.
- literallycancer 10y ago
  Then you wouldn't mind swapping places with him? I sure as hell would prefer to be the "any other random person".
- mdpopescu 10y ago
  I was supposed to start a one-year contract with a large financial company in London - went there for two weeks, just got back. They asked me if I had any problems ("any civil suit" or something like that) and I told them "yes, I had a copyright violation 15 years ago, it got settled out of court". That led to an immense scandal and my agency is still trying to convince them to accept me anyway, because their immediate reaction was "no hire". This despite the fact that they are desperate for people (seriously, they want eight more people besides me and can't find them) and despite the fact that everyone agrees that my experience is perfect for the role. The reason they're so stubborn about it? "What if something happens and I am asked why I accepted him despite knowing he had problems? Then I'll lose my job". People love CYA.

omeid2 10y ago

The standard of life and suffering doesn't revolve around that of United States, just because you have an unimaginably fucked up _justice_ system doesn't discounts the struggle and suffering of others.

chris_wot 10y ago

You are underestimating it. Being accused of something by authorities and not being believed is dreadful, even when you KNOW you are innocent. They double down on you even though they caused all the problems and are responsible. This is currently happening to me with the Australian mental health system. For the last 10 months they have lied in writing and verbally, denied violating written policies and state law, and brought me to a point where I very nearly committed suicide. They continue to do so. I have now been trying to get basic justice for 10 months. I finally might have them admit what they did to me was wrong. Once I have them admit it, I'm going to take the fuckers to court. The lawyers can keep all the money for all I care, my goal is to crap all over them and give them a taste of what it feels like to be powerless and humiliated. My anger is enormous, and after they've said sorry I will make them say sorry for at least 10 months after. And I will make the fuckers pay.

inflagranti 10y ago

Well whatever the exact impact it can't be that the police can't be bothered to validate the main evidence trail. Or not type shit by hand that is electronic in nature in the first place for crying out loud! There's just no excuse for such mistakes. What if they raid a wrong house because someone put in the GPS coordinates wrong!?