Police officer caught on film threatening to ‘make something up’ to arrest man

‘Who are they going to believe? Me or you?’ officer says in video

A policeman has been caught on camera threatening to “make something up” to arrest a member of the public.

Footage of the confrontation in Lancashire – which was shared on social media – shows the officer threatening to fabricate an offence against a young man.

“I’ll lock you up,” the policeman said. “We’ll do that, shall we ... I’ll make something up.”

“Who are they going to believe? Me or you?” he said twice.

The man in the video had told the officer he had ”done nothing wrong”.

Chief Constable Andy Rhodes from Lancashire Police said the footage circulating on social media “shows language and behaviour from one officer which were completely unacceptable”.

“For this I apologise without reservation,” he said.

He said the incident happened on Friday afternoon in Accrington, a town near Blackburn, after police approached a group of people on quad bikes.

“We have spoken to the man in the footage and apologised,” he said.

The video shows a man standing near a car telling a uniformed officer: “You’re harassing me. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

The policeman then goes on to say he could “make something up” to execute an arrest.

Mr Rhodes said: “I want to reassure everyone that we are conducting a thorough investigation and I have referred the matter to our Professional Standards Department.”

He said police would be speaking to the man in the footage over the coming days “to keep him fully informed regarding the actions we are taking”.