Featured Image Credit: LBC
Topics: UK News, Technology, Apple, Parenting
Brenna Cooper
Surrey Police has released a further statement seeking to clarify why a 50-year-old woman was arrested after temporarily confiscating her children's iPads.
On 26 March, Vanessa Brown found herself being arrested by officers while visiting her elderly mother’s house in Cobham, Surrey.
The reason for Brown's arrest? She had allegedly stolen a pair of iPads belonging to her two children.
A horrified Brown would then be forced to spend hours in police custody, where she was searched, had custody photographs and fingerprints taken, and placed in a cell while officers investigated the ownership of the technology equipment.
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After 12 hours in custody, Brown was allowed to return to her mother's house after being released on conditional bail.
However, the mother-of-two's bail conditions meant that she was barred from contacting her daughters until officers completed their investigation.
Understandably, the shocking incident has left Brown completely shaken up, with the history teacher later telling LBC that she found it 'quite traumatic' to even talk about the event.
"At no point did they [the officers] think to themselves, ‘Oh, this is a little bit of an overreaction for a moment, confiscating temporarily her iPads and popping over to her mum's to have a coffee’," she said. "It was just a complete overreaction.
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"It was thoroughly unprofessional. They were speaking to my mother, who is in her 80s, like she was a criminal."
Surrey Police has now released a further statement attempting to clarify the nature of Brown's arrest, with Chief Superintendent Aimee Ramm saying that 'necessary procedures were followed' with the mother-of-two's arrest.
The force confirmed they had been contacted by a man in his 40s to report the alleged theft before tracking the devices to a second address at which Brown was present.
"Officers encouraged the woman to return the items and resolve the matter, however the woman did not cooperate and therefore she was arrested on suspicion of theft," the statement continued.
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"The woman was then taken into custody where the necessary procedures were followed, which included a risk assessment, consultation with a healthcare professional, and the taking of fingerprints and custody photos."
During the inquiries, it was later established that both iPads belonged to Brown's children, which meant she was 'entitled' to confiscate them. The case was later closed, and no further action was taken.
Officers also confirmed that police had spoken to one of Brown's daughters at her school, however his was 'in relation to the initial concern for safety'.
The incident has been slammed by former police and crime commissioner and current Conservative MP Anthony Stansfeld, who urged police to apologise for their actions.
"It was quite unnecessary to put a reputable 50-year-old history teacher into a cell for seven hours," he told MailOnline.
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"I would hope that the chief constable goes and apologises personally to the poor lady."