I agree. Interesting related fact about the UK. The police are "crown servants", and as The Crown is not ordinarily bound by statute the law to does not apply to them in the course of the execution of their duties. This allows them to break the speed limit, carry firearms that are otherwise prohibited, handle drugs, etc. I don't know if this would stretch as far as the police operating a paedo CDN, maybe someone here does? It would certainly cause a lot of public outrage.
That sounds suspiciously like one of those legal "facts" that are complete hogwash, like "people can be hung for treason in the UK", or "It's legal to kill a Scotsman with a longbow at a church".
At least in New Zealand, which is constitutionally similar to the UK, police are governed by specific laws that allow what would be otherwise considered illegal behavior (e.g. carrying firearms, use of physical force, speeding). If a police officer was to, say, rape someone, it would still be completely illegal.
N.B. "An Act does not bind the Crown unless it does so expressly or by necessary implication."
and
They [the Crown] are: the Sovereign personally; her servants or agents; and persons who are not Crown servants or agents but who, for certain limited purposes, are considered to be “in consimili casu”.
See the second extract, the meaning of the "Crown" is accepted include its "servants or agents", which would include the police, the government, the armed forces, etc.
Crown servant is defined in the Official Secrets Act for the purposes of that act, but nonetheless useful for our edification, N.B. section (e):
In this Act "Crown servant" means -
(a) a Minister of the Crown;
[(aa) a member of the Scottish Executive or a junior Scottish Minister;]
[(ab) the First Minister for Wales, a Welsh Minister appointed under section 48 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, the Counsel General to the Welsh Assembly Government or a Deputy Welsh Minister;]
(b) . . .
(c) any person employed in the civil service of the Crown, including Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service, the civil service of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Court Service;
(d) any member of the naval, military or air forces of the Crown, including any person employed by an association established for the purposes of [Part XI of the Reserve Forces Act 1996];
(e) any constable and any other person employed or appointed in or for the purposes of any police force [(including the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve)][or of the Serious Organised Crime Agency];
(f) any person who is a member or employee of a prescribed body or a body of a prescribed class and either is prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph or belongs to a prescribed class of members or employees of any such body;
(g) any person who is the holder of a prescribed office or who is an employee of such a holder and either is prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph or belongs to a prescribed class of such employees.
I'm pretty sure it is hogwash, believed only by conspiracy theorists similar to the sovereign citizen nonsense in the US (which is why you can't find any normal source of information on the topic). Here's a recent example of a UK police officer charged with assault for his actions while on duty, which would be impossible if this Crown agents theory was real - http://news.met.police.uk/news/serving-officer-charged-with-...
It doesn't say anything about the officer being on duty at the time. Besides it would only cover crown servants in the course of the execution of their duty. For example, an armed officer randomly selecting a tourist at the end of Downing Street and putting a few rounds of 9mm into their skull will certainly not be getting away with it.
edit: you may also be interested in knowing where police get the legal right to break the speed limit, which is also obviously not from their non-existent immunity to the law:
> The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 exempt emergency vehicles from:
- observing speed limits
- observing keep left/right signs
- complying with traffic lights (including pedestrian controlled crossings).
