Police have issued an apology after a video circulating on social media showed an officer admitting he would 'make something up' in order to arrest and detain a young man.
The video, which was sent to the Lancashire Telegraph on Friday, cannot be used at this time, but in these stills from the footage, the officer can clearly be seen squaring up to the man, and intimidating him.
It is believed the man involved, who is from Accrington, had been out in his car on Friday afternoon in order to buy a quad bike for his step-son, before being pulled over by the police.
In the video, the young man is heard calmly saying: "You're harassing me, what for I've done nothing wrong."
The officer can then clearly be heard saying: "Do you want me to show you the definition of harassment.
"Give me the keys. Give me the keys and sit in the car and shut up.
"If you want to f******g step to me then fine I will lock you up."
The young man can then be heard saying, "but I've done nothing wrong", to which the officer, who's collar number is 3539, says: "I will make something up.
"Public order, squaring up to a police officer, shall I do that?
"Who they going to believe, me or you."
The officer then repeats the line but this time raising his voice to a shout.
Throughout the video, the young man appeared calm and didn't raise his voice or challenge the police officer.
Posting on his social media channels later on Friday afternoon, he said: "So today when I had just bought a quad, a police officer turned up with a team of officers.
"He started to hail abuse at me, threatening me and saying he will make something up to lock me away, his words were, ‘who they going to believe me or you’, while not keeping his two metre distance spitting at me while he was shouting."
Earlier today, a police spokesman said that the matter is being investigated and had been referred to the professional standards department.
Chief Constable Andy Rhodes has since released a statement.
He said : "On the afternoon of Friday, 17 April, officers were making their way towards an address to execute a search warrant when they stopped to speak to a group of males with a quad bike.
"The footage shows language and behaviour from one officer which were completely unacceptable and for this I apologise without reservation.
"We recognise the impact that this behaviour will have had, both on the young man concerned, and on the hard earned trust and confidence of the wider public, particularly the comments about making offences up.
"It only takes one incident like this to undo the hard work of so many.
"I want to reassure everyone that we are conducting a thorough investigation and I have referred the matter to our Professional Standards Department.
"We have spoken to the man in the footage and apologised and will be speaking to him again over the coming days to keep him fully informed regarding the actions we are taking."
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