Armed police in a flat corridor told a suspect not to 'be scared' as they raided a city centre apartment.
Merseyside Police surrounded Baltic Studios at the junction of Bridgewater Street and Jamaica Street at around 5.55pm on Monday, January 9. Three Matrix vans, two Matrix police vehicles, and a small police van were called to the scene along with armed police officers.
Police, who did not arrive with blue lights flashing or sirens, then entered the building and raided one of the flats. A person who was in the building at the time of the raid has exclusively shared audio with The ECHO of when armed police officers confronted the suspect.
In the audio you can hear officers announcing themselves as armed police before demanding the suspect open their door.
One officer shouts "occupier... this is the armed police. Come to the front door, bring nothing with you. Do it now" with another adding "we will force the door open". Another officer adds: "There's nothing to be scared of, do as you've been instructed to".
In audio, which The ECHO has chosen not to publish, the armed officers change their tactics after hearing one of the people in the flat is vulnerable. An officer says: "We're not going to harm you, there's nothing to be scared of. Listen to me, take a breath, calm yourself down and take a breath and listen to what we're saying."
After the door opens you hear officers asking the suspect to put his hands on his head before putting him in handcuffs and taking the suspect outside. The eyewitness who recorded the audio said they were listening to music when they heard officers shouting outside.
They told The ECHO: "Obviously I was very scared cause I had no clue if it was people about to come into the flat I was in and hurt me, but then they shouted 'occupier, this is the armed police, open up'. I grabbed my phone and started recording immediately, until my phone ran out of battery at 17 minutes.
"They refused the open the door for a while because someone was freaking out. They told the officers they were vulnerable and wanted them to stop shouting.
"When the police found out they were vulnerable, they changed their tactics and a lot of focus was on calming the person down. I'm not normally one to compliment the police, but I would say the way they talked with the person to calm them down was commendable.
"They were clear and instructed them through breathing exercises, instead of shouting. The officers began a search of the property.
"They were shouting into the property for any hidden people to come out, but the flat was empty. They came in with sniffer dogs and searched for about 15 minutes.
"The apartments are very tiny with very few hiding spots for humans. After the search, the police stayed around the flat for another half an hour before leaving."
The witness said they were "scared" during the incident and "didn't want to make a sound."
The witness continued: "It was a very scary event to happen, as this is a very quiet neighbourhood. We hardly ever hear sirens going past, let alone have someone so dramatically arrested by armed police."
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