Tag Archives: Complaints and Discipline

Bloody Ridiculous!!

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I have been extremely busy over the past couple of days which has meant that I have had my thunder stolen in respect to the latest plebgate events. Having said that, the Chair of the Metropolitan Police federation is only saying what I was going to say. What a complete and utter waste of everyone’s time the investigation into the incident involving Andrew Mitchell on Downing Street whereby 30 officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Professional Standards Department are to interview 800 Diplomatic Protection Officers. In case you missed it, Andrew Mitchell was reported by Police Officers as having sworn at them when they refused to open a gate on Downing Street asking him to use the pedestrian access. His response in swearing was the old I pay your wages type comment and also that the officers were plebs.

Andrew Mitchell pictured on CCTV leaving Downing StreetIn fairness to him, he denied it. There is no independent recording of the actual conversation so you made your own mind up. It intrigues me that Mitchell did not deny the abusive language but seriously denied the use of the word pleb. I often apply the missive, having been accused of making up stories in my own career, that if the officers on the gate really wanted to stitch him up would they use an innocuous word such as pleb? Of course not, so my opinion of the incident for what its worth sides with the officers at the gate.

Then came the cctv footage which showed that Mitchell was forced to use the pedestrian gate. Somehow, even experienced journalists managed to infer that from a silent video the words attributed to Mitchell could not have been used! However, it did call into question the evidence of one person who happened to be an off duty cop posing as a member of the public and present at the scene. Unfortunately for him, the cctv does not appear to show him there. Of course, the utter b*llocks being spouted now is that because he is accused of lying it must be the case that all the cops are lying. The reality of it is that the behaviour which Mitchell admitted should have led to his resignation not just the use of the word pleb.

mitchellIf it is true that now 800 officers are to be interviewed in this case then it is an expensive joke. However, we know that this witch hunt fishing for information over a poxy dispute instigated by a pompous MP will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and will demoralise all those involved. Why doesn’t Andrew Mitchell do the decent thing and insist to Hogan-Howe that the Met Police Professional Standards Department should wind their necks in and get on with law enforcement. That way he gets a bit of credibility back – far more than a pathetically posed snog of an Inspector in his local constituency

BBC – v – Police. A Little storm Brewing!

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I love to watch how high ranking officials in any organisation round upon each other at a moment’s notice in their attempts to deflect blame elsewhere particularly when it is their rank that should be blamed. The already well documented scandal involving Jimmy Savile is exactly like many scenes witnessed within the hierarchy of some of our major police forces in recent years. The only voices louder than those complaining about the tawdry behaviour are those in the highest authority denying knowledge of actions they appeared to dismiss many years ago.

The difference nowadays is that many senior officers and officials in senior positions don’t possess the wherewithal to handle the pressure nor can they actually understand that the truth is often the best form of attack. However, truth and many senior police officers of ACPO rank don’t go hand in hand.

The blame game is seen as the way to deal with scandal by many in high authority. In reality I am not sure why people are asking questions of George Entwhistle, I mean, would you really expect a Chief Constable to know what his uPSD are doing? Of course they don’t otherwise a significant number of the unProfessional Standards Staff would get locked up for criminal offences.

Eyes Peeled

Well, it appears that the worm may be turning. I know I have been quiet for a few weeks but it has been because of a recent court case which had to be seen to be believed. As it now happens keep your eyes looking north as a little birdie has told me of a storm of hurricane proportions coming the way of a north west force. This force has only recently concluded a Crown Court Trial in which an officer accused of corruption with an investigation costing hundreds of thousands of pounds has been told by a Judge that his case should never have come before a court and, at worst, is a minor disciplinary matter. The case should have been dealt with in-house. The corruption investigation carried out by the force’s “elite” anti-corruption unit was riddled with lies and inconsistencies that the judge paraded the uPSD Chief Inspector in charge of the investigation in the witness box and had him give evidence about the methods of evidence gathering and obtaining of Authorities. Other than a minor breach of the Data Protection Act for which the accused officer received a conditional discharge, there was simply no evidence of corruption other than the evidence fabricated by the uPSD. A request for costs by the force was dismissed with contempt by the Judge.

Who has been a naughty Police Force then?

The upshot is that the Anti-Corruption unit of this force is going to be investigated by another force for……..well corruption! No longer can these uPSD officers hide behind their Noble Cause Corruption mask as we know they are coming unstuck. They will now attempt to shift blame sideways, downwards, in fact anywhere but their own backs. Already I have heard that senior officers in this force are distancing themselves from even the remotest connection to this matter. A far cry from the postulating and self-righteousness when they actually manage to get one of these evidential cock-ups through the courts when they queue up to lambast the poor unfortunate on the receiving end of their criminality.

They should face the same consequences that a number of officers in the same force have faced only the evidence against them will come form resolute and unbiased investigation by real investigators not some arbitrary decision at first report and then a biased presentation of the evidence. I only feel sorry that it has taken this long to come out into the open.

The Powers that be

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So another Chief Constable bites the dust. Chief Constable Sean Price, sorry Mr Price, has been found guilty of the misconduct offences relating to honesty and integrity. In a remarkable turn of events, he was sacked rather than being allowed to retire or just brush the allegation under the carpet and fade away. Apparently, he is still under investigation for another matter so I had better wind my neck in about that. This comes on the back of Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison, soon to be just Sir Norman who also has a size 11 in his gob after his diatribe about Hillsborough.

Are the general public beginning to see through the ACPO facade which designates the two rules of the police service:

  1. ACPO are never wrong
  2. When ACPO are found to be lying, cheating and conniving, close ranks and refer to rule 1

Of course, there are many good ACPO officers working hard to get the job done efficiently and properly without treading all over the backs of honest, hard working officers who risk their lives on a daily basis. If only we could get back to the times where the support of the front line officer from those on high was a genuine sentiment rather than a passing fad. The Chief officer commanding his force and ensuring proper discipline rather than looking for people to blame and persecute when things go wrong. Apparently, subject to any appeal process, Mr Price is a liar. The simple truth is he probably got sacked because he couldn’t find anyone else to blame.

Rely on ACPO

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In a remarkable display of no support to the ordinary rank and file officer, ACPO decided to release a press statement in respect of the current disquiet about changes to Police pensions. I produce it below in full or it can be read here:

ACPO lead for reward and recognition responds to the Government’s announcement on long-term reform of police pensions

ACPO lead for reward and recognition Chief Constable Simon Ash said:

“The changes to the Police Pension Regulations by the Home Office are broadly supported by ACPO, who have worked constructively with other stakeholders since March to ensure that the best possible balance is achieved for longer term reform whilst providing sufficient transitional arrangements. We will continue to support the process going forward, and continue to highlight key areas for the service.”

Work longer for less

For any officer who does not know what Simon Ash looks like I suggest you take a long look at him. This is an officer who is a classic example of what the public should fear about senior officer.

ACPO lay their cards firmly on the table. They do not give a toss about the officer on the front line. In fact they want those officers to work longer for less and they disguise it in the name of “reform.”  We all know that ACPO is not about improvement, it is about profit. The true colours of the ACPO rank have been laid bare over the Hillsborough tragedy and should now alert people to the real meaning of an unelected and unaccountable organisation who change the way your local police deal with your complaint and there is nothing you can do about it.

All cops know that ACPO and the senior officer rank is not to be trusted. A story in the Sun newspaper (for what it is worth) outlines an officer who is now retired and was present at Hillsborough and who has found out that his witness statement has been changed and submitted as evidence without his knowledge. I suspect there will be a number of other officers in a similar position. I reported a similar incident on this very site in March 2011 by my very own uPSD. Take a look here. This is the mentality of ACPO who see the front line as simple “cannon fodder” by serving a purpose and then to be thrown to the wolves. The ordinary copper is a honourable person. I wish I could say the same about senior officers, without morals altering reality to save their own skin and sod anyone who gets in the way.

Inspector Gadget

On a congratulatory note, one of the reasons I got into this was because I read the Inspector Gadget Blog. He pretty well sums up the problems faced by most cops but would never be told to the public by senior ranks. In fact, he tells it as it is. My congratulations go to him though because he has just passed the 11 million hits barrier whereas I am just below the 100,000 mark. I will keep trying to emulate my hero!!

Noble Cause Corruption

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Glad to be back. Duty called and I had to respond.

Unfortunately it does not amaze me when I read the story of Hillsborough and the blatant attempts by a Police Force and the Senior management to change statements and evidence to alter where the true blame lies. They take out evidence which criticises their own force and then pass off the resulting statement as the truth. I do not know what the full story of Hillsborough is. I was influenced to an extent at the time by certain rags or newspapers which apportioned blame where it should not have done. I was also suspicious of the inquest verdict based on the, now, flawed evidence obviously put before it but in essence I had a little doubt. Not of those who died but of others present at the scene and I now admit that it is to my shame that I know I was wrong.

Why do so many of you who email me not believe that any corruption which may exist in the police in this country only does so in the higher echelons of the service at the most senior ranks? Yet it is the rank and file officer who faces the brunt of the public attack and anxiety. From my extensive experience, the cops on the front line, do so for a reason. They do so to make things better. They make mistakes and often those mistakes lead to sackings and even loss of liberty but I can assure you that they do not go on duty with the intention of finishing it with a potential criminal conviction and loss of livelihood.

Some senior officers, however, adopt a wild west attitude to their domain. They are judge, jury and hangman in their decision making process and they are inconsistent and even corrupt in their application of the regulations that they should adhere to. They pull the wool over the eyes of the general public who do not believe they can be wrong or corrupt or choose not to consider the possibility. This has been going on for years and years yet we hear the complaints and ignore them. Perhaps the issue stems from the inability of the IPCC to accept complaints from serving officers due to the Police Reform Act. Instead they refer the complaint back to the same officers from the same force that the complaint is being made about leaving people like me with nowhere else to go except blogging about it.

There has to be a change. If we have to have an IPCC then that organisation should be compelled to treat allegations from serving officers about a police force with the same gusto that they treat a complaint from the public. I know of many officers who have been shafted from a great height. They would welcome the opportunity to provide evidence of the shortcomings in their own matters and I know they will be watching to see if the subsequent treatment of the senior ranks mirrors their own experiences. Don’t say that you have not been told.

A Bare Faced Rumour

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A former police officer who was required to resign following a mistake he made whilst on duty has reported to me that he is now the subject of a number of possible Police Disciplinary procedures in spite of the fact that he left the police over 2 years ago. This former officer was a Greater Manchester Police officer. He went on duty one day, performed to the best of his ability but made a mistake. His mistake was that a third party decided that he was guilty of the misconduct offence of using excessive force on a prisoner. This result was arrived at even though their was no complaint from the person who he was supposed to have used excessive force on!

The incident was captured on CCTV which meant that the senior officers of Greater Manchester Police were able to put any spin they wished upon what they saw. They were able to ignore the reality of the situation as described by the three other officers present at the scene and effectively dismiss the former officer based on a two dimensional CCTV view without sound of an incident which was enacted in three dimensions with the screams of abuse from the prisoner and surrounding community morons intent on releasing him from his arrest for violent crime. At one stage during the incident the offender was being investiagted for attempted murder of a police officer!

The former officer thought it was all over. He failed to win his job back through the Chief Constable and also failed at his Police Appeals Tribunal so he got on with the rest of his life. This life now involves a senior security position within a multi-national company. I suspect he would dearly love to be back in the job but, in essence, he is earning as much now as he did as a cop with a company car, no shifts and no weekends unless he fancies doing them himself. He is loved by his bosses and, since being given the push, he has arrested burglars on two separate occasions in the vicinity of his own home.

So what has got his gander up? It is this! His mates who are still in the cops have been told that because the former officer has been removed from the police in these circumstances they must now report every time they associate with him. In fact, any officer who has left Greater Manchester Police under circumstances which are less than amicable are now subject to suspicion and social exclusion because any contact must be reported to senior command. The former officer is a well respected member of the community, he has no criminal convictions because the CPS decided he was not guilty of any offences and he is still a law abiding citizen assisting the community to keep it safe.

What is the world coming to when law abiding citizens are treated as if they are suspected criminals? What have Sir Pete’s senior command got up their sleeve? Shouldn’t they be concentrating on harassing the bad guys? Someone please tell me my information is wrong!!

The Comment of the Conference..!

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“Hands up if you believe that the report by Tom Winsor was impartial,” said Paul McKeever. “I notice you didn’t put your hand up, Home Secretary”

There then followed much mirth and laughter and the Home Secretary looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp. How satisfying it was and in that moment she felt the wrath of 130,000 officers and their families and their extended families. The Home Secretary during her conference address took great pleasure in stating that she was “telling it as it is” however she looked very uncomfortable when we, too, told it as it was. Theresa, dearest, what is good for the goose………! I’ll leave you to fill in the rest yourself.

I normally leave any replies to speak for themselves. However, in response to the last post about Tom Winsor I have faithfully reproduced below a comment contained in the replies section by Rather Annoyed on May 14th 2012:

Don’t forget that Theresa May is shareholder in Prudential which is the largest shareholder in G4S so she is lining her pockets as well! Visit http://bit.ly/KgOUNa and you will Theresa May’s entries on her Register of Interests. 26th November 2002 you will see states a shareholding in Prudential. Visit http://bit.ly/KlLXNV and you will see that Prudential has a 6% shareholding in G4S (the largest shareholder) – proof enough that these fat cats are getting fatter by robbing us, screwing us, and privatising the best police service in the world for their own gain?!

If this is true how can we really trust the impartiality of anyone dealing in this sorry business, from politicians to business leaders. They all seem to be p*ssing in the same pot and want us to believe that it is for our own good that we should put our lives on the line every day that we go out to protect the public and society at large. I’m certain if I tried this with my uPSD they would be lining me up for criminal charges. Why is no-one asking them questions?

A Tribute to this Government

On a slightly different tack, I have been in contact with the supplier of the now world famous T-Shirt bearing Theresa May’s head and the logo “Get Shafted and Carry On” and have been asked to co-ordinate all enquiries into sales for these shirts. Those of you, and there have been lots, who have already emailed will be contacted very soon in respect of your own orders. Demand has been a lot higher than anticipated so please bear with us. The price is anticipated to be in the region of about £10 plus postage and packing but I’ll let you know.