Tag Archives: Police

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 Thin Ended Wedge

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ACPO President

I love it when a stupid idea comes back to bite you on the arse. Peter Fahy or Sir Pete as he would have you call him, is the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and also the Chairman of that well known business enterprise called ACPO. ACPO, for those new to policing circles is an acronym for the Association of Chief Police Officers but is actually an organisation that has non police officers in its ranks. ACPO are responsible for shaping the way many duties of the police and how they should be carried out. Ergo, it is quite feasible for an executive from private industry, once they are safely ensconced in a role which allows them to join ACPO, to develop and promote police practice despite having absolutely no experience or insight into police duties. Any dealings with your average HR official will lead most police officers to understand where I am coming from.

However, ACPO are an organisation who want to civilianise great swathes of police duties such as criminal investigation, statement taking, witness liaison and many, many other police duties. Then the idea rottweiler bites them on the bottom. In Manchester, Sir Pete’s current force, Securitas have begun setting up a private police force to patrol the streets of Manchester in uniform! Just read here for details. Sir Pete is now horrified because this private police force undermines his own power and stops him from being lord and master over everything he surveys, police-wise.

The private police force will have body armour and cameras but no powers to do anything……….as yet. No doubt that, in time, they will seek to issue the odd fixed penalty here and there and then control traffic, may be take the odd crime report. Pretty soon Greater Manchester Police will be just that, patrolling Greater Manchester and not the city centre where Manchester City Securitas Police will be in charge. Although they won’t be subject to the usual disciplinary code which is normally applied to warranted police officers dependent upon the direction of the wind.

Sir Pete then pipes up like a spoilt child bleating that this type of policing style is not what is needed in Manchester. He has been brilliant in cutting the crime figures for Manchester, no doubt justifying his most amazing knighthood (nobody saw that coming, I’m sure!). This must be stopped, it is a travesty and cannot be allowed to happen. So what have you got to say about his debacle then, Mr Securitas?

Sources at Securitas were surprised when told of Mr Fahy’s comments. One said: “We have been in dialogue with the force for a good 18 months about this during which time they have been very supportive.”

Game over. The shafters have been royally shafted!!

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.

Corruption on the Grandest Scale!!!

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What is it about Tom Winsor that makes him so reviled and offensive? Is it his looks? You have to admit that the gods dishing out looks significantly passed him by but that is not really an issue. I have got loads of friends and colleagues who are ugly as sin but I still get on with them and enjoy their company. Is it that he singularly failed to realise the unique nature of being an unarmed police officer in the United Kingdom and that is why his proposals should be banished to the dump that contains previous attempts at so called “reform?”

The real reason why Winsor will be so reviled and offensive is the fact that he is a Partner in White and Case and they just happen to be advising G4S on winning a £200 million Police Authority Contract for Lincolnshire Police. It is so bloody obvious now. All this talk of privatising great swathes of police work to companies like G4S and we wonder why Tom Winsor was so in favour of running down the office of Constable. It is all so clear now. Undermine the very fabric of the police under the guise of modernisation, disaffect the police to such an extent that the efficiency is tested to the very limit and step in, hand in hand with G4S to take up the slack. Everyone’s a winner except the police and the public.

This latest example of Noble Cause Corruption of the highest order should be shouted from the rooftops and we should be letting our MP’s and the press know of the conflict of interest in a report which is simply designed to line the pockets of private industry.

Of course…….I could be wrong!!!!!!!

Reports of my Demise are Grossly Exaggerated!

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What a great day May 10th 2012 was for all the wrong reasons. In that I mean it was a fantastic turn out of possibly 30,000 off-duty police officers who were worried about the future of policing. I applaud everyone who attended and the many who gave comment about the dangers we all face if the police is privatised or the conditions of service are changed so dramatically that the special nature of being a crown servant and unable to enter into industrial action is forgotten. The police are not to be tinkered with or put on an industrial employment footing if you want to retain impartiality and integrity.

ACC Steve Heywood - Rewrites the definiton of a Racial Incident to suit his and GMP's own circumstances.

In another issue I have to marvel at the senior command of Greater Manchester Police who can, somehow, manage to dismiss a racial issue by stating it is not a racial issue. It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. Even the head official of the Ramadan Society went on television to state publically that he knew that the Asian men who preyed and groomed the white girls for their own sexual gratification were doing so because they were white. The would not get away with it had they done the same to an Asian girl. I know it, they know it, the head official of the Ramadan Society knows it yet Assistant Chief Constable Heywood simply dismisses GMP’s own definition of a racial incident and denies it.

BY doing so Heywood has lessened the true impact of this incident. Whether the intent of the offenders was racial or not is immaterial to the recording of the incident. I have lost count of the number of officers who have fallen foul of inadvertently misdiagnosing a racial incident only to have the uPSD or IPCC criticise and discipline them accordingly. Of course, we know it is one rule for them and another for us.

An email from part of a series I have received albeit about three weeks ago accused me of being involved in a rant which I could neither evidence nor justify. I have been asked by the contributor not to publish their comments as they do not wish to contribute to the site. He or she simply wishes to berate me. So be it. I do enjoy reading the well structured and superbly constructed arguments which form an opposing opinion to mine. However, this pr*ck could not string more that a few sentences together in a form of pigeon english and, as they know who they are, you could do with reading some books and working out how to punctuate. That way I might actually think you have something pertinent to say.

To further evidence my point of view I should refer the email pr*ck to the new investigation into the Corruption in the Metropolitan Police in respect of the Stephen Lawrence enquiry. The allegation is that the Met failed to pass potentially relevant material to the 1998 public inquiry into Stephen’s death. Another in a long series of corruption type incidents from ACPO officers all around the country. ACPO being that private business who control the police and allow non police officers to join their ranks and develop policy. At what rank do you think this decision was taken? Just like Steve Heywood’s remark from GMP there is no doubt in my mind that this reflects the decision of senior officers within the Met irrespective of who ends up biting the bullet. At some stage, surely, the public should realise that the integrity of ACPO and senior command in many forces in this country should be subject to a root and branch enquiry.

I Told You So…!

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So, do you feel taken for granted and lied to? I do. Finally an ACPO idiot has broken ranks to show exactly what ACPO think about the men and women under their command who risk their lives day in and day out for the benefit of the public. That’s right, ACPO don’t give a toss!

How proud South Yorkshire chief constable David Crompton must feel about his latest missive to replace police officers patrolling the street with personnel with limited powers and often limited ability. Despite there being some very good PCSO’s around, people prefer police officers . It must have taken all of his 10 days or so in office to come up with this bolleaux. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. ACPO want to effectively break up and rebuild the principle and model of policing. Ladies and Gentlemen, these are the idiots in charge. I have warned you regularly but clearly you are not listening. It is about time you sat up and took notice. 

Should we worry. Yes we should!

If idiots like this get their way then the police will become a storm trooper force, simply bashing down doors and responding to fights, arresting and penalising. They will not be policing by consent but would just be enforcers of the law. No police officer joined to perform that role. It tires me when I hear the crap often trotted out by uninformed senior officers that many of the tasks performed by officers could be performed by someone who is not warranted. What they fail to recognise is that most of the thing cops do is all part of the service, it is visible and provides reassurance to the public and a deterrent to errant miscreants.

If Cops werem only tasked to respond in a shock and awe fashion then the police would be feared, disrespected and the consent they need to exist would be removed. David Crompton looks old enough to have been instructed that the first duty of every cop is:

“The protection of life and property. The prevention and detection of crime”

Note the order the duties come in. Pseudo cops like Crompton should be admonished for the abandonment and dereliction of the duties of officers. They are so far removed from the real principles of real policing, seeking comfort in balance sheets over and above the safety of the general population. He should be fighting for more constables not banishing them out of view.

Mark my words, this is the thin end of the wedge. That is until the next idiot comes up with replacing police functions by using security firms. Hang on a minute…….!!!!!!!

It’s all About the Timing.

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Is it me or is the timing of a recent newspaper article very suspicious? I refer to a Manchester Evening News article which first appeared on the 28th March 2012 which was then picked up by the national papers and published to allow those with issues to make something more serious out of a stupid prank. The sinister aspect of this newspaper story will become apparent. It is yet another Neal Keeling story which has got to be leaked from within the Greater Manchester Police unProfessional Standards Department, first reported here on this very blog following a tip-off by a concerned citizen. Neal Keeling at the Manchester Evening News must have some black on someone at GMP to keep coming up with these exclusives. Maybe Manchester should have their own Leveson type inquiry into press and police relations.

Stupidity in a Uniform!

This is a story about two firearms officers who have allowed themselves to be photographed by a firearms trainer apparently, in a stupid and infantile situation. It is insensitive because of the recent history of the GMP firearms department. What interests me, having also read in the recent past, is the fact that, quietly tucked away was the report in this and other papers, GMP are to face prosecution of the death of Ian Terry who was shot by a colleague in a training exercise. The prosecution is to be brought under Health and Safety legislation. The prosecution means that some senior officers may face significant consequences with the vicarious liability lying firmly with Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable. I can just see them all now lubricating their epaulettes to left shoulder the blame from them to their junior ranks. So, how fortunate to have an ace in the bag, so to speak, in the form of this photograph.

I may be cynical but this photograph was found on the computer of another firearms officer investigated for a drugs matter. The computer being seized by the uPSD as part of the enquiry when the officer was arrested. The photograph has been in the possession of the uPSD for something like 10 months but has only just materialised. How strange!?! Surely a breach of security like this may affect any proceedings in the drugs matter. How can we trust the integrity of the evidence? If this evidence has not been leaked by the uPSD then how has it got to the public domain?

Surely a photograph as sensitive and embarrassing as this to GMP would have been kept in a secure cabinet with limited access to a limited number of officers, wouldn’t it? Here is a scenario for you to consider. GMP will need a defence to the Health and Safety prosecution. What better to insist that the policies and procedures in respect of firearms training are robust and fit for purpose and then display the photograph as an example of the lack of discipline and horseplay in a training environment which is so evident in this stupid prank? This breach of GMP’s security stinks to high heaven. Am I the only one who can smell it? Watch this space.