Quizzes & Puzzles1 min ago
Are The Police Out Of Control?
From the Daily Telegraph:
// In the eyes of its natural supporters, the police force is beginning to look and act like a law unto itself?
Even before the shocking possibility opened up this week in the Andrew Mitchell affair – that serving police officers conspired to destroy a Cabinet minister – it was clear that something in the police was wrong.
England has 39 police forces, headed by 39 chief constables or commissioners. In the past 18 months, seven have been sacked for misconduct, suspended, placed under criminal or disciplinary investigation or forced to resign. That is not far off a fifth of the total.
In the same period, at least eight deputy or assistant chief constables have also been placed under ongoing investigation, suspended or forced out for reasons of alleged misconduct. No fewer than 11 English police forces – just under 30 per cent – have had one or more of their top leaders under a cloud. //
Such poor leadership leads to problems throughout the forces. Whether it results in re-employing a thug who had been thrown out such as in the Tomlinson case, or this week, a serving officer lying about who was and giving false evidence to get a Cabinet Minister sacked.
Is it time for a radical rethink of how the Police are run?
// In the eyes of its natural supporters, the police force is beginning to look and act like a law unto itself?
Even before the shocking possibility opened up this week in the Andrew Mitchell affair – that serving police officers conspired to destroy a Cabinet minister – it was clear that something in the police was wrong.
England has 39 police forces, headed by 39 chief constables or commissioners. In the past 18 months, seven have been sacked for misconduct, suspended, placed under criminal or disciplinary investigation or forced to resign. That is not far off a fifth of the total.
In the same period, at least eight deputy or assistant chief constables have also been placed under ongoing investigation, suspended or forced out for reasons of alleged misconduct. No fewer than 11 English police forces – just under 30 per cent – have had one or more of their top leaders under a cloud. //
Such poor leadership leads to problems throughout the forces. Whether it results in re-employing a thug who had been thrown out such as in the Tomlinson case, or this week, a serving officer lying about who was and giving false evidence to get a Cabinet Minister sacked.
Is it time for a radical rethink of how the Police are run?
Answers
In the 1970s the police were renowned for “fitting up” criminals whom they had very good grounds for believing had committed serious offences but where they were short of evidence that would secure a conviction. Perhaps the most famous (or infamous) case where this was possibly true was that of George Davis. I lived in East London at that time and “knew...
14:54 Sat 22nd Dec 2012
Yes, Gromit, this is a serious matter and I, too, would have thought that Mr Hyphen-Howe would have taken it upon himself to postpone or at least shorten his extended leave. I’m not too sure how he qualifies for about six weeks leave in one stretch. I’m quite sure any of the rank and file officers he leads would not be allowed to take such an extended break. Of course had he dealt with the matter robustly and properly in the first place he may not now have needed to divert 30 officers to deal with it.
Like you, I think Mr H-H may soon be on slightly longer leave than he would like.
Like you, I think Mr H-H may soon be on slightly longer leave than he would like.
-- answer removed --
PACE made a big difference. Instead of verballing (inventing admissions) and getting suspects to sign false confessions, the police had to have interviews on tape, and lawyers' or their representatives present in interviews. This severely limited their previous practices.
And the number of times violence was used against suspects was extraordinary. There was one police station in North London which must have had the most dangerous set of steps in Europe, judging by the number of times suspects "fell down" them. And , uniquely, it had an extraordinary number of suspects who decided to rush headlong at the cell door "just at the very moment as I was closing it , sir". Ah, so that's how he got head injuries. I had one case where the police broke the arrested man's back on the way to the police station. He'd been seen, by passing officers, to be winding up a new constable by dropping litter (not an arrestable offence). Those officers invented an assault on the constable, arrested the man for that, and taught him a lesson in the van back to the station.
And until Robert Mark became Commissioner corruption was rife in some units . Even then, complaining was often pointless because officers stuck together, wouldn't speak against colleagues.
Nowadays, the police are much better and more tightly regulated.
And the number of times violence was used against suspects was extraordinary. There was one police station in North London which must have had the most dangerous set of steps in Europe, judging by the number of times suspects "fell down" them. And , uniquely, it had an extraordinary number of suspects who decided to rush headlong at the cell door "just at the very moment as I was closing it , sir". Ah, so that's how he got head injuries. I had one case where the police broke the arrested man's back on the way to the police station. He'd been seen, by passing officers, to be winding up a new constable by dropping litter (not an arrestable offence). Those officers invented an assault on the constable, arrested the man for that, and taught him a lesson in the van back to the station.
And until Robert Mark became Commissioner corruption was rife in some units . Even then, complaining was often pointless because officers stuck together, wouldn't speak against colleagues.
Nowadays, the police are much better and more tightly regulated.
-- answer removed --
// Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe has temporarily returned from his Christmas holiday to deal with the "plebgate" affair.
In a statement, the Met Police said that Mr Hogan-Howe would use his return from leave to "take the opportunity to be briefed on any developments with the investigation". //
So 10 days after the revelation that an officer pretended to be a member of the public and lied about witnessing an incident but wasn't there, his boss breaks his holiday. Not really good enough. I am more convinced Mr Hagan-Das will ge working in an ice cream parlour after the investigation concludes.
In a statement, the Met Police said that Mr Hogan-Howe would use his return from leave to "take the opportunity to be briefed on any developments with the investigation". //
So 10 days after the revelation that an officer pretended to be a member of the public and lied about witnessing an incident but wasn't there, his boss breaks his holiday. Not really good enough. I am more convinced Mr Hagan-Das will ge working in an ice cream parlour after the investigation concludes.
