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Britain | |
Police face sack for private jibe over 'pondlife' | |
2006-01-16 | |
The officer was informed that he will be subject to disciplinary action together with three colleagues â a detective sergeant, a uniformed sergeant and a constable â after covert video recordings were made of them at their police station in Nottingham. The other officers are accused of also using âinappropriate languageâ in private conversations. All four have been taken off frontline duties that might bring them into contact with members of the public while they await formal decisions as to their futures. The covert taping was being carried out by Nottinghamshire police to investigate alleged corruption by another member of staff. The officers facing disciplinary action are not suspected of any criminal activity and the fact that their comments were recorded was a coincidence. However, the forceâs professional standards department decided last year to place all four officers on so-called âregulation nineâ notices signalling disciplinary action even though no complaints had been received from other staff or members of the public. After the corruption inquiry has been concluded, the deputy chief constable, Howard Roberts, will review the allegations and decide whether to carry out a full inquiry which could result in the officersâ dismissal. Critics have called the affair âludicrousâ. Mick Taylor, chairman of the Nottinghamshire branch of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: âThere has been an accusation that some words have been said that may have caused offence to a career criminal if he had been present, even though he wasnât. âThis is a man of the criminal fraternity who has a number of convictions. So it does seem ludicrous that we have to go to these levels, but that is the way life is now. âThis was a private conversation between colleagues and surely people have got a right to that? A personal view is that if no members of the public or work colleagues have made complaints, then I question the need for disciplinary action.â The officer accused of corruption offences, PC Charles Fletcher, who faces a charge of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office and two counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, is due to be tried later this year. Taylor said: âNow the officers on the disciplinary notices will have to wait until after the corruption inquiry is finished and all trials conducted before the video-taped evidence can be examined and that may take a long time. âSome of these officers have got 20 or more years of service and commendations to their name and they donât deserve to have this hanging over them for so long.â A source close to the four officers said: âIt is difficult enough for officers to carry out their frontline duties without having to battle political correctness as well.â A Nottinghamshire police spokesman said: âWe can confirm that four members of staff have been served with regulation nine notices, which informs (them) they are being investigated on internal professional misconduct matters.â | |
Posted by:lotp |
#6 If calling them "pondlife" is offensive then what is calling them "criminals"? |
Posted by: DoDo 2006-01-16 20:19 |
#5 What's next, sensitivity courses for what to do when apprehending serial rapists and paedophiles? I think they already have those--they said something something about taking off your shoes before entering their homes and making sure not to show up during their prayer times. |
Posted by: Crusader 2006-01-16 18:33 |
#4 You know it's bad when the police are handcuffing each other. Crimeney, the chap said "pondlife" not (the more appropriate) "pondscum." What's next, sensitivity courses for what to do when apprehending serial rapists and paedophiles? |
Posted by: Zenster 2006-01-16 15:35 |
#3 and private converstaions can be taped? Who allows that? F&^king PC police need to be publicly caned |
Posted by: Frank G 2006-01-16 13:15 |
#2 lets face the fact that everyone is offended about sumptin. I happen to like pond life and so do my friends. Pond scum woopppieee |
Posted by: Red Dog 2006-01-16 12:27 |
#1 This is courting disaster. If they start turning out expert police, they risk creating master criminals. Not only do police know most of the tricks of the trade, they are not necessarily motivated by the same things that are criminals, so can be damnably hard to catch. A cop with a grudge, a plan, and a sense of humor, can wreak havoc, and get away with it. Hopefully, if it happens, it will be focused on utterly humiliating and ruining those individuals who foisted P.C. on the police in the first place. Otherwise, creating several Professor Moraritys may not be a good thing at all. |
Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-01-16 09:51 |