LITTER

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Two on-duty police officers have been found guilty of throwing litter from a squad car after enjoying tea and biscuits from a fast food outlet. Constables Kim McKee and Donal Adams, with addresses given as care of Newtownabbey PSNI station, were fined £250 each at Belfast Magistrates Court. Adams was fined a further £100 for smoking in a work vehicle. The pair were prosecuted over an incident at Sixmilewater car park in Ballyclare in May 2008. Evidence against them was based on accounts of a litter warden and council worker who saw the pair sitting in the car.

McKee and Adams both accepted being there drinking tea and coffee and eating cookies from a Subway food outlet during a break while on duty. However, they denied allegations that a steaming tea-bag and milk carton was thrown from the police car. Adams, a smoker, also rejected witness claims that he took a puff from a cigarette before discarding it out the driver's side window. During the trial, Adams described the allegations against him as "completely untrue". He told a defence lawyer that he would instruct any colleague he spotted littering to pick it up, or even report it to a senior officer.

The constable also revealed how he thought it was a joke when he first learned he was to face a charge. Adams said that he had not considered a fixed penalty payment because it would be seen as an admission of guilt for something he did not do. McKee was equally adamant she had not littered. She said, "We drank tea, we drank coffee, but there was no rubbish thrown from the window."

However, a barrister for Newtownabbey Borough Council argued the two prosecution witnesses had been clear and cogent. He added, "Neither of them have ever had any prior dealings with the defendants and for that reason have no axe to grind with either of them." Backing his assessment, Henderson said she could not find that the witnesses were mistaken about what they saw. She said, "I accept the evidence they provided to the court, that is to the criminal standard. There will be convictions on both matters." The officers were also both ordered to pay £100 in costs. (Source: BBC News, May/09)

Police have been ordered to go on litter patrol in plain clothes in an attempt to boost the number of people fined for minor offences, despite the fact they have no power to fine the offenders. The officers in North Wales have been ordered to go out on the streets to catch people dropping litter and allowed dogs to foul the pavement, but they have to radio a Police Community Support Officer to attend the scene and issue an on-the-spot fine of between £50 and £80. PC Richard Eccles, the General Secretary of the North Wales Police Federation, said that officers "felt like plonkers" collaring offenders and then having to wait for a PCSO to arrive and issue the fine.

He said that, in a bid to hit performance targets, top brass from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) even went out on the streets themselves to take photos of 'evidence' before summoning a meeting with officers and ordering a crackdown. PC Eccles said, "Staff officers from ACPO go out and take photos of litter or dog mess and then put on a slide show for the Chief Superintendents and ask them 'Why is this litter still on the street?' The supers then task their officers to go out and deal with it. Police officers, often in plain clothes, act as litter spotters, but because they cannot issue the fines themselves they have to detain the offender and radio a PCSO and wait for him to arrive before the offence can be dealt with."

Brian Rowlley, a constables' representative for South Wales Police, said PCs were fighting amongst themselves to get a "collar" to make sure their personal performance targets were met. He said, "There is a culture of sanction detections in South Wales Police, where officers fight one another to make arrests. There is a race to make arrests and they keep everything to themselves. They do not share intelligence. You will have two or three officers at an incident and they will be talking to the suspect and then another person will step in and arrest that suspect. That is normal now. Officers will not identify a suspect because they fear that other officers will step in and arrest that suspect. This is not limited to South Wales Police, this is a national problem." (Source: Daily Telegraph, May/09)

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