POLICE CRITICISM

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West Midlands Police has spent nearly £4million on private security guards since 2007 to protect its own stations from criminals. The guards are used as nightwatchmen to patrol unmanned police stations and some even perform front desk duties. Figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show that from April 2009 to April 2010 force bosses paid out £1.51million to Surrey based ISS Facility Services. Between 2007/8 the firm was handed just over £1million and in 2008/9 £1.27million.

The force’s budget on security jumped 25% in the past three years. West Midlands Police defended the use of private security guards. A spokesman said, “Duties undertaken by security staff cover the full range, from nightwatchman at sites that are closed and unoccupied out of hours, to security receptionist at sites where there are many visitors requiring identity verification. Police officers are far more effectively used and offer better value for money to the taxpayer if they are working in their communities.” (Source: Daily Express, Jun/10)

A motorist who helped police with an investigation into an attempted car theft has been charged £105 for his trouble. Two men forced him to give up his keys in a Derbyshire village and tried to steal his car but it was immobilised. They ran off but he called Nottinghamshire Police who asked him to help with the investigation. The car was taken for forensic tests and the man was charged a storage fee. He was first allowed to take the car home, as long as he wore gloves while driving to preserve the evidence, but later had to pay for the car to be returned. A police spokesman said £105 is their standard charge for recovering stolen vehicles and those in car crashes. He added that officers who request forensic examination of a vehicle involved in a serious crime will in most instances cover the cost of recovery. They said that "there are occasions when cases slip through the net". (Source: BBC News, Feb/06)

Eighteen-year-old Kurt Walker was given a fixed penalty £80 fine after a WPC heard him say "Fuck all" in a park. Kurt was walking to the youth centre where he works as a volunteer when he stopped to talk to three friends. One asked what he had been doing. He replied, "Fuck all, mate." The policewoman, who had been telling off another teenager for riding his bike in a skateboarding area, overheard the remark and fined him for using "threatening, abusive or, insulting words". Now Kurt, from Deal in Kent, is refusing to pay and faces a court hearing. He has taken legal advice and wants the fine scrapped. He said, "It's an expression I use quite a lot and it means nothing. Most people say it but the policewoman just said, 'Watch your language or I can give you an £80 fine. In fact, you can have an £80 fine anyway'. I don't want to pay it because I don't believe I have committed a crime." A spokesman for Kent police said, "If he's not happy, he is entitled to his day in court and he may find sympathy there." (Source: Daily Mirror, Feb/06)

The “red tape” card has long been a firm favourite of underperforming police officers nationwide. The Police Federation says it takes four hours to fill in paperwork for a simple shoplifting offence. However, a report by the think tank Politeia suggests this may have more to do with officers’ poor literacy skills.

Citing the rigours of the Data Protection Act as an excuse for refusing information, destroying vital intelligence and general inaction has become fashionable throughout the police. But for chemist Brian Conn, who was beaten unconscious in his shop by a regular customer, it was worse. After retrieving his attacker’s name from the pharmacy computer and passing it on to the police, he was told that he could be prosecuted for his actions.

Why expend energy tracking down a-hit-and-run driver when you can tick off the victim for portraying the driver as fat? This is what happened to Mary Magilton from Oldham, who described the driver who ran her over as she walked on the pavement.

More than one million sick days are taken by police in England and Wales each year. In London alone more than 2,000 officers are working “restrictive duties” after long-term illness or depression. They get paid £30,000 a year for working as little as one hour a day. (Source: Times Online)

In the past 40 years I and my family have had something like 20 "opportunities" to be in contact with the local police. Without exception, each of these contacts has left me, with a bitter feeling towards the very people who are paid to protect my family. I will give you just five recent examples:

1) My daughter was stopped in her car by a police officer who told her that she had been detected travelling at 31mph in a 30mph limit. She was let off. In the past two years she has been burgled six times.

2) In the past year my property has been burgled three times. I have received no visits from investigating officers.

3) The country lane where I live has become the dumping ground for every conceivable item of unwanted property. Last year, following the dumping of a lorry load of builders' rubble, I was able to point the local police in the direction of the culprit, who was eventually apprehended. The dumper was "let off" on condition that he removed his rubbish.

4) Recently, after visiting relatives, my wife was driving our car as I had drunk a couple of glasses of wine. My wife was driving at 30mph in a 30mph zone when we were stopped by the police. My wife wound down her window and was told she had been stopped because she was only doing 30mph and therefore they thought she was "over the limit". The moral seems to be that if you don't want to be stopped for drink-driving at night, make sure you exceed the speed limit.

5) A letter from the police dropped through the letterbox this morning. Had they caught my burglar? Inside was a notice telling me that my wife had been caught on camera last week doing 39mph in a 30mph limit. Anon

Having been a driver for over 50 years with an unblemished driving record and a person who has abided by the letter of the law, I was one of the ordinary members of the public who, regrettably, exceeded the speed limit by 5mph in a 30mph zone. I was reading a report by Julian Hewitt, of the Safety Camera Partnership. He states that Government criteria for installation is strict. For a fixed camera, there has to be four people killed or seriously injured and eight collisions where there has been personal injury within a kilometre over three years. For a mobile camera, there has to be two people killed or seriously injured and four collisions where people are injured. Are cameras the answer though? Our Chief Constable, David Coleman, thinks they are.

I recently sent the Chief Constable a report from the RAC, stating that "the cameras target the wrong people". His reply to me was that he did not accept the assertion that cameras target the wrong people. Mr Hewitt is more understanding. He makes a fair observation by stating: "Are cameras the answer though? It's fairly early days as we've only had fixed cameras in since April. Pilot studies are being carried out." Many people think speed cameras are derided as cash cows which milk middle-aged minor offenders, despite many crashes being caused by young males.

I make no excuse for breaking the speed limit. I was wrong. All I asked the Chief Constable for was a fair request - to take into consideration my 50 years' unblemished driving record, possibly a caution. He made no comment in his letter to me about my accident-free lifetime of driving. I have written to Derby North MP Bob Laxton and await his reply. Is it that speed cameras are just money -making cash cows? I await the verdict. Dennis Hardwick

Recently the police stopped my 73-year-old father-in-law - not for having no insurance or no tax disc, not even for speeding. No, they wasted more than 45 minutes of their time with him over a faulty brake light. Two policewomen in a car with flashing lights pulled him over and shouted at him to stand clear of the car, as though he had committed a serious crime.

When they told him one of his brake lights wasn't working and started to charge him, he told them he had a spare bulb in the car and would change it there and then in five minutes. But this wasn't good enough. He had to go to a recognised garage to get it done, and then produce his documents within seven days. Is this really a proper use of police time? Joanne Slater