POLICE CRITICISM

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Armed police swooped on a house after reports of a gunman in the garden and ended up arresting the chairman of the local Wild West re-enactment society. Mark Bussey, who owns two replica Colt 45s and an imitation Derringer, has spent 20 years dressing up as a cowboy staging Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday "shootouts" with his pals at fetes and charity events. But police ordered him out of his home in Skipton, North Yorkshire, at midnight at gunpoint and forced him to lay down in the street before removing his replica weapons from a safe in his house. Mark, the chairman of the O.K Corral Country and Western Group in Leeds, West Yorks, was held in cells and quizzed on suspicion of firearms offences.

He was released the following day on police bail while checks continue to be carried out on the "cowboy" guns. His brush with the law came just before midnight when police surrounded his property after receiving a call that the father-of-six had been seen wandering around his garden with a gun. Mark, who had been having a shower, came downstairs and found his front door open. He said, "I went outside to check and police started screaming at me asking me if I was Mark Bussey. I was ordered to lay down on the ground and they asked me for the number to my safe where the guns were. I just started laughing because I knew what it was all about."

He denied brandishing the guns in the garden, and added, "I keep them keep locked in a safe and I only ever get my guns out in the confines of my own house to clean them." He said he only had them for charity re-enactment events of the old Wild West. An hour after his arrest he was rushed to hospital with an angina attack. He was later released back into police custody and spent three hours with officers being quizzed over the replicas before being allowed home. He received a visit from cops 18 months ago when he posed in his local newspaper in cowboy gear with the fake guns after raising £2,000 for a hospice. (Source: The Sun, Aug/10)

Recently, I was standing outside my business when a girl and boy walked past, both aged about 12-13 years. They was walking in the road pushing a child's pushchair with an aluminium ladder on top. As they walked past, the boy asked if he could use the toilet in our premises, I declined because I could see he was only interested in eyeing my business up so he could come back later and help himself. We have experienced five break-ins in the last few months.

About 10 minutes later they returned, but this time the pushchair was full of copper pipe which they had taken from somewhere. The ladder was still on top. As they were walking past me again a police car turned the corner. The officer looked at the children and decided not to ask them what they had been up to and drove off. Ten minutes later a second police car drove past and I tried to tell the officers which way the children had gone but they weren't interested. That weekend my business was broken into again. Abdul Ajaib

New police guidelines inform transsexuals how to use the toilet. The Which Loo? guide warns people changing sex of the dangers of using the Gents if dressed in women’s clothing, and vice versa. Officers in Croydon, South London, spent two years devising the internet guide with the Aurora Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender group.

It tells transsexuals to be confident, use facilities, then briskly wash their hands and go. Former Met Police Flying Squad commander John O’Connor said, “It’s a pathetic waste of resources. Police should get back to preserving life and property and preventing crime. Trivia like this gives an impression police have nothing better to do.” Quite. (Source: The Sun, Mar/06)

A cop who fled a car crash leaving two women and a child injured, and then tried to cover it up, was allowed to keep his job. PC Tariq Mahmood was fined just a week’s wages by Greater Manchester Police and is now free to return to work. Mahmood drove off at high speed after his car collided with another in Ashton under Lyne, Bolton magistrates were told.

After leaving the three injured at the scene, cowardly Mahmood tried to cover his tracks by re-spraying his car. And when police realised he was to blame, Mahmood tried to persuade his then girlfriend and sister to say they had been driving instead. Mahmood later blamed his behaviour on the trauma he suffered after the murder of his mother in Pakistan in 1999.

He was referred to a psychiatrist and has been on long-term sick leave suffering from depression, anxiety and back problems. At his trial in March he was fined £575 and banned from driving for a year after he admitted failing to stop, failing to report an accident and driving without insurance.

He appeared before a disciplinary hearing, where he had £425 docked from his wages after admitting breaching the police code of conduct. Road safety charity Brake said the decision to let Mahmood continue working as a PC was “outrageous”. A spokeswoman said, “He showed no regard for his victims and made every effort to cover his tracks. Police officers should set a good example rather than showing you can get away with it if you’re on the right side of the law.“

Three cops descended on a motorist’s house and fined him £60, for having no windscreen washer fluid. Richard Jeffery was also given three penalty points on his licence after the amazing swoop. He was sitting watching TV at home when officers called and demanded to see his 11-year-old Vauxhall Cavalier parked on the road. In a 30-minute check all they found wrong were a loose battery connection and no water in the windscreen washer bottle. The 'raid' came as latest figures showed an increase in murders, muggings and sex crimes and confidence in the police is at an all-time low.

Drivers are fed up with being targeted unnecessarily while real crime goes undetected. Richard said, “I was watching telly when I got a knock at the door. There were two officers in uniform and one in a boiler suit who was dressed like a mechanic. I thought it was a wind-up and asked them where the camera was. The only reason I can think of for picking on me is the age of the car yet it is fully taxed and tested, has four new tyres and looks good.”

Mr Jeffery even called out a mechanic who fixed the loose battery while the cops were there. But he was still served with a notice for “dangerous parts” and gave him the penalty points. Embarrassed senior West Yorks officers later said they were withdrawing the ticket. Chief Supt Tim Moorby said, “The issue of the penalty notice is not the most appropriate response.” So that's that then, is it?

Resident: "Officer there has been an accident."
Officer: "No problem we will just install gatso and mobile cameras."
Resident: "Officer the traffic is still too fast."
Officer: "No problem we will install mini roundabouts, speed humps, chicanes, centre bollards and white and yellow paint."
Resident: "Officer I can not cross the road."
Officer: "No problem we just install pelican crossings every 500 yards."
Resident, waking up in hospital: "What happened officer?"
Officer: "No problem, you were only mugged while out shopping and we had no resources but we are investigating this incident in detail."

Farmer David Key trapped thieves on his property with the help of two neighbours. But because one of the men stayed silent, police cannot prove which was the ringleader. As a result, say prosecutors, there is "insufficient evidence" to prove their guilt. Stunned by the decision, Mr Key, who has been the victim of a spate of thefts, declared, "In future, I'm going to protect my property with a shotgun. I'll do a Tony Martin because the police are a waste of time. Bugger the consequences. If a couple of burglars end up shot, then it's too bad. Police had the evidence of a broken lock and my neighbours as independent witnesses. Yet still they can't do anything."

Mr Key is now considering a private prosecution. Pledging an investigation his Lib Dem MP, lawyer Norman Lamb, said, "It's extraordinary prosecution is not being pursued. I'm writing to Crown prosecutors to understand the justification for this inaction."
Mr Key, who has had three heart attacks, was outside his home at Eastgate, Norfolk, when he heard the lock on his diesel tank being broken. Investigating, he saw a Vauxhall Astra estate by the tank with one man inside the car and the other by the filler cap.

Mr Key was joined by neighbours John Coles and his partner Pauline Harding. Mr Coles kept watch on the burglars as Mr Key blocked their car with his tractor. Mrs Harding ran to Mr Key's house and dialled 999. Three Pcs arrived 10 minutes later and arrested the men. Then the case fell apart. A police source said, "The CPS would expect us to prove which was the ringleader. But though one man admitted the crime he claimed the other put him up to it. Meanwhile, the other man made no comment at all."

Mr Key said he had previously had three loads of diesel stolen. He claimed, "I even heard one of the men tell police he'd been to my farm before." His £8,000 caravan was also stolen. He lives 40 miles from Tony Martin who was jailed in 1999 after shooting dead burglar Fred Barras. Martin received a life sentence for murder but had the conviction reduced to manslaughter on appeal.