POLICE PRIORITIES

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After complaints that officers spend more time on paperwork than on patrol, Scotland Yard decided that it was time to act. Unfortunately, the penpushers put in charge of the campaign set about it in the way they knew best, by creating more bureaucracy. First, they came up with a less-than-catchy name for the initiative: the Bureaucracy Minimisation Programme, or BMP. Then they produced a 22-point list of instructions for how the scheme will work.

Instead of a simple suggestion box, officers must follow the "process for making a suggestion", which describes each stage from the issuing of blank forms to the evaluation of entries. Suggestions will be given a reference number and logged on a new database, and each will be assessed for its impact on women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals and the disabled, further adding to the workload. The plans were met with anger and hilarity at the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which oversees the work of Scotland Yard.

A report by Stephen Rimmer, the official heading the Scotland Yard anti-bureaucracy drive, concludes, in not unbureaucratic language, that the BMP would "enable the effective co-ordination of all activity aimed at reducing unnecessary bureaucracy within the Met, and provide visibility of respective contributions from established programmes and initiatives while also allowing the commissioning of complementary work". (Source: Daily Telegraph, May/07)

After Sam Cannon, Amy Higgins and Katy Smith climbed into the 20ft tree, they found themselves hauled into a police station and locked in cells for up to two hours. Their shoes were removed and mugshots, DNA samples and mouth swabs were taken. Officers told the children they had been seen damaging the tree which is in a wooded area of public land near their homes. Questioned by police, the scared friends admitted they had broken some loose branches because they had wanted to build a tree house, but said they did not realise what they had done was wrong.

Officers considered charging the children with criminal damage but eventually decided a reprimand, the equivalent of a caution for juveniles, was sufficient. Although the reprimand does not amount to court action and the children do not have a criminal record, their details will be kept on file for up to five years.

Superintendent Stuart Johnson, operations manager at Halesowen police station, said, "I support the actions of my officers who responded to complaints from the public about "kids destroying" an ornamental cherry tree by stripping every branch from it, in an area where there have been reports of anti-social behaviour. A boy and two girls were arrested and received a police reprimand for their behaviour. West Midlands Police deals robustly with anti-social behaviour. By targeting what may seem relatively low-level crime we aim to prevent it developing into more serious matters." (Source: Daily Mail, Aug/07)

Pete Bayliss was visiting his son Chris in Portsmouth when the pair decided to go for a night out. They were queueing for a taxi in Southsea when a yob targeted them. The thug kicked Chris repeatedly in the head leaving him unconscious with severe bruising across his face. The thug then ran away. Chris was taken to hospital with a broken nose and other injuries and Mr Bayliss called police but was told they were too busy to investigate the attack.

Mr Bayliss said, "Somebody phoned for the emergency services after Chris was attacked and the ambulance turned up but there was no sign of police. After about 40 minutes I dialled the police because there were other fights going on in the area and we wanted the guy who did this to get caught. I couldn't believe my ears when the operator told me there was no one available to deal with it and that I should contact my MP if I had a problem with that." (Source: Daily Mail, Aug/07)

A senior police officer who met an internet date for sex while on duty was acquitted of wilful misconduct after explaining that he had worn his radio earpiece throughout the encounter. Would the fact that his name is Masood Khan have anything to do with it? Masood Khan, a British Transport Police inspector, booked an official police room at Gatwick airport railway station for the 20-minute liaison. He was tried for misconduct in a public office but a jury at Southwark Crown Court unanimously found him not guilty after deliberating for just ten minutes.

Mr Khan, who was in charge of a team of 20 officers, had claimed that he was ready to respond to any emergency because he was wearing his radio earpiece while he had sex. CCTV footage showed the couple going to the police room on Platform 2 at the station and emerging again 20 minutes later. Mr Khan accepted that they had sex but said that he was listening for any calls. Kevin Baumber, counsel for Mr Khan, said, “This is a criminal court, not a moral court. It’s doubtful this case would have been brought if he’d taken an extended lunch break or gone for a game of golf.” (Source: Times Online, Aug/07)

Police drivers in London are fined almost £900 every day for offences including parking illegally, speeding and ignoring bus lanes. The Metropolitan Police paid £325,563 in vehicle fixed penalty notices in the last financial year. The figure, revealed in new budget documents, was an increase of a third on the previous year when police coughed up £245,377 in fines. Penalties were imposed because of illegal parking, speeding, driving in bus lanes, red route offences and driving the wrong way up one way streets.

Tickets issued to the drivers of vehicles responding to emergencies or on operations are cancelled by Transport for London and local authorities but there are no exemptions for police drivers caught breaking the law in other circumstances. The Metropolitan Police said senior officers are working with local authorities in the capital to try to reduce "unwarranted" fines. A spokeswoman said one problem is the number of unmarked hire vehicles used by officers can make it difficult to trace the circumstances of a fine.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said, "The number of fines paid on Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) has increased in the last financial year. There are factors which may contribute to this. In particular, the number of unmarked hire and lease vehicles which would not be recognisable to the council when on covert operations. FPNs include offences such as bus lane offences, parking tickets, offences in restricted areas, yellow box junction offences, driving the wrong way up a one-way street and red route offences." (Source: Daily Mail, Aug/07)

A judge blasted police after they swooped to arrest a bus driver, in the middle of her route. Baffled commuters were left stranded after the move, which Judge Michael Stokes QC branded as "beyond belief". Twenty-four passengers were on their way to work in South Wigston, near Leicester when officers stopped the bus and bundled the driver into a police car because she was wanted as a witness in a court case. The woman arrived at Leicester Crown Court still in her bus driver uniform.

In court the judge said, "She is a bus driver and someone decided to execute a warrant while she was driving a bus. What sort of intelligence produces such a result? Why was it necessary to arrest her while she was driving the bus? Twenty-four passengers were left stranded in the middle of Leicester. When the court issues a warrant for someone’s arrest who is a witness I expect the police to use common sense."

He added, "To arrest someone who is driving a bus in the middle of Leicester is beyond belief when in a few minutes she would have got to the end of her route and could have been arrested then." The woman admitted telling a police officer that she would not attend court after requesting that she wished to withdraw her complaint. Releasing her, Judge Stokes added, "I am sorry that you were arrested in the circumstances you were."

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