Search This Blog

Monday 12 October 2009

Consequences for scurrilous arrests.

The Damien Green affair for me is an example of where the police only considered whether they could take action and not whether they should.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/12/damian-green-arrest-report

I have little doubt that Mr Green is in more of a position to see those who overstepped the mark held to account.

I'm not sure that we (My family) will be so fortunate.

In September, the case against my husband was dropped due to no evidence.

This extremely traumatic experience over 7 months, whereby the police proved their ability and willingness to punish someone, not for breaking the law, but because he dared to challenge them is over, but in the aftermath another terrible truth has been revealed to me.

I have contacted many solicitors to pursue an action against the police, however as soon as they hear that I am currently working and thus will not qualify for legal aid their interest is curbed.

I find this shocking, that because I am a contributing member of society on a salary that is below the average for someone of my age, qualifications and experience I do not have access to justice.

As such, I am considering my position as considering working part time so that I qualify for legal aid but finding advice in order to make the best decision is hard.

Saturday 10 October 2009

How was the Four Finger Campaign born?


The Four Finger Campaign was inspired by an incident that happened to my husband. I thought that I would record it here. (The hand on the logo is based on a scan of my husbands hand :) )

I would like to point out that I do not condone the course of action that Simon undertook.

However, I also acknowledge the principle behind it.
He was voicing his disatisfaction with the Police in the only way he felt left open to him.

I utterly empathise with his frustration that more 'accepted' recourses prooved to be little more than the facility to justify or discount misconduct.

More, I recognise his act as an attempt to elicit a response that would demonstrate that his supposition about policing practices were wrong. Unfortunately, they failed the test and in turn provided more evidence to support his now concrete opinion.

Here goes:

Feb 2009: My husband felt let down by the system over the past few years and as a result suffered considerable mental distress. However, he was attending university and when travelling there, he saw a police car with two officers in it to the right of him on a round about. He gave them the finger, which he believed he was entitled to under his freedom of speech and as a result, they followed him for a time before stopping him on a red route near another roundabout. There were no passers by or significant traffic.

They arrested him under section 5 of the pubic order act. Despite no verbal swearing, nor indication of violence, the officers called in further assistance. (2 vans, 8 officers) The car was left on the red route and my husband taken to the station in the back of a van. Despite my husband stating that he had to pick up our autistic son at 4pm (6 hours time) he was not released until about 8pm, without interview or his shoes on (He was actually asked to put them on outside) and issued with a PND (which they failed to do at roadside) which he refused to sign. When he asked where the car was in relation to the station, he was only told ‘outside.’ He had only 20p and no idea where he was, several miles from where he was picked up.

He eventually walked to the place but the car was not where it had been left. He called me briefly but was cut off. The phone box did not receive incoming calls, so I used the patchy information to work out which police station he had been held at. The officers there were not helpful stating that the car had not been moved. I was able to ascertain that the car had not been towed. I took my moped to the area and could not find the car. I was advised to report it stolen.

The next day, I got a phone call saying my stolen vehicle had been found. It was a couple of hundred meters away but out of sight up a no entry road. It was parked sensibly and locked with no damage. Despite this, none of the police involved would admit moving the car.

A few weeks later my husband received a notice from the DVLA requiring him to submit to a medical in light of his epilepsy. He was told that a letter from his doctor would not suffice in proving that he did not have epilepsy. Enquiries revealed that the DVLA had been falsely informed of this non existent condition by the police. Further enquiries and perusal of the custody records show that the sergeant had entered that by husband was epileptic and diabetic. My husband did not say these things and did not get to see the document before signing it. The custody records also said that his licence had been withheld which I knew to be wrong as I had it in my possession.

After several months of waiting to hear if the case would go to trial, and despite being told that he would ‘have to wait and see” a trial date was eventually set for June.

He was only given incomplete, poorly copied officer statements moments before the hearing was due to start. The Court ordered that full disclosure should occur to my husband within 14 days and adjourned the case until September. However, perusal of what was received reveal the appearance of a mysterious Asian old lady in the officers notes.

This was news to my husband and I had prepared a defence based on the fact that there were no members of the public. In fact that occasion to protest was chosen specifically because it was irrefutable as to whom the finger salute was directed at. At no time up until the date of trial was there a mention of a member of public being present. (I assure you that I insisted my husband give me a detailed account of what happened in order that I might formulate his defence.)

We finally received the papers and the covering letter was dated the 28th of August but they were again unfortunately incomplete. Disappointed that my husband would be denied his day in court again, he called the court for advice. They suggested that he may make an application the next morning to have the case dismissed.

At the same time I came across the CPS charging standard and was confused as to how my husband’s case could have ever passed it. I managed to contact the CPS and was told a few interesting things: That the case had not been signed off by a lawyer and that it was possible for the police to bypass the CPS entirely. I spoke to the head of the CPS for the court that my husband was attending, gave her details and asked her to liaise with my husband in the morning.

My husband’s application was about to be heard when the clerk informed the court that the head of cps had dropped the case due to no evidence.

It is debatable if Simons actions were wrong, but they certainly were not illegal. I believe that the officers involved were far more interested in punishing Simon for his disrespect than utilising their time and cost for issues more in the public interest.

Even today, although the four finger protest is less likely to get the initiator hauled up before a judge, I am left questioning whether as a result, it is less likely to be taken seriously.

Thursday 8 October 2009

A couple of hours and I am even more disturbed.


Look, I am rubbish at Maths but even I can see that the statistics are not looking good.

I'll quote my sources at the bottom if and you can check my working.

A total of 28 963 complaints were recorded in the financial year 2007/2008.

That statistic does not include those not recorded under the police reform act. (I think, I can't lay my hands on the paperwork that cites the legislation by which they justify not recording a complaint)

It is my experience that many of the complaints are routinely returned by the police as one that they do not have to record, even if that assertation is inaccurate. How many people do you think do not pursue their complaints further after receiving such a notice? 50%, more?

Also, I read in a paper recently that for every complaint made, 10 people don't bother.

I think I have found the reason why. How many of those 28 thousand or so complaints do you think resulted in disciplinary action? Discipline methods recorded were:
Dismissal
Requested to Resign
Reduction in Rank
Fine
Reprimand
Caution
Substantiated - No Further Action
Written Warning

257

Of those, 106 were substantiated yet no further action was taken.

No wonder PC B (Who was the main perpertrator of violence on me during my arrest in 2005) said "You ain't gonna do fuck all to me." when I remonstrated with him regarding his conduct.

I wonder how this compares with other public bodies? I wonder who I ask?

However, it was my perusal of www.whatdotheyknow.com that brought these statistics to my attention. A quick scan showed that I was not the only one wondering about this type of things.

A silver lining but sometimes I wish I didn't know so much.

There's a wealth of information - USE IT!

My goodness!

There is so much information out there! I've sent the following to Boris, my local MP and London assembly representive:

I hope that you can help me with a few queries.

Recently I applied to become an Independent Custody Visitor.

http://www.mpa.gov.uk/partnerships/icv/about/

In principle, the scheme has the potential to restore some of the confidence in the police that has been lost recently. However, in my opinion it is not publicised well enough to attract applications from an adequate cross section of the public.

More concerning is their policy to not inform candidates why they have not been selected. When you consider the main aim for this scheme is to increase accountability, this policy undermines any confidence that those chosen to visit are truly independent.

Selection criteria should be transparent. Could you please explain this policy or point me in the right direction to someone who can.

Finally, when reading the news recently, I noted that there has never been a prosecution of a police officer for manslaughter while they are on duty.

This statistic amazed me. Do you know how many officers have been prosecuted for any non-minor offence recently and how this compares to older statistics?

Can it really be that there are none? This possibility causes me concern and I would appreciate it if you could investigate on my behalf.

This issue is directly related to a campaign that I am involved in.

I invite you to watch our video and hope that you can support our cause in the line of your duties.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuNNUVTcvRY

I hope to hear from you soon,

Many Thanks,

Zoe Mercer

While looking up the address I found www.theyworkforyou.com and it is the most fantastic resource.

I found out my MP's stance on issues, voting record and all sorts of interesting information. For example, Bob Neill's page suggests that he his against parliamentary transparency but in favour of increased anti terror laws. Hmmm

However, Knowledge is power. But that power is useless unless it is utilised.

Theyworkforyou.com is run by a mysociety Such a fantastic idea... I've now got two things to investigate.

www.pledgebank.com and whatdotheyknow.com Amazing. I think I am gonna be all internetted out in a few hours.

It seems to me that the electronic age is redefining society and who can influence it. I am grateful that societal barriers have been broken down. After all, if I had been born 100 years ago, would I have been able to communicate with those in power and make friends outside my geographical locality?

Time will tell if my contact is anything more than superficial but it does give me hope.

Now to bring it to others attention!

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Making a campaign effective


The statistics function on Facebook is amazing. It tells you so much.

I believe that the only way to get the measures called for by WNOW is through, in the first instance, a large number of the public getting behind the campaign.

So, how to get the message across?

I found it incredibly difficult considering my experiences to travel to London and record the footage you see in the Four Finger Campaign. I found it intimidating and caused a huge amount of anxiety. Without the support of my husband, my wonderful friends Including Bishop Johnathan Blake, I think that as soon as I saw the first uniform, I would have turned and left.

But avoidance is not going to make this situation go away and I have a duty to my son and anyone more vulnerable than myself, to do all that I can to ensure that they do not have to go through a similar experience.

I have an idea that I would like to pursue.

I have my logo (see above) printed on the back of a high vis jacket which I wear when on my moped.

Now, there are limitations and bureaucracy involved in organised protest. But what if it was a group of people with my Hi Vis jacket on mopeds? We could travel around London to various relevant locations (Scotland Yard, Parliament, Downing street, various media HQ's) and raise the profile of the campaign in a new and innovative way.

Will have to check out the legal implications and find a couple of dozen bikers.

But it's an idea.