Are things changing?

Will this make a difference? Or will the serial apologists use the bad apple excuse and continue to ignore similar corruption? Another angle is that the reason that his fellow officers have allowed this to happen is because of prejudice.

The behaviour described in reports fits my experience of the police. Then again, making stuff up about a person who has made their lives difficult (Even if it is with pesky concepts like truth, justice and freedom of speech.) rings true also.

As such, even when convicting one of their own, I am left wondering what the real story is.

It would be alot easier to come to a more sound conclusion if there was video footage of the incident.



Ali Dizaei sentenced to four years in jail

The most senior British police officer ever convicted was found guilty of arresting a web designer in a dispute over money

* The Guardian, Tuesday 9 February 2010
* Article history

Ali Dizaei

Met police chief Ali Dizaei, 47, who was convicted of 'fitting up' a web designer after a clash with him in 2008. Photograph: Fiona Hanson/PA

The most senior British police officer ever convicted of corruption offences was starting a four-year prison sentence ­yesterday after a jury found he had tried to frame an innocent man and told a series of lies in an attempt to cover up his abuse of office.

Ali Dizaei, a commander with Scotland Yard, was convicted of falsely arresting a web designer in a dispute over money and then lying in official statements when he claimed he had been assaulted and threatened by the man.

Dizaei's 25-year police career will end with him being drummed out of the force in disgrace and almost certain to lose his pension after a clash in the street outside a restaurant which saw him abuse his authority as one of the Britain's top officers.

Nick Hardwick, chair of the IPCC, said: "Dizaei behaved like a bully … The greatest threat to the reputation of the police service is criminals in uniform like Dizaei."

Dizaei, 47, remained defiant and told the Guardian the case was "completely outrageous and a fit-up". He said that he had been pursued by the authorities, who had a "vendetta" against him.

Dizaei was an outspoken critic of the police on race, leader of the National Black Police Association (NBPA), and a key ­figure in a race war that erupted at the top of Scotland Yard in the summer of 2008.

He had been cleared of criminal charges in 2003 and returned to duty despite Scotland Yard having suspected him of serious offences. That inquiry was intensified after MI5 had suspicions that the Iranian-born officer was a danger to national security.

In the case that ended yesterday at Southwark crown court, the crown alleged that on 18 July 2008, Dizaei had clashed with Waad al-Baghdadi, who claimed the police commander owed him £600 for a website he had designed for him.

Dizaei arrested the 24-year-old then, using the special call sign given to him as a commander – Metro 35 – called for back-up to take his prisoner away. He claimed to have been assaulted and poked in the stomach with the mouthpiece of a shisha pipe. Dizaei filled out official statements and maintained his false account on the witness stand.

Baghdadi spent 24 hours in a cell and six weeks on bail before it was decided he would not face charges. Scotland Yard handed the case over to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which investigated Dizaei. He becomes the most famous scalp obtained by a watchdog that has faced questions about its effectiveness.

Last night Baghdadi told the BBC: "I've had a very, very difficult past two years of my life, trying to stand up to this man with all of his connections."

The jury were unanimous in finding Dizaei guilty of misconduct in public office and attempting to pervert the course of justice, deliberating for two hours and 31 minutes following a four-week trial.

Before he was sentenced, Dizaei told the Guardian that the case was a way of "bullying" him out of the police. "Nobody is going to bully me out of a job, not the director of public prosecutions, not the IPCC and not the Metropolitan Police Authority."

Dizaei said if he had been acquitted he would have returned to work and ­dismissed the case against him, saying this trial had proved more of a strain than his first, in 2003: "This is worse. It is purely a personal vendetta by the IPCC and CPS. The IPCC did not like the challenge I and the NBPA made to the way it dealt with our members. The CPS could never take the egg off their faces after the last time."

Sentencing Dizaei, the trial judge, Mr Justice Simon, said the length of the sentence had to contain "an element of deterrent" given the "grave breach of public trust and abuse of your authority as a commander in the Metropolitan police".

The judge accepted Dizaei was "an exceptional officer" who had received glowing performance reviews but said he had arrested Baghdadi for "an assault that never occurred".

Wearing a smart suit and glasses, the man once tipped as a possible head of British policing was sullen, simply picking up his overcoat as he was taken down to start a four-year sentence.

Scotland Yard's commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, accepted the case had ­damaged the reputation of British policing. "Bearing in mind his rank and disgraceful behaviour he should not be surprised at the severity of his sentence," he said.

Speaking outside court, Gaon Hart of the CPS said: "Mr Dizaei's corruption, which would have been deplorable in any police officer, was all the more so given his position. The public entrust the police with considerable powers and with that comes considerable responsibility."