A Survival Guide for Decent Folk

An anonymous policeman blogger who has targeted the force and Government ministers was unmasked today after the High Court ruled against keeping his identity secret. Refusing a temporary injunction to prevent a newspaper from identifying the serving detective constable - who goes by the name of Night Jack - Justice Eady said that "blogging is essentially a public rather than a private activity".

For over a year, police detective 'Jack Night' chronicled his working life in an unnamed UK town on his remarkably frank blog Night Jack. His scathing and revealing posts on the reality of policing in Britain have won him an Orwell Prize. Now his ID has been exposed and he has received a written warning from his Force.



Today, the blogger was named as Richard Horton, 45, who serves with Lancashire Constabulary. Mr. Justice Eady also ruled that any right of privacy on the part of the blogger would be likely to be outweighed by a countervailing public interest in revealing that a particular police officer had been making such contributions. Mr Horton's counsel, Hugh Tomlinson QC, submitted that there was a public interest in preserving the anonymity of bloggers.


Richard Horton

The Judge ruled that the mere fact that Night Jack wished to remain anonymous did not mean either that he had a reasonable expectation of doing so. He added: "Those who wish to hold forth to the public by this means often take steps to disguise their authorship, but it is in my judgment a significantly further step to argue, if others are able to deduce their identity, that they should be restrained by law from revealing it." He said that Night Jack's blog mostly dealt with his police work and his opinions on a number of social and political issues relating to the police and the administration of justice.

Well I found his Blog compelling and every time Police complain of their hands being tied by “Bureaucracy” I remind myself that no too long ago their word was law when given in evidence in Court. So much so that a former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Denning, said it was better that Irish defendants should go to jail than he should concede their Appeal on evidence otherwise he would open up “an appalling vista” of Police corruption. Well due to the good work of West Midlands Police and Surrey Constabulary in the Birmingham 6 and Guilford 4 cases this appalling vista was well and truly opened up and the Police threw away public trust.



Indeed the recent comments by Suffolk’s Chief Constable that he would hold public order defendants in cells for 24 hours even though they had no intention of charging them shows the Police willingness to go to the edge of legality and beyond and use detention in Police cells to pressurise and intimidate defendants. I know of a complainant who was pressurised to pursue a complaint she wanted to withdraw by an ambitious newly promoted Police Sergeant and told that they would deliberately arrest and keep the other party in Police Cells over a weekend to ensure they would “crack.”



So I think Night Jack has done a public service with his Blog and in the interest of Blogging Freedom (Freedom FROM the Press) I reprint in full his Blog on A Survival Guide for decent folk, which uncannily echoes the Police Federation’s own advice to Police Officers facing internal investigation “Do not co-operate, say nothing, ring the Federation’s Solicitor, complain.”

Night Jack’s Blog has now been taken down on Wordpress.

www.nightjack.wordpress.com

A survival guide for decent folk.

In these days of us increasingly having to deal with law abiding folk who have fallen foul of the “entitled poor” and those who have learned how to use us to score points and exact revenge, I thought it would be a good idea to give out a bit of general guidance for those law abiding types who find themselves under suspicion or under arrest. It works for the bad guys so make it work for you.

Complain First

Always get your complaint in first, even if it is you who started it and you who were in the wrong. If things have gone awry and you suspect the cops are going to be called, get your retaliation in first. Ring the cops and allege for all you are worth. If you can work a racist or homophobic slant into it so much the better.



Make a counter allegation

Regardless of the facts, never let the other side be blameless. If they beat you to the phone, ring anyway and make a counter allegation against them. Again racism or homophobia are your friends. If you are not from a visible minority ethnic culture, may I suggest that that the phrase “You gay bastard” or similar is always useful. In extremis allege sexual assault. It gives us something to bargain with when getting the other person to drop their complaint on a quid-pro-quo basis.

Never explain to the Police

If the Police arrive to lock you up, say nothing. You are a decent person and you may think that reasoning with the Police will help. “If I can only explain, they will realise it is all a horrible mistake and go away”. Wrong. We do want to talk to you on tape in an interview room but that comes later. All you are doing by trying to explain is digging yourself further in. We call that stuff a significant statement and we love it. Decent folk can’t help themselves.

Admit Nothing

To do anything more than lock you up for a few hours we need to prove a case. The easiest route to that is your admission. Without it, our case may be a lot weaker, maybe not enough to charge you with. In any case, it is always worth finding out exactly how damning the evidence is before you fall on your sword. So don’t do the decent and honourable thing and admit what you have done. Don’t even deny it or try to give your side of the story. Just say nothing.



Keep your mouth shut

Say as little as possible to us. At the custody office desk a Sergeant will ask you some questions. It is safe to answer these. For the rest, say nothing.

Claim Suicidal Thoughts

A debatable one this. Claiming to be thinking about topping yourself has several benefits. If you can keep it up, it might just bump up any compensation payable later. On the other hand you may find yourself in a paper suit with someone watching your every move.

Always, always, always have a solicitor

Duh. No brainer this one. Unless you know 100% for sure that your mate the solicitor does criminal law and is good at it, ask for the Duty Solicitor. They do criminal law and they are good at it. Then listen to what the solicitor says and do it. Their job is to get you off without the Cops laying a glove on you if at all possible. It is what they get paid for. They are free to you. There is no down side. Now decent folks think it makes them look like they have something to hide if they ask for a solicitor. Irrelevant. Going into an interview without a solicitor is like taking a walk in Tottenham with a Rolex. Bad things are very likely to happen to you.



Actively complain about every officer and everything they do

Did they cuff you when they brought you in? Were they rude to you? Did they racially or homophobically abuse you? Didn’t get fed? Cell too cold? You are decent folk who don’t want to make a fuss but trust me, it pays to whinge and no matter how trivial and / or poorly founded your complaint there are people who will uncritically listen to you and try and prove the complaint on your behalf. Some of them are even police officers.

Show no respect to the legal system or anybody working in it

You think that if you are a difficult, unpleasant, sneering, unco-operative and rude things will go badly for you and you will be in more trouble. No sirree Bob. It seems that in fact the worse you are, the easier things will go for you if, horror of horrors, you do end up convicted. Remember to fake a drink problem if you haven’t developed one as a result of dealing with us already. Magistrates and Judges do seem to like the idea that you are basically good but the naughty alcohol made you do it. They treat you better. Crazy I know but true.

So there you go, basically anything you try and do because you are decent and straightforward hurts you badly. Act like an habitual, professional, lifestyle criminal and chances are you will walk away relatively unscathed. Copy the bad guys; it’s what they do for a living.

A Conspiracy too far?

After recent Police actions in the UK many are asking where is the right to protest? Indeed taken in conjunction with the increase of the Surveillance State (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/05/surveillance-britain.html ) and the creeping increase in arbitrary administrative justice with spot fines and penalties many are concerned at the erosion of civil liberties in a land which claims to be the home of democracy. Lawful protest has become more difficult in the UK with an exclusion zone around Parliament, state sponsored snooping, stopping and detaining protestors on the way to demonstrations and aggressive and deliberately violent “policing” of demonstrations including the tactic of “kettling” or penning up demonstrators for hours on end. Increasingly the Police in the UK are not forming the “independent mind” required of them when they take their Oath of Office but instead of upholding the law they are increasingly setting themselves above the law and becoming attack dogs for vested interests. So where does this leave the Policing consensus for these very expensive and increasingly unaccountable taxpayer funded “Public Servant’s”, sworn and empowered to uphold the “Queen’s Peace?”

Take for instance the recent attempt to widen the Law of Conspiracy. In Nottingham, England 114 possible demonstrators have been arrested, but not charged in connection with a suspected plan to protest at a power station. Where would this tactic have left the woman’s suffragettes, civil rights campaigners or the Ramblers who trespassed on Kinder Scout to establish the right to roam in Britain's countryside? Are these Stasi tactics of anticipating a crime which may or may not be committed a sign Britain is on the slippery slope to a Police State?

Police have defended their decision to arrest 114 environmental campaigners in connection with a suspected plan to protest at a power station. The men and women were held in Sneinton Dale, Nottingham, on Monday and later released on Police bail. Police said they had been planning to cause "prolonged disruption" at Ratcliffe-On-Soar power station. Meanwhile, the BBC has reported that the station's owner E.ON had already warned its staff about possible protests. No-one has been charged in relation to the case.


Ratcliffe-On-Soar power station

In a letter sent to around 17,000 staff employed nationally by E.ON last month, the company's chief executive said protesters had already tried to shut down power stations and get access to the firm's offices over controversial plans for the company's new Kingsnorth coal-powered station. Staff were also sent a leaflet offering personal safety advice and telling them how to handle possible encounters with protesters. This begs the interesting question did the Police form an “Independent Mind” based on their own evidence or did they proceed on the basis of representations from a German owned commercial power generator?

The local Nottinghamshire MP has criticised police for using "SAS-style" tactics during an operation to arrest more than 100 environmental activists before they had even begun protesting. Eco-campaigners and civil liberty groups have questioned the circumstances surrounding the mass arrests, thought to be the largest single pre-emptive raid on a group of demonstrators in British history. Police used more than 200 officers from five forces to arrest 114 men and women in Sneinton, Nottinghamshire, early on Monday morning because they were allegedly preparing to cause "prolonged disruption" to the nearby Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station. Those arrested were found inside the privately owned Iona school, which was closed for the Easter break, and were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass and criminal damage.



Nottinghamshire Police have defended the raid, saying they believed the protesters intended to engage in an unlawful demonstration that risked shutting down the power plant. Officers found bolt-cutters and locking equipment and suspect that the activists were planning to chain themselves to vital equipment inside the power plant. All those arrested were released on bail yesterday pending further inquiries.
Alan Simpson, the Labour MP for Nottingham South, has questioned the nature of the pre-emptive strike, saying it had serious repercussions for the right to free assembly and had utilised overly heavy-handed tactics. "I am absolutely baffled by the sheer scale of the police operation," he said. "It was very Orwellian. What we saw was over-the-top, smash-and-grab, SAS-style; pre-emptive policing that was massively disproportionate to what was happening on the ground. The scale of policing was what you would expect to be used for a terrorist event or the break-up of a major crime syndicate, not to stop an environmental protest."

Mr Simpson also questioned why it was necessary to smash two double-glazed doors at the Iona school, which has now had to put in new doors and flooring. The school's owners said they had no idea protesters were meeting there. No environmental group has yet claimed responsibility for the planned protest. It is believed groups associated with the Climate Camp network were involved.

More than 200 officers from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and British Transport Police took part in the raid at the Iona School in Sneinton shortly after midnight on Monday. Supt Mike Manley of Nottinghamshire Police said large amounts of equipment had been found, including food and various devices used for climbing, cutting and locking on to machinery. He said: "We think it was a sophisticated attempt to disrupt what we now believe was Radcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. Our information was that it wasn't to be a lawful protest. This was to be a criminal act against a power station. Had that taken place, we would have now been policing a major protest at a major power station."



There were no reported injuries and local residents said handcuffed suspects sang loudly as they were led away. No-one has been charged with any offence. On Tuesday the nursery at Iona School was closed while workmen repaired doors damaged in the raid. The school said it was distressed at the disruption and damage caused, and the group had had no permission or authority to meet there. Officers also said that some of those arrested had links to climate change groups which had protested at Kingsnorth power station in Kent, Heathrow Airport and Drax power station in north Yorkshire. However, police would not name any organisations.

The coal powered power plant which uses old technology and is highly polluting, which is eight miles south-west of Nottingham, has seen protests by environmental campaigners in the past, including members of Eastside Climate Action. Bob Andrews, from the group, denied any connection with the latest incident. However, he said direct action was the only way to bring about a change in energy policy. He said: "We're saying we've got to change policy, and (the government and E.ON) are not doing it. They're not taking the science seriously. It's got to change. Stop burning fossil fuel."


The polluting power of an old technology coal power station

David Porter, chief executive of the Association of Electricity Producers, said campaigners' calls to stop burning fossil fuels made no sense. "If you suddenly close down our power stations that would be a suicidal policy. The economy of the UK would be seriously disrupted. And there would be social implications of that. It's a nonsensical approach to the problem."

Police tactics when dealing with protests have been placed under heavy scrutiny in the past two weeks following the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in London. Mr Tomlinson died of a heart attack shortly after apparently being hit and pushed to the ground by a baton-wielding riot officer. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating.

Protest and free speech are crucial parts of political life, with a strong British history, yet a variety of measures undermine them. Laws intended to combat anti-social behaviour; terrorism and serious crime are routinely used against legitimate protesters. Free Speech has been a victim on the 'War on Terror', with offences of 'encouragement' and 'glorification' of terrorism threatening to make careless talk a crime.

What is more surprising is that the Police have previously been found both to be lying in information they released about a similar demonstration at a power plant, also owned by E.On, in Kent in August and prosecutions against demonstrators who had actually entered the plant and scaled the chimneys were thrown out by English Courts. Police minister Vernon Coaker had to apologise for telling Parliament that 70 officers were injured dealing with protests at Kingsnorth power station. His comments came after it was revealed that injuries sustained during policing at the Climate Camp in August included insect stings and heat exhaustion. There were only 12 reportable injuries, according to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by the Liberal Democrats. More than 1,000 officers were involved in policing the event near Hoo in Kent, a ratio of 2:1 of the 500 demonstrators involved.

According to information obtained by the Liberal Democrat political party, Kent Police officers and staff suffered only 12 reportable injuries, four of which involved direct contact with another person. The minister’s apology came after it was revealed that injuries sustained during policing at the Climate Camp in August included insect stings and heat exhaustion. More than 1,000 officers were involved in policing the event near Hoo in Kent. The Lib Dems said the eight other injuries included being "stung on finger by possible wasp", "officer injured sitting in car" and "officer succumbed to sun and heat". Kent Police confirmed that 12 officers were required to retire from duty because of their injuries.


Kingsnorth activists found to be acting with "lawful cause" by the Courts

The six Greenpeace activists who were charged were then cleared of causing criminal damage during the protest over coal-fired power which breaches Britain’s treaty undertakings on carbon emissions. The activists were charged with causing £30,000 of damage after they scaled Kingsnorth power station in Hoo, Kent. At Maidstone Crown Court Judge David Caddick said the jury had to examine whether protesters had a lawful excuse. The defendants said the protest was lawful because it aimed to prevent damaging emissions. Energy firm E.ON said lives had been put at risk.

So the important question to be answered by the forces of Law and Order and the Crown Prosecution Service is how did they feel entitled to arrest 114 people on suspicion of “Conspiracy to engage in Aggravated Trespass and to Cause Criminal Damage” when in entirely identical circumstances substantive charges have been thrown out by the Courts? The other important question is how, if any of these 114 people who were deprived of their liberty, are actually charged with an offence they can receive a fair trial given the amount of prejudicial comment presented as fact to the media by the Police? Those of us who care about Civil Liberties will be interested in the answers to these questions, if we ever hear them?


Police confining demonstrators during G20 demo, London, 1st April 2009

Real Coppering by Real Coppers?

The Celtic Sage is not the only one dismayed at the forces of Law and Order having lost their direction and is seemingly not the only one railing against closed police stations, call centre prioritisation and policing driven by political correctness and central targets. The middle classes have lost confidence in the police, a stark report has warned. They fear they have been alienated by a service which routinely targets ordinary people rather than serious criminals, simply to fill Government crime quotas. The attitude of some officers has also led to spiralling complaints about neglect of duty and rudeness. The report from the Civitas think-tank says incidents which would once have been ignored are now treated as crimes - including a case of children chalking a pavement.

Its author, journalist Harriet Sergeant, says she was also told of a student being arrested, held for five hours and cautioned for keeping a London Underground lift door open with his foot. The report warns that a generation of young people - the police's favourite soft targets - are being criminalised, putting their future prospects at risk. Some offences being prosecuted are now so minor that senior officers have even begun talks with the U.S. authorities to prevent such a "criminal record" stopping decent citizens obtaining a visa to cross the Atlantic.

One member of the public gave a telling comment;

"I live in an area of central London which the police have effectively abandoned, and despite being a high crime area, we have no CCTV on any of our streets and no community police. When I was the victim of crime, the police told me to move house. As if life is that simple. When I have attempted to report crimes they have told me to phone the council or passed the buck in some other way. However, I have a criminal record due to some extremely petty law enforcement which they were very happy to jump on and resulted in a punishment that far exceeded the crime and has limited my whole life from a work and travel perspective."


Harriet Sergeant

Meanwhile responses to crimes such as burglary are slow and statements given by victims of serious crime are often left lying idle for months, the report warns. An apparent emphasis on motoring crimes is another negative factor. Miss Sergeant warns: “The loss of public confidence is a serious matter. The police cannot police without the backing of society. Without trust and consensus it is very difficult and costly to maintain law and order.”

Her report says: “Complaints against the police have risen, with much of the increase coming from law-abiding, middle-class, middle-aged and retired people who no longer feel the police are on their side.” In 2006-7, there were 29,637 complaints - the most since records began 17 years ago.

Miss Sergeant said this was due in part to the law-abiding middle-classes becoming upset by the “rudeness and behaviour” of officers. The report details how officers are expected to reach a certain number of “sanction detections” a month by charging, cautioning or fining an “offender”. Arresting or fining someone for a trifling offence - such as a child stealing a Mars bar - is a good way of hitting the target and pleasing the Home Office. Amazingly, the chocolate theft ranks as highly as catching a killer. They also have to get their quota of “politically correct” crimes such as harassment, racial and domestic violent often pressurising unwilling complainants. Amazingly the Police Service have to report to the Home Office each month on an arcane set of 86 KPI's (Key Performance Indicators). Somebody should tell the jawless wonders in the Home Office that the key part of KPI is "Key"!

Miss Sergeant says performance-related bonuses of between £10,000 and £15,000 a year for police commanders depend partly on reaching such targets. This leads them to put pressure on frontline officers to make arrests for the most minor misdemeanours. Officers said at the end of a month, when there was pressure to hit the target for that period, they would pursue young men as the most likely “offenders”. Offences could include scrawling a name on a bus stop in felt-tip or playing ball games in the street. One officer was so concerned he told his teenage son to be careful at the end of each month.


The pamphlet, parts of which were serialised by the Daily Mail earlier this year, says the police themselves are angry at the way they have to “make fools of themselves”. There were high levels of 'bitterness and frustration' and the targets were 'bitterly resented'. One officer told how he was pressed to charge children playing with a tree with “harassment”. The same offence was used against a drunken student dancing in flowerbeds, who aimed a kick at a flower.

At the cost of £550 per household and rising there are two factors irritating the mugged masses:

1. Coppers chasing targets and looking to fill quotas. This allied with trying to make an impact by running “high visibility” operations which are hugely wasteful of resource but are designed to grab attention and create the appearance of "activity". Result no coppers on the streets, no neighbourhood policing, closed police stations and relying on automated penalising with speed cameras and the like.

2. The Justice Gap. Even when brought to book the retards laugh at the system. They get “community orders” which are laughable and breaches are not followed up, the Probation Service is overworked and can’t follow up as several recent murders and serious crimes have demonstrated, the Prosecution Service (which prioritises on targeting Naomi Campbell!) has 30% of cases failing because of bad paperwork or missing deadlines, fines are not collected from the great unwashed and if they get to Prison they get automatic remission and let out early and the main educational benefit is learn the trade from old lags! Result; there is now very little relationship between Crime and Punishment.

Save the St. Reatham One!

The St. Reatham One - 29 May 2008

The Celtic Sage has long cast a cold eye on the abusive behaviour of British Airways (BA) and the so called British Airports Authority (BAA) to the cattle (their expression is “self loading cargo”) who have to use their quasi monopolies which have been protected from full competition by cartel behaviour of various sorts. BAA is actually a front for a Spanish brick company called Ferrovial who overpaid with nearly £1 Bn of borrowed money for what it thought was a Cash Cow to find out it neither had the management skills or resources to husband it properly and this Cow would leave messy cow pats everywhere, particularly at the inept opening of Terminal 5 where the feisty Streatham One was caught up in the opening chaos. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/up-up-and-away-with-baa.html )
BAA has a dominant monopoly on airport capacity in the south of England and British Airways has a dominant position on slots from Heathrow which allows it to charge 30% more for an equivalent Business Class flight to New York than is available from Paris or Amsterdam. Yup, neither BA nor BAA need lessons in how to abuse customers or screw excess profits out of their cartels.

So the Celtic Sage is totally unsurprised at the behaviour of the Plods as the day after BAA reported its first quarterly loss and on the day British Airways announced increased fuel surcharges and that the rest of its flights won’t move to Terminal Five until October (thereby blocking its competitors from moving into Terminal 4) Supermodel Naomi Campbell was today charged with five offences over an alleged air rage incident at Heathrow. The charges, which include three offences of assaulting police, follow an incident last month when she was removed from a flight for Los Angeles after an alleged row over lost luggage.
(http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/up-up-and-away-with-baa-no-2.html )

In fact British Airways and BAA were so bad that they have succeeded in generating sympathy for Naomi “Anger Management” Campbell who was led off one of their planes by Police called by BA staff after she paid £6,000 for a First Class fare to Los Angeles and BA lost one of her bags which contained an outfit for a memorial service she was attending.

The alleged incident occurred on a BA flight which was due to leave for Los Angeles from Terminal 5 on 3 April. Ms Campbell will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on 20 June, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Her lawyer, Simon Nicholls said she was "bitterly disappointed" to learn she will be prosecuted. He told reporters: "She respects that decision and she hopes this matter is dealt with expeditiously."

The British Airways "First Experience" 3 April 2008

The CPS said Ms Campbell has been charged with three counts of assaulting a constable, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine of up to £5,000. She also faces one count of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, which is punishable by a fine of up to £2,500, and two counts of using threatening, abusive words or behaviour towards cabin crew, which comes with a maximum penalty of £1,000.

Moments later, the Crown Prosecution Service formally announced the charges in a statement, saying: "The CPS has authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Naomi Campbell with five offences in relation to incidents that occurred on a stationary aircraft and within Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, London, on 3 April 2008. "Ms Campbell has today been charged with three offences of assaulting a constable, one offence of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and one offence of using threatening, abusive words or behaviour to cabin crew. "These are summary offences which can only be tried at a magistrates' court."

The alleged incident occurred after the supermodel was told by staff in the first-class cabin that one her bags had been lost. They told her that she would have to leave the flight, causing Campbell to allegedly respond with an angry tirade which led to police being called. Reports claimed she had yelled "a***holes. You are all a***holes" at police and described BA staff as "bloody fools" as she allegedly lashed out verbally and physically. Female staff reportedly collapsed in tears as the incident escalated. After armed officers arrived, she was eventually taken off the plane in handcuffs. Although there has been no official confirmation, BA is understood to have imposed a lifetime ban on Campbell.

Well there are two issues hear where you may feel we should be supporting the Streatham One as an unlikely martyr figure for passenger rights and protection of passengers from an expensive publicly funded Constabulary (You know the one you don’t see on the streets, who don’t respond to burglaries, who replaced Police Stations with call centres, etc;) which has abandoned its statutory independence to become attack dogs for an abusive Transport Industry.

1. Why did the Police (armed officers no less) feel they had to become involved in a civil dispute between a customer who paid £6,000 for a service and an inept airline which failed abysmally to deliver the promised service to Naomi Campbell. Now Naomi is feisty and the Celtic Sage is aware of her reputation with Irish lads (take a bow Adam Clayton from U2!) but did she really put burly armed Constables in flak jackets waving handcuffs and pepper sprays in fear? And exactly who was being harassed having paid a premium rate to get to Los Angeles for a memorial service (Note; generally, people are only buried / cremated once) to be told by the airline that SHE would have to leave the plane because THEY had lost a bag (Indeed they lost thousands of bags) SHE had entrusted to THEM for safe keeping!

We wuz scared, Your Honour!

Why do the Police feel able to use draconian security legislation applying to airports to intimidate passengers who simply want to go from A to B?

2. Why are ALL airline customers at such a disadvantage when airlines use unfair contract terms to ignore the clear contract to get them and their luggage from A to B. Here is what BA’s website promises all who pay through the nose for their “First Experience.”

• Effortless travel
• A queue-less, personalised and stress free environment to check in your baggage
• Choice and control
• “Your secluded “demi-cabin” guarantees space and privacy
• Continue relaxing within our arrivals lounge
• Our specially trained First crew will provide you with a discreet yet attentive service, ensuring that all your personal needs are taken care of.

Well you couldn’t make it up could you; you don’t need to be a Naomi Campbell to feel harassed at the gap between the marketing guff and the reality. Perhaps the St. Reatham One should consider suing British Airways for what the law terms “unjust enrichment” by promising a service it clearly was in no position to deliver. Just as she won a legal precedent against the media over privacy maybe she can now establish another legal precedent;that merely by buying an airline ticket and entering an airport we do not agree to abandon our Civil Rights and our Consumer Rights. It is worth noting that since Naomi was harassed and abused on the 3rd April 2008 the MD of Heathrow Airport and the two British Airways Directors most closely involved in the T5 Fiasco have been sacked and BA have confirmed tha 19,000 bags have been lost permanently. Strangely, the only person arrested as a result of the fiasco has neen Naomi Campbell. Surely it can't be a case of the PLODs and the Crown Prosecution Service translating the "Public Interest" into desperately seeking publicity? This is much of what passes for Policing and the Justice System in the UK today; High Visibility; Zero Substance.

And as for the Court appearance I look forward to the evidence of a lardy armed copper in flak jacket “Well your honour, I looked at this tall, unarmed, Jamaican IC3 with a loud voice, funny accent, threatening big hair and larger than average lips and I immediately felt apprehensive for my safety. I have been off sick with diagnosed Post Naomi Stress Syndrome (PNSS) ever since and have taken to beating my wife more than normal and messing up my overtime claim.” Hopefully Lenny Henry will be in court gathering material for his next sketch! It's an opportunity too good to miss Lenny!

All together now, FREE THE ST. REATHAM ONE!!

Fair Coppers?

Jan Berry - Blindin' Diamond Geezer?


Jacqui Smith - Right Bad Egg?

Regular Blogistas will know I’m not the current Home Secretary’s biggest fan but even I was driven to sympathise with her on the churlish Section House behaviour she received from the Coppers Protection League otherwise known as the Police Federation. Here was the snide introduction by the outgoing Secretary of the Federation, Jan Berry, who represents those blameless souls, the Constables of the United Kingdom who stay awake at night thinking of nothing else other than our well being and safety:

“At my first conference, I introduced the opportunity to ask questions of the Home Secretary. Although some Home Secretaries have subsequently regretted it – the session has been an important and healthy exchange of views. Home Secretary - I admire your courage. You didn’t have to come here today and I know conference will treat your office with the respect it warrants. I am sure when your Private Secretary reminded you of today’s event you felt like reaching for the nearest stab proof vest - and perhaps slipping into old habits and lighting up to calm your nerves…”

Now this is from the lady who is leader of the Police Federation, the organisation that represents those blameless souls, the rank and file police officers. Perhaps Jan Berry could tell us why it is that, no matter what outrages are committed against members of the public be it dying in police custody whilst officers make monkey noises or some lesser outrage her members are rarely found guilty of anything or disciplined. I would genuinely like to know, I have made no pre judgements, but it certainly raises the possibility that there is one law for the constabulary, and one for everyone else.

It may well be so that the police are overwhelmed by paperwork, although a recent documentary featuring undercover filming of the Leicestershire police force showed junior officers (presumably members of Ms Berry's organisation) wasting their own time, and using paperwork as an excuse to stay in the station rather than going out dealing with incidents. This kind of thing certainly suggests that some police officers think they are a law unto themselves. What is more worrying is that they are confident that the culture of the organisation will protect them. None of this, I am afraid, inspires confidence in the public or politicians. Ms Berry may be too young to remember why the police are deluged by paperwork and general bureaucracy. It stems from the realisation which dawned some thirty to forty years ago that some police officers were routinely corrupt, abused their powers and made up statements and other evidence. Indeed many of these incidents which led to PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) happened to involve Irish Terrorist defendants. The bent coppering which led to PACE had two effects, the innocent were imprisoned whilst the guilty were not and the “intelligence” leads which the police had were useless, making life more dangerous for all of us.

Community Copper

Should Ms Jan Berry or anyone else suggest ways in which these tendencies can be monitored and controlled without resort to massive paperwork and bureaucracy, then they should share their ideas as widely as possible. But it is within living memory that a Lord Justice of Appeal, Lord Denning, openly said it was better to send (Irish) defendants to jail than “open up the appalling vista” that the Police routinely fabricated evidence. Well the appalling vista was well and truly opened up and judging by conviction rates the Police are not coping too well with having to tell the truth.

Consider the appalling background to Crime and Policing in the UK set out by the pressure group “Police Reform” which Jacqui Smith and any Home Secretary would have to deal with;

“Crime is high by international and historical standards. The Government’s claims to have reduced crime are not borne out by reality. Substantially increased spending on the police has not been matched by corresponding reductions in crime, indicating that productivity has fallen and the public have received poor value for money. The fight against crime is a challenge for the whole criminal justice system and for society as a whole. But effective Policing has a vital role to play.”


A Patch - historic photo

“Crime today is almost ten times its level per 100,000 of the population than in 1950. People in England and Wales are the most likely to be victims of crime of any developed country, except only for Australia. The UK is the most burgled country in the European Union, with the highest levels of assault crime. The Government claims that crime measured by the British Crime Survey has fallen, yet the British Crime Survey massively underestimates crime. It covers only half of recorded crime and ignores murder, rape, fraud, crimes against under-16s, commercial crime including shoplifting, and crime where there is no direct victim such as drugs dealing. Estimates suggest the true figure of crime in England and Wales is roughly three times the level indicated by the British Crime Survey. Since 1997-98 total recorded crime has increased from 4.5 million to over 5.5 million crimes a year, an increase of approximately 22 per cent. The Government claims that changes in the way crime is recorded have caused this, but steep increases in crimes such as robbery and violence against the person cannot be explained by changes in the counting rules. Britain now spends more on law and order as a proportion of GDP than any other OECD country, nearly two-thirds of which goes to the police, costing each household in England and Wales £550 a year.”

It is not just that we spend so much on policing but we get so little for it due to the restrictive “Spanish Practices” of the Police Federation, although the Spanish will complain that they have moved on.

Richard Barnbrook BNP London Leader supporting Fair Coppers - 23rd January 2008

As police stations have closed and foot patrol has given way to modern policing methods, the police have become increasingly alienated from the public. The way to rebuild public confidence and tackle crime is to have police officers on the streets. But the reintroduction of community policing has been inadequate. Record numbers of police have not been reflected in officers on the beat, and key Government programmes such as promised Police Community Support Officers and the national non-emergency number have been scaled back.

It's a stressful job, innit?

What Jan Berry’s members have represented is the maintenance of restrictive practices and an inability to embrace change; a change the public clearly demands. Here are some of the restrictive practices the Federation maintains.

1. Rostered rest days; Police have to be given the days they are not working 9 months in advance. If they are then required on any of those days they receive 2 days off in lieu PLUS overtime. Last year the 127,000 police officers in the UK earned half a billon pounds overtime, that’s an average of over £4,000 each. Compare this to the £250 a head they claim they have lost under the staged wage award which was the reason the barracked Jacqui Smith at their conference.

2. Operational Feeding; Judging by the beefy rows of well upholstered police officers facing the Home Secretary at the Conference this policy is conspicuously successful. If they are on an “Op” away from their station “Nick” for over 4 hours they have to be fed a “substantial hot meal”, over 7 hours two hot meals. Of course the time they spend getting to the trough to consume their swill and the time spent consuming their ethnically inclusive “full English” is “operational time” charged to overtime. So at moments of great danger to the Nation TV crews are treated to the inspiring site of the Metropolitan Commissioner walking between long tables of Police Federation members consuming their entitlement. No army rations for Britain’s finest!

A Shout - great for overtime

3. 30 year pension window. Like the armed forces the Police have a hugely generous, publicly funded (that is to say unfunded!), final salary pension. Unlike the armed forces the Police Pension is hard to justify. Of course many don’t hang around to collect it for particular laxity is shown to “medical retirement” where they can retire early on “medical grounds” get their entitlement plus a “gift” of an extra 10 years. I personally know of one 42 year old inspector who had done 20 years (20 + 10 = 30!), took medical retirement for whiplash (sitting in his stationary car in a car park) and is running a security company despite his “reduced” health.

4. Archaic Disciplinary Procedures: At any one time 1 in 15 Police Officers are subject to criminal or disciplinary investigation or proceedings. I’ll give you the number, that’s over 19,000 officers who can’t be deployed effectively because their use is restricted. The proceedings are long winded and arcane and would take a book to outline but suffice to say the police don’t make co-operative subjects and are advised by the Federation to say nothing, agree nothing and sign nothing and contact the Federation’s solicitors for this restrictive cartel will defend it’s members good or bad. Contrast their advice to their members with how they would want the public to co-operate with Police “enquiries.” Even then they can bring any disciplinary enquiry to a shuddering halt merely by resigning. This “right” has been exercised twice up to Chief constable level in the past months (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/search/label/andy%20Hayman )

A Nick - Only one in 8 of those left are 24/7

5. Spend, spend, spend! We can take it as a given that the police are not very good at protecting us for the £550 each household it costs all of us but they are not very good at using the money when they are given it. Police Committee’s are an exercise in non-accountability where they exist and most forces don’t have qualified accountants in charge of their finances, as different criteria must have been used for recruitment in the past. Take the delicious fraud of “Lord Williams” as he styled himself in the Scottish village and estate he bought. He had a Scottish connection alright for he was Assistant Finance Director of Scotland Yard and he purloined £12.6 m from a “secret account” which was maintained to develop (wait for it!) a remote surveillance drone for the police. Or then recently Scotland Yard cancelled 1,450 credit cards which were being abused; I’ll give you the number again that is one third of the total credit cards issued or to put it another way, 5.6% of Metropolitan Police Officers could not account properly for their expenses. Hello! Hello! Hello!

6. I could go on, but one final point. The Police Federation has by agreement, officers working for it full time on the payroll of every force in the country paid for out of police budgets, over 100 police officers at last count. These Police Officers (such as Jan Berry) are, of course, unavailable for policing.Once again I'll give you the number, that's a direct subsidy from Public Funds of over £5 m for the Police Federation.

So I hope Jan Berry enjoyed her swan song and her cheap shots at Jacqui Smith but this should not give her false confidence that the Public are happy to keep paying premium rates for this increasingly slapstick and dated Police Pantomime.

An Independent Constabulary?

I want to declare upfront that I don’t like British Airways. Like most state protected monopolies they forgot who their customer was and engaged in cartel behaviour for many years with other state protected airlines to screw the customer with high fares and ridiculous conditions to protect their cosy monopoly. Once they kept me in Dublin airport for 3 days because their “condition” on their euro budget ticket called for the return leg to be re-endorsed by a travel agent. On a Sunday I went out to Dublin Airport to the BA desk to have the ticket “re-endorsed.” They told me they couldn’t do it as “travel agent” meant one of their agents not their own ticket counter. So I had to wait until travel agents were open on a Monday, miss my flight on Monday morning and pay extra to eventually go back on a Wednesday because of the silly restrictions they used to put on budget tickets. When competitors like Laker and Virgin started to take their market they fought back illegally with dirty tricks, having to pay compensation to Virgin and the liquidator of Laker Airlines. God knows what they go away with that we never heard about.

But even by their own standards they have taken the biscuit with their treatment of Nigerian passengers in an incident which also calls into question whether we should continue to pay a huge premium in our taxes to maintain an Independent Police Force, a question I have asked before.( http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/up-up-and-away-with-baa-no-2.html) More than 1,000 Nigerians have backed a call to boycott British Airways unless it apologises to 136 passengers who were ordered off a flight to Lagos after they complained about the forced deportation of a man on board.

A British Airways captain made the extraordinary decision to clear the whole of economy class on an aircraft due to take off from Heathrow in response to concern from travelers that security men were manhandling a man who was pleading not to be removed from the UK. The man, who was thought to be about 30, was being held down in his seat by four or five police officers as the other passengers filed on board, and was crying out in broken English that he was afraid he would die if he were sent back to Nigeria.

The officers took him off the plane, then returned and arrested Ayodeji Omotade, one of the passengers who had complained vociferously about his treatment. When others on board protested noisily about Mr. Omotade's detention, the captain ordered them all off the flight. The only person who eventually flew economy class on flight BA0075 was the unidentified deportee who did not want to go. Mr. Omotade – who pleaded tearfully with officers not to prevent him travelling to Nigeria, where he was due at his brother's wedding – was held in custody for 10 hours, accused of causing an affray, and banned by British Airways from travelling with them again.

Ayodeji Omatade


The police also confiscated all the money he was carrying, which came to £1,600 in notes, plus three £1 coins he had in his pocket, and abandoned him, penniless, in Heathrow airport. He was spotted there by one of his fellow passengers, who was waiting for the next flight to Lagos and loaned him the money to get home.

Mr. Omotade, an IT contractor from Chatham, Kent, who is married with a five-year-old daughter, said: "£1,603 is not a lot of money to some people, but to me it's a lot, and most of it wasn't mine. I told them I had letters written in English to show them why I was carrying the money, but they said they had strong reason to believe it was the proceeds of crime.

"By the time I got to the magistrates' court, the police had already applied for an extra 90 days to investigate. I still don't know whether they are going to charge me, or not charge me. I didn't even get my luggage back until a week later. They flew my luggage to Lagos. I need a public apology that I can get framed and hang in my living room."

The incident, on 27 March 2008, has created outrage among expatriate Nigerians in the UK, who have called on the Lagos government to intervene. A protest letter, signed by more than 1,000 Nigerians, has been sent to the country's President, Umaru Yar'Adua, and senior members of the Nigerian parliament.

It calls for a front-page apology in a national Nigerian daily newspaper to all passengers on flight BA0075, a written apology and appropriate compensation to Mr Omotade, lifting of the life ban which Mr Omotade says has been imposed on him by British Airways, and the dropping of any criminal charges against him. They say the airline has until 30 April to respond.

Nigeria's Favourite Airline?

"Failure on the part of the British Airways to comply with the above demands will result in us calling for worldwide boycott of British Airways by Nigerians," the petition warned. British Airways said: "Police were called to the BA75 service to Lagos on 27 March after a large number of passengers became disruptive. Many were removed. We take any threats against our crew or passengers very seriously and this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated."

Now I have many Nigerian colleagues and friends and I am sure they felt a great deal of solidarity with their compatriot who was being forcibly deported. After all this is a country which deported a terminally ill women to Ghana to die and is deporting a Filipino Man whose wife a nurse was, in the verdict of a Coroner’s Court, was “unlawfully killed” in the same hospital she worked in whilst given birth. Her husband has now lost his right to remain in the UK because the UK unlawfully killed his wife. The spirit of Frank Kafka is alive and well and living in the Home Office in Marsham Street, London.

Now as I said British Airways has an impressive track record in customer abuse but you may ask again why do the Police, who we pay for out of our taxes, see themselves as uncritical attack dogs for the transport industry not doubt using and abusing the many laws applying in airports and to “protect” us from terrorists. So why did they intervene in a civil dispute between BA and its passengers? If you paid £700 to go to Lagos would you expect the in-flight entertainment to be a distressed Nigerian deportee surrounded by 5 heavies? What was the threat to national security which required Ayodeji Omotade to be stripped of his money and possessions and abandoned at Heathrow? I confidently predict if the “case” against Ayodeji Omotade sees the inside of a court room it will be thrown out the same day. The independence of the Police Service and their duty in law to form an “independent mind” is fundamental to the contract they have with society to have the powers of a Constable vested in them. Every Police Officer has to make the following oath before becoming a constable.

“I do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve the Queen in the office of constable, with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, upholding fundamental human rights and according equal respect to all people; and that I will, to the best of my power, cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against people and property; and that while I continue to hold the said office I will to the best of my skill and knowledge discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law."

The Police Reform Act 2002

Ayodeji Omotade and his 135 compatriots who were removed by the Police and treated like criminals could well ask where was the “fairness, integrity, diligence, impartiality, upholding of human rights …….and according equal respect……….” on the 27 March 2008 at Heathrow on flight BA0075 to Lagos, Nigeria. Indeed on the latter point of “ ..equal respect..” would the Captain of that flight and the obedient Constabulary have behaved with such uncaring arrogance to 136 white passengers in similar circumstances?