Shamed police row
THE police complaints procedure has been branded unfit for purpose after a four-year inquiry into a now-disbanded crime squad ended with nine officers disciplined but no dismissals and no senior officers held to account.
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Keith Vaz criticised the IPCC for losing the respect of the public
Six police officers were reprimanded, two were given written warnings and a sergeant was reduced in rank to a constable.
The misconduct dealt with at three separate hearings involved mishandling property seized in police raids, driving a seized uninsured car and officers armed with baseball bats and pickaxe handles smashing up a car they stopped.
A fourth disciplinary hearing against another three officers from the crime squad who are alleged to have forced a suspect’s head into a bucket of water and threatened to use Guantanamo-inspired “waterboarding” torture was abandoned by the Independent Police Complaints Commission when a witness, a convicted criminal, refused to co-operate.
The last of the Metropolitan Police disciplinary hearings into allegations against officers from Enfield in north London was held behind closed doors last month.
‘Complaints process is in deep crisis and is not fit for purpose’
Four detective constables were found to have mishandled property seized in searches by the Enfield crime squad, which has since been disbanded. DVD players, iPods and flat LED TVs were distributed among some of the staff at Edmonton police station.
Only one detective received a written warning with no sanctions for the other three.
Known as Operation Sumaq, it became one of the biggest investigations carried out by the Met’s anti-corruption unit.
It included covert surveillance of the squad with listening devices and secret cameras installed at Edmonton police station.
Files on 15 officers, from constable to superintendent, were sent to the Crown Prosecution Service but it was decided there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges.
The first disciplinary hearing last October found six officers from the squad guilty of discreditable conduct for arming themselves with baseball bats and pickaxe handles to smash up a car and arrest a 19-year-old man with no criminal history.
The second hearing in May ended with an officer reprimanded for seizing an uninsured Mercedes from a suspect, driving it the wrong way up a one-way street, then crashing it.
The four-year Enfield investigation, which began in May 2008 and was supervised by the IPCC, involved 43 inquiries into various allegations.
Solicitor Shamik Dutta, who specialises in complaints cases, said: “The police complaints process is in deep crisis. There is a lack of appropriate sanctions which sends the wrong message to rank-and-file police officers and the public who have a right to expect high standards.
“The process by which police officers are held to account is failing and failing repeatedly. The experience of many of my clients is that it is not fit for purpose.
“The current situation is unsustainable. Policing requires all of us to have faith in those we expect to protect us and act with the highest standards.
“At present the process does not work. There needs to be improvements at every stage.”
The Commons Home Affairs Select Committee launched an inquiry into the IPCC in June.
Chairman Keith Vaz said: “The IPCC plays a vital role but it cannot improve confidence in policing if the public have low confidence in the IPCC itself.”
Commander Peter Spindler, head of the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, said: “The actions of some of the former Enfield Crime Squad officers fell below the high standards we expect and the public deserve.”
