14 June - It’s one rule for them and…
Olly Cromwell who had a Harassment Warning at the same time as me had the
situation spelled out for him by Bexleyheath police in some detail at the
weekend. Anyone is at liberty to have the police issue a warning so they say. I
guess it would help if you are from a council that has
entertained police top brass at taxpayers’ expense but in principle anyone can do it. Bexley council appears to have
taken advantage of some sort of licence to
blacken people’s names on any pretext whatever without any possibility of any come-back.
Whether it’s bloggers in their sights or
citizens bearing placards
no evidence of wrong doing is required. The police indicated they will always protect the identity
of the accusers. I’m not sure I believe that is the law but it is how it is operated in Bexleyheath.
I can say the police will act on no evidence because Olly was accused of doing things that he had definitely not
done, even the most cursory examination of the evidence would have shown that,
yet DI Keith Marshall went ahead and threatened him with arrest on the say-so
of an ill-informed councillor or another of Bexley council’s cretins. The police
claim that anyone can wander up to their reception desk, say someone is
harassing them and they will issue Form 9993. The case is then immediately
closed and they can tick off a crime satisfactorily solved. The victim has no
power to challenge it. Do you believe that? Maybe someone unfairly ticketed for stopping their car
for six seconds or unfairly accused of a dust bin offence could test the
procedure; see if it works for anyone and not just for councillors.
It’s a full month since The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards told
me that they were taking my complaint about Bexleyheath police’s procedures seriously; I seriously doubt that but I
sent off a follow up enquiry this morning.
You wrote to me exactly a month ago saying you "take
serious account of any complaint" and said "an officer from the borough
(Bexleyheath) would contact you (ie. me) shortly". Nothing whatsoever has happened since.
It would appear that anyone can walk into Bexleyheath police station and on
hearsay evidence have me threatened with arrest and then walk away and retain
full anonymity. This is in marked contrast to my reception at Bexleyheath police
station when I reported a crime by, possibly, the same anonymous person or his
associates, and was told there might be too many suspects to warrant an
investigation. My evidence was eventually accepted as indicating criminal
activity but in the week since then I am not aware that any action has been taken.
It would appear that if someone from Bexley council brings false allegations
against me Bexleyheath police immediately springs into action, but when I show
clear evidence of criminal behaviour associated with Bexley council the police
are reluctant to take any action.
Probably I shall soon have to elevate my complaint to the IPPC.
While I was in a letter writing mood I composed an email to Bexley council’s overpaid
Chief Executive Officer. I can’t understand why someone taking home £800 of
public money every day can’t be bothered to answer a letter pointing out that he
appears to be harbouring a criminal. I have deliberately kept this blog back
past office hours to give Tuckley every opportunity to reply but he still chooses not to.
I expect you will have received on Monday of last week a
letter from me expressing concerns about a weblog that appeared to have its
origins within Bexley council. I find it surprising that you have not seen fit
to reply and not just because it further degrades the council’s statistics on
enquiry response times.
The letter indicated criminal activity within Bexley council and I am pleased
that you appear to have dealt with the immediate problem by having the weblog
removed but surely it warranted some response beyond that? I doubt anyone would
suspect you of personal involvement in the criminal activity so I fail to
understand why you seem to be content to imply by the lack of response, sympathy for the perpetrator and his message.
What did you do about my letter beyond having the weblog taken down?
I would like to put forward my theory as to why Tuckley cannot move. An
honest man would be co-operating with the police and the victim. A man on £200k.
plus per annum dependent for that income on people who may be harbouring a
criminal in their midst, or may even be one, will probably not feel able to do the
decent thing. A boss with political ambitions to pursue and a criminal stench in
danger of wafting in the direction of Boris Johnson will be looking for
protection from her CEO. Boris has had his fingers burned by a criminal from
Bexley council once already.