28 October (Part 1) - Moving Heaven and Earth to protect their own
The
truth about my Freedom of Information requests about Borough Commander
Stringer’s failed, or possibly non-existent, investigation into the obscene blog
which someone at Bexley council must have had a hand in is a little more complicated than
so far revealed. Briefly, a four part FOI was submitted on 2nd September and rejected and appealed (that’s
the new bit) on 6th September. Then when
news of the loss came through last Friday the original,
but slightly modified FOI was resubmitted under the guidance of a ‘Police FOI
Support Officer’. That officer decided to split it into its four component
parts. The FOI of the 2nd September and the resubmitted one (four?) may be
viewed here. Only the final paragraphs differ.
The original reason for rejection was given as ‘Section 40(5) - Personal
Information’, and under the guidance of the Police FOI Support Officer the FOI was amended from asking if two named individuals were interviewed and
“anybody” was substituted. The objections to my FOI being “Personal’ were
thereby entirely overcome to the satisfaction of the very same Support Officer who had
rejected the original on 2nd September. From then on it should be plain sailing,
right? But no, you reckon without the police big guns being scared witless about
revealing that they did absolutely nothing about investigating a hate crime by one of
their mates in Bexley council. They must be protected at all costs.
Not content with labelling the FOI ‘Personal’ the police have additionally judged,
on appeal, both original and resubmitted FOIs to be not in the public interest. “The public interest
in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.”
That is not the sort of response you would expect if some (relatively speaking)
nobody like Chris Loynes was the criminal is it? Should we now assume that it is
an altogether bigger fish, like Will Tuckley or Teresa O’Neill perhaps? Borough
Commander Stringer must be desperate to protect his paymasters if the police are
persuaded at higher level that acknowledging crimes by Bexley council would not
be in the public interest. The suspicion of corruption in high places within
Bexley council and Bexleyheath police gets ever greater. Their conclusion that
it is in the public interest to leave a criminal to operate freely within Bexley
council rather than expose him or her says all you need to know about
Bexleyheath police and Bexley council.
I was going to answer some of this week’s questions from readers tomorrow but I
am bringing one forward. “What is my relationship with the blogger who
calls himself Olly Cromwell?” Somewhat ‘arm’s length’ actually; he vigorously
and justifiably protested when accused by Bexleyheath police of being a
contributor to Bonkers. I would similarly protest if accused of playing any part with his website.
He may quote from Bonkers but I don’t supply him with material.
I don’t know Olly’s real name and the closest I come to knowing his address is
that he once blogged that he was in David Evenett’s constituency. We have never
spoken on the telephone nor met, except at the Civic Centre in the days when he
was allowed inside, and my longest conversation with him was at the Civic Centre
where I tried to persuade him to tone down his language. Beyond that he emails me
copies of his Bexley related FOI requests so that I can add them to my
FOI page - and
I’m afraid I frequently don’t get around to doing so.
Those who have visited his website will know that Olly doesn’t much like Bexley
council or Bexleyheath police and says so in a style which is different to that
you see here. As of this morning I can claim another difference between Olly and
myself; I did not suffer a heavy handed police raid at 7 a.m.
As it happens Olly wasn’t at home even at that hour and so the police were
unable to cart him away. Gave his wife and children a fright though, but never
mind that, if it saves just one councillor or official from criminal charges it
must be worthwhile.
Olly has been ordered to report to Bexleyheath police station at 12:30 today to
face possible harassment charges.