19 January (Part 2) - The police are an unchecked law unto themselves
32 months ago Mr. Elwyn Bryant who like me was the target of
obscenities launched
from councillor Peter Craske’s phone line had a word about it with Metropolitan
Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe at
a public meeting in Sidcup. In Elwyn’s
opinion - and events later proved him right - Bexley police were doing their
usual thing of bending the law to suit Bexley council and Hogan-Howe invited him
to put his concerns in a letter to him.
This was done a couple of weeks later
on 7th June 2012 and over the following six months the Metropolitan Police did nothing other than reach for the
whitewash brush. When the Independent Police Complaints Commission told them to get on
with the job they spent another 18 months doing precisely nothing.
Last week my patience was wearing a little thin and I dashed off
a letter to the
IPCC summarising the situation.
The IPCC responded very quickly to say it was nothing to do with them even
though the reply was from the very same IPCC Case Officer who originally ordered
the Metropolitan Police to put away the whitewash pot.
Today I replied as follow…
Dear Ms. Xxxxx,
Thank you for your speedy response.
It is disappointing that the IPCC considers that it has no involvement in
the case. The oldest of the three complaints has been around the DPS loop once
and it was referred back to them when the IPCC agreed they had made no serious
attempt to examine it.
If that is the official position could you please tell me how the Metropolitan
Police can ever be compelled to answer a complaint? Both Elwyn Bryant and I are
in our eighth decade, I suspect the DPS has a policy of waiting for complainants to die.
My son-in-law Alastair Morgan has encountered similar tactics following
the murder of his brother Daniel on 10th March 1987. 28 years later his mother
is past 90 and the Met. continues to use delaying tactics despite the
involvement of the Home Secretary.
I am grateful for the limited action you have been able to take. viz. Passing
the case to your Senior Casework Manager as an example of how the Metropolitan
Police simply do not care about corruption within their ranks.
Many thanks,
Malcolm Knight