Dear Chief Superintendent Olisa,
Thank you for responding to my email and your invitation to ask questions
relating to "Hate Crime" and "Use of police resources".
As you are aware, I am a former Metropolitan Police Inspector, having
spent part of my career at Bexleyheath Police Station.
I am therefore somewhat dismayed at the apparent disregard by yourself and officers at
your station towards two senior citizens who have been the subject of a homophobic hate crime.
This crime was reported to Bexleyheath Police Station eighteen months ago
and having followed the "Bexley-is-Bonkers" website, if what is being reported
on there is true, you should all be ashamed of yourselves.
The unprofessional attitude apparently being adopted by yourself and your staff would
never have been tolerated when I was a serving officer and you would all have been looking
for other employment.
Having decided to take no further action initially and now
taking so long to deal with a crime that could have been dealt with many months
ago, any third party might reach the conclusion that there is some sort of
conspiracy between Bexleyheath Police and Bexley Council to drag the matter out
for so long that a decision will be reached not to charge anybody, as it is not
in the public interest.
Any assurance from you that this is not the case would be welcomed by me. With regard
to "Use of police resources" I would make the following points.
I have been attending council meetings on a regular basis for at least three years.
During that period I have never seen any disturbances take place.
Such is the apathy by most residents in the London Borough of Bexley,
that at most council meetings, the only members of the public present are the
six senior citizens from my group, the Bexley Council Monitoring Group.
I am somewhat bemused therefore when attending these meetings, that there is nearly
always a police presence. Your response to a recent Freedom of Information
request that these officers are on a general patrol in the area is a
prevarication. On the occasions that I have spoken to officers outside the Civic
Offices they have informed me that they have been specifically posted to the
location for the duration of the meetings.
A Freedom of Information response
from Bexley Council informed me that they are not requesting the attendance of
police at their meetings, so for you to post officers to the location on the
pretence that there might be a disturbance, is a complete waste of time and
police resources.
Even if a disturbance did break out at any council meeting,
the police station is only one hundred yards away and I am sure that officers
could reach the scene within a couple of minutes.
On this basis I would not expect to see police officers in any shape or form posted to council meetings in
the future, unless you have previously been informed that there is a distinct
threat of violence or a breach of the peace expected to take place, evidence of
which I would seek via the Freedom of Information Act.
As a Bexley resident I expect to see police officers patrolling the streets, not wasting
their time standing outside council premises in order to prevent a non existent threat from
anybody.
Should this waste of police resources continue, I will contact Helen
Bailey, Chief Operating Officer at the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, as
well as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to make them aware of my feelings
with regard to both the "Hate Crime" and the "Use of police resources" and
invite them to decide whether you are a fit and proper person to be in charge of
Bexleyheath Division.
I have also advised Mr. Bryant and Mr. Knight that the way
forward for them, if their concerns are not answered in the very near future, is
to also contact Helen Bailey. I look forward to your response to my concerns.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Barnbrook,
Inspector, Metropolitan Police (Retired)