Wednesday 27 January 2010

The NuLabour Alternative To Policing

A judge has slammed the 'ethos of sexual banter and impropriety' among community support officers at a London police station.
Never present in any real police station, I suppose?

Mind you, when you look at what can get a job as PCSO nowadays…
John Parker, who was barely 18 at the time, was accused of grabbing a woman's bottom while out on patrol and telling her she had a 'nice a***'.

He allegedly asked the woman to come back to the prayer room at Belgravia Police Station 'for a shag', Southwark Crown Court heard.

Parker admitted to the jury that the 29-year-old kneed him in the groin after he accidentally touched her bottom in 'a bit of banter'.
So, too young to buy a bottle of gin unchallenged by a cashier in Tesco, but perfectly ok to put on a uniform and stop people in the street?

Even the judge shied a bit at that:
But Judge Michael Gledhill expressed his shock at the 'torrid atmosphere' among young officers.

He said: 'In the absence of the jury during the course of this trial I have expressed fairly strong views about the lack of professionalism that persisted within the team of PCSOs at Belgravia Police Station at the end of 2008 and 2009.

'The officer in charge of the case, who was not in any way responsible for the PCSOs at the time and probably is not today, only became aware of the ethos of sexual banter and impropriety when he was investigating this case.

'My assessment of what happened in the days that the jury have been dealing with it, is that a 19-year-old, immature young man, having been placed into the uniform of a community support officer, was thrown into the torrid atmosphere of other PCSOs working within the team at that time.'
Which, I think, is judge-speak for ‘What the hell was the government thinking..?!?’
Judge Gledhill said Parker was 'unable to distinguish between the boundaries of professional behaviour and unprofessional behaviour, of sexually appropriate and sexually inappropriate behaviour.

'I was shocked at what I had heard and the lack of supervision of any of those officers.

'They trained at Hendon, no doubt appropriately. They then seem to be thrown onto the streets without any proper supervision. '
Yup, got it in one, your honour. All to save the cost of employing more real police.

Not that some of them are any better, mind you…
During the three-day trial the judge had warned the Crown Prosecution Service to consider dropping the case against Parker.

He added: 'The defendant himself has been suspended for a year and awaits disciplinary proceedings that were rightly adjourned until the end of this trial.

'As far as the disciplinary proceedings are concerned, I do not believe that it would be appropriate for me to say anything now that the defendant has been acquitted of each of these charges.'
Because, yes, he was acquitted.

NuLabour, working for you…

1 comment:

  1. I read about this a few days ago and it seems to be another episode in the strange world that is Belgravia Police Station aka The Pink Palace as it used to be informally known. I wonder why. A few years ago we had the American or Canadian female police officer who was finally booted out for riding her motorcycle to and from work without a helmet. Her general behaviour was bizarre apparantly. Then we had the hotbed of racism within the PCSO part of today's truly wunnerful 'extended police family' and then this. Didn't the Moose-slim catering chief who wouldn't handle pork pass through 'AB' too? Possibly. Just around the corner is the Transport for London offices when you can see the beutifully diverse corps of TFL PCSO's (initial city in todays MPS or Metrolopian Police Farce) who all seem to leave and return to the building at the same times for refreshments and other breaks and patrol in groups of three or four or more. PCSO's are truly a waste of money and were designed simply to increase racial quota figure post Macpherson. Those that are any good are fast tracked into the regular force (I know to some that ain't saying much) the rest are tokensim at it's worst. Nice to see a brain donor from Orpington could get a job though! And what is it with judges today, they get all indignant, rant away about the aprlous state of society and then dole out pathtic sentences or in this case, none at all. Still I bet this kept the Directorate of Professional Standards ruber heeler and the incompetent HR department busy for a while!

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