Chris Ford, 60, bought his miniature Yorkshire Terrier LouLou for company and played with her in a communal garden outside his Islington home.Oh, for the love of...!
He used a squeaky toy duck to train her but a neighbour complained about the noise and he was summoned to answer nuisance charges.
During the interview Mr Ford said the anti-social behaviour officer demanded he sign a pledge not to use the toy or face being served with an Asbo.
Mr Ford, who is disabled, said he was now too scared to use the garden. "I refused to sign the statement because I didn't agree with what was written down there, that LouLou should stop playing with her toy.Should have laughed in his face and told him where to shove his statement.
"The officer told me that if I didn't sign it then I would first be given a warning and then an Asbo."
In fact, you shouldn't have bothered even answering the 'summons'! These jumped up little cretins have no power to compel you, anyway. As Bucko points out at 'Orphans':
"The answer is the power of “No”. And organisation. We need to need to keep saying no to every jobsworth we meet. We need to not be afraid of the police and not bend over when they come knocking with silly accusations. We need to know our rights and use them."
If we don't start doing this at each and every opportunity, these bumptious little jobsworths will overwhelm us all...
Homes for Islington, which manages the flats, disputes Mr Ford's version of events, saying the officer did not make such a threat.Should I ever get stopped by the police/find a PCSO at my door/get into a discussion with a council official, I'm going to reach for my iPhone and switch the memo recorder to 'on'.
A spokeswoman said: "We certainly have not threatened Mr Ford with an Asbo, nor banned him from using the green area to exercise his dog."
Then we'll see what they have to say...
Should I ever get stopped by the police/find a PCSO at my door/get into a discussion with a council official, I'm going to reach for my iPhone ...
ReplyDelete[Apple ad impersonation] There's even an app for that. [/Apple ad]
Bleedin' 'ell. A squeaky duck is now considered to be a public nuisance? What was the the thing fitted with, a megaphone?
ReplyDelete"The answer is the power of “No”. And organisation. We need to need to keep saying no to every jobsworth we meet. We need to not be afraid of the police and not bend over when they come knocking with silly accusations. We need to know our rights and use them."
ReplyDeleteWords deserving bronze plaques should be fixed to the canteen walls of every jaded jobsworth.
I thought your New Years resolution Melvin was not to be such a buffoon.It's only the 2nd January and you've broken it already!.
ReplyDeleteJaded Jobsworth.
Having read this story I fail to see what part the police/pcsos played in this one.I notice that the last paragraph was the usual dig against us.
ReplyDeleteThe Labour govt you voted for three times in a row gave housing associations and councils the right to apply for ASBO's not just the police.Heaven forbid a council employee overstepping his authority!!
A quote from the housing said that they had not threaten this dog-owner with an ASBO,so one of them is lying.Who knows which one?
Jaded.
PS Members of the public are more than welcome to record my dealings with them.In my experience it will help me than it will you.
By the way Julia-the top story in Angry People in Local Newspapers should have you and Melvin salivating.Can't believe you haven't posted it here.
ReplyDeleteJaded
Jaded - you must have had a shite NYE or nights or summink! Easy tiger! You know MTG couldn't last a day.
ReplyDeleteAs you say someone is lying but as I have tried in the past to get a local authority even slightly interested in a valid and real noise nuisance - without success - this must have been bad for Islington to do more than send the usual standard letter out to an alleged nuisance causer. Either that or they are really, really good at being customer focused in Islington? Naaaaaah!
@ Ranter
ReplyDeleteObviously another Ranter makes those interminable references to 'the job being ruined' (modified). Citizens are wrong to agree with the crude version, are they?
Happy New Year.
Eh?
ReplyDelete@ Ranter
ReplyDelete1. "The jobs f*cked"
2. You posted the above more times than the total number of fingers on both hands.
3. 'Civvies' agree with you.
4. So you cannot have a problem with 3.
5. Geddit now?
Thanks for the link. Even my old phone can record conversations at the touch of a button.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid 'helping' the police more than yourself, as suggested above I'll add this to the words of advice.
Stay calm and polite and keep your answers short; one word if possible. Resist the temptation to rabbit on.
I hope you all have a good new year
Eh?
ReplyDeletePolice and State officials who derive the most pleasure from threatening others, appear to have criminal convictions themselves. These convictions include assault, theft, burglary and many other serious offences.
ReplyDeleteWhatever accounts for the abysmally poor regard in which State officials are held, it is not to be found in a single cause. The patch quilt reforms of the past have afforded no solution to a grave problem for successive governments.
Unprecedented action is required for all State officials and that includes the eradication of FreeMasonry and other deeply entrenched forms of corruption.
The major obstacle is always finding honest brokers of reform. Invariably, the appointed architects are the ones with most to lose from any shuffle of the status quo.
Ranter's record for punctuality was the envy of his team.
ReplyDeleteHe was the only one to grasp the significance of heading back to the Station when the big hand approached Mickey Mouse.
The Labour Government used to use trolls regularly. It would seem the cops are copying that era!
ReplyDeleteMelvin - c'mon now, take the tablets now. You need to calm down chummy! You know what the doctors have been saying, one more article like the one about all those criminal cops and it's Goodnight Vi...Melvin!
ReplyDeleteSaying "No" is good, but saying "I do not consent" is much better.
ReplyDeleteIt's equally effective, and it can't be construed as obstruction.
Keep your big hand to yourself, Melvin, you sminthophile.
ReplyDeleteI thought the police officers with convictions story would raise it's ugly head here.
ReplyDeleteBehind the headline you have to dig deeper.
Firstly discount the PCSO's.They are a stupid idea,recruited far too quickly by the idiot Blunkett without proper checks.They are not warranted officers so cannot arrest you.
Secondly it doesn't say how many of those convictions were for crimes committed before they joined the police.An important point if you believe in rehabilitation and second chances.
Thirdly some of those convictions will be classed as spent i.e too old to be counted.
Fourthly lots are for driving offences.You should not lose your job for minor driving offences (I got done for speeding two years ago,should I get sacked for that?).
Once the above has been taken out of the equation it must leave very few.
However I cannot defend colleagues who have committed proper offences whilst in the job.It makes my job harder as all people read is the headlines and i'm bound to be asked if i'm one of them with a record.
Incoming awaited with bated breath.....
Jaded
My best recipes for rotten fish:
ReplyDeletePretende le ok.
Maintenez votre nez.
Curry de poisson.
Creme de la merde.
The jaded chef
"There's even an app for that."
ReplyDelete*amaze*
If only it wasn't US-centric...
"A squeaky duck is now considered to be a public nuisance?"
Welcome to England! Once the land of tolerance.
"Having read this story I fail to see what part the police/pcsos played in this one."
They didn't, no. But yes, they are also authority figures and state employees I no longer trust automatically.
And I've never voted Labour in my life!
"... one of them is lying.Who knows which one?"
Hence the desire to record any future conversations, because I know I won't be the one...
""By the way Julia-the top story in Angry People in Local Newspapers should have you and Melvin salivating.
ReplyDeleteOh, the stolen van/warrant issue? *shrug* Probably happens a lot.
"Either that or they are really, really good at being customer focused in Islington? "
Maybe it depends on just who the 'customer' that's complaining is..?
" Resist the temptation to rabbit on."
Yup, learned that one from watching cop shows.. ;)
"These convictions include assault, theft, burglary and many other serious offences."
And, as Jaded points out, many trivial ones. I'm not going to get too upset about the cop done for fishing without a licence...
"Saying "No" is good, but saying "I do not consent" is much better."
ReplyDeleteIndeed! Good tip.
"Secondly it doesn't say how many of those convictions were for crimes committed before they joined the police.An important point if you believe in rehabilitation and second chances."
I do, usually, but it depends on the offence. And the job.
A late comment on the 'criminal police' story. Late 90's - early noughties there was a change to recruitment criteria - again linked to lowering of standards to attract more of the desired post-McPherson quotas - which stated that having criminal convictions - i.e. spent convictions - should not be a bar to becoming a police officer. More PC madness. I also understand that each Borough OCU has it's own small 'rubber heels' or DPS unit as complaints have gone through the roof because of the move to large operational units, a decrease in available and visible supervision, a drop in recruitment standards and , worst of all a complete and drastic change in the training of police officers which is seemingly going to get worse with the new generation knowing nothing about discretion. I could go on - but what's the point?
ReplyDelete@ Ranter
ReplyDelete"I could go on - but what's the point?"
Oh, do. And tell us how someone like you managed to get in.
"...and , worst of all a complete and drastic change in the training of police officers which is seemingly going to get worse with the new generation knowing nothing about discretion."
ReplyDeleteAll that expensive PR training going to waste?