How police corruption works
Discussion
Very interesting video with contributions from a former undercover police officer and Daniel Morgan's brother, Alastair Morgan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYUDC0sS-jg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYUDC0sS-jg
There is a very well reviewed couple of books on Kindle on police corruption in the 70s and 80s.
My belief is that it is all but impossible to eradicate corruption in any organisation. Where you get temptation, you'll get those who can't resist. There's a BBC series, Crossing the Line of Duty (the third episode is the best, for reasons I won't bother you with), where a bent DC explains how he was corrupted. There were rumours at the time that the dreadfully low pay the police in London and Home Counties were allowed at the time was part of the cause. If I'd had one more child, bringing my total to three, I could have claimed some for of supplement. I'm not so sure. Yet 'the biggest unhung villain', according to one East End offender who was being covertly recorded, was the third from the top in the force. He wasn't hard up. Owned a hotel I believe. Everyone knew he was bent. No one had any idea of what to do about it. (See the third episode of Crossing.)
The current level of corruption in London is at a much lower level than in my day. I knew a DC who killed someone in the CID office, and then dumped his body on a road, to make it look as if the chap had been killed in a particularly violent accident. There was a significant proportion of officers, particularly CID, who were involved in three armed robberies, where one, the Dailly Mirror payroll job, a man was shot and killed.
The way to limit corruption is to make the police more open. A chief constable I worked under (way below) allowed the crime reporter of the local paper access to all the nicks in the force, only limiting where he could go when there were shared reasons for doing so. This was blocked by the Home Office. Too woke they'd say now I suppose.
A local initiative was to have a recovering druggie/alcoholic in the cells. Brilliant idea, but it was stopped. 'Our' one was a lovely chap. We used to have a lot of 'lay visitors' with a right of access to the nick - this was at the busiest and largest nick in my force - and they would wander around. I asked one to come to night duty briefing. Many used to come in slightly, or more so, anti, but always, at least the ones I spoke with, much more pro after a few visits.
A lot of these initiatives were brought to an end, although thankfully not the lay visitors (citation required). The police service should, probably must, be open in its performance, functions and day to day workings. Certain laws and regulations need to change. Individual officers should be allowed to talk to the press, should be able to criticise the force, to meet with all and sundry to have open discussions.
The only comfort in this report is that it is not as bad as it used to be. However,
The service must be open to criticism and checks, and not only internally run ones. Governmental control must be reduced. Locals want to know what's happening in their police force. They should be allowed open access as far as possible.
My belief is that it is all but impossible to eradicate corruption in any organisation. Where you get temptation, you'll get those who can't resist. There's a BBC series, Crossing the Line of Duty (the third episode is the best, for reasons I won't bother you with), where a bent DC explains how he was corrupted. There were rumours at the time that the dreadfully low pay the police in London and Home Counties were allowed at the time was part of the cause. If I'd had one more child, bringing my total to three, I could have claimed some for of supplement. I'm not so sure. Yet 'the biggest unhung villain', according to one East End offender who was being covertly recorded, was the third from the top in the force. He wasn't hard up. Owned a hotel I believe. Everyone knew he was bent. No one had any idea of what to do about it. (See the third episode of Crossing.)
The current level of corruption in London is at a much lower level than in my day. I knew a DC who killed someone in the CID office, and then dumped his body on a road, to make it look as if the chap had been killed in a particularly violent accident. There was a significant proportion of officers, particularly CID, who were involved in three armed robberies, where one, the Dailly Mirror payroll job, a man was shot and killed.
The way to limit corruption is to make the police more open. A chief constable I worked under (way below) allowed the crime reporter of the local paper access to all the nicks in the force, only limiting where he could go when there were shared reasons for doing so. This was blocked by the Home Office. Too woke they'd say now I suppose.
A local initiative was to have a recovering druggie/alcoholic in the cells. Brilliant idea, but it was stopped. 'Our' one was a lovely chap. We used to have a lot of 'lay visitors' with a right of access to the nick - this was at the busiest and largest nick in my force - and they would wander around. I asked one to come to night duty briefing. Many used to come in slightly, or more so, anti, but always, at least the ones I spoke with, much more pro after a few visits.
A lot of these initiatives were brought to an end, although thankfully not the lay visitors (citation required). The police service should, probably must, be open in its performance, functions and day to day workings. Certain laws and regulations need to change. Individual officers should be allowed to talk to the press, should be able to criticise the force, to meet with all and sundry to have open discussions.
The only comfort in this report is that it is not as bad as it used to be. However,
The service must be open to criticism and checks, and not only internally run ones. Governmental control must be reduced. Locals want to know what's happening in their police force. They should be allowed open access as far as possible.
pocketspring said:
Thanks Derek, that was a good read. Do you know if the Kindle books are available online at all in paper format?
I'm glad you asked that question. The mods now allow me to mention my website: www.writewheel.uk Go to The Forces.
I was in the City of London Police and was once obliged to assist them in an arrest of two for attempted murder. The victim was a special needs lad of about 20 whom they kicked the st out of. I turned up at Bow Street the next morning only to be ignored by the detective constable I was supposed to assist because he thought I was City CID. It was that bad.
The young lad lived for a bit over two years. Someone in the family sent me a letter of thanks after the funeral.
jdw100 said:
That made for a very interesting read. Thanks.
With all that access to people’s personal information on the databases - low level leaking of addresses or similar must go on for a £100 here and there?
All access is logged and folk have been caught doing so without official reason -- but the delay between inappropriate access and it being found can be years.With all that access to people’s personal information on the databases - low level leaking of addresses or similar must go on for a £100 here and there?
In banking, there's a pyramid of review processes where each employee's actions/outputs are reviewed by someone unknown to them, and the reviewers themselves are reviewed. Usually 3 or 4 levels to that. It's a solvable problem though is very definitely not free or cheap.
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