11 June - Never trust a policeman
In January this year the father of a teenager assaulted and badly injured in a
school playground concluded
his
account of the Bexley police malpractice which wrecked any chance of a
prosecution. There were similarities between his experience of
Bexley police’s dishonesty and those of Elwyn Bryant and myself following
the internet crime traced to a councillor’s telephone line. The same
police officers were involved, both crimes were linked to friends and associates of
the investigating officers and the outcome was much the same. The victims were
either blamed or investigated for the crime committed against them. In layman's’
parlance, Bexley police corruptly organised a cover up.
The father whose story was published here remained anonymous at the time in
order to protect his son’s identity but after Boris Johnson’s Deputy Mayor for
Policing and Crime, Stephen Greenhalgh, refused to comment on the role played by
Bexley police, he decided to go public. As a result
the News Shopper has provided some welcome publicity for this further
example of serious wrong doing by Bexley police, primarily under Chief
Superintendent Dave Stringer.
I imagine that the need to maintain good relations with the police constrains
main-stream journalism somewhat but the Shopper’s report,
good though it is, doesn’t expose the underlying reason for Bexley police engineering
another of their cover ups. In the words of the injured boy’s father “the
investigating officer shared close friends with the assailant’s family”.
The Shopper obtained the following comment from Bexley police: “A line has now
been added to the crime report clarifying the victim’s position”. I much prefer
their response to the District Judge in Dartford County Court. “It is very
dangerous indeed to start requiring the police to correct their records, as this
would damage their integrity”. It is a nice clear statement that so far as
Bexley police is concerned, justice doesn’t matter so long as their pretence of
integrity is maintained.
Turning justice on its head would appear to be a Bexley police specialty.
Mrs. Grootendorst
who successfully exposed her victimisation by Bexley council in Bromley Crown
Court was arrested and charged by Bexley police for trying to retrieve property
stolen from her. During a scuffle she was knocked to the ground by the alleged
thief but it was she who found herself destined for an appearance before the beak while, she claims, the
police regularly dropped in for tea at the home of her assailant. Once again the
case collapsed for lack of evidence and two years later she is still in negotiations
with the police over her wrongful arrest and the storing of her DNA samples.
I am reluctant to publish police stories which do not have at the very least, a tenuous connection
to Bexley council, but the comments that continue to arrive very strongly suggest that just
because Stringer and Olisa have been transferred to other unfortunate boroughs does not
mean that Bexley police is now under good and honest management.