31 December (Part 2) - Happy New Year? I doubt it
It’s
a traditional as we head into a new year to look back nostalgically at the old one
and I have been considering what might be worth regurgitating here. Unfortunately all the main
Bonkers stories lead back to the police but when BiB was created the thought that I might end
up crossing swords with the Rozzers never entered my head. Things changed when I discovered
that Bexley council and Bexley police are not quite one and the same but they do work hand in glove to an extent
beyond what might be reasonably expected.
During the past year Bexley council has become much more astute at covering its tracks.
The number of council meetings which I used to attend and report has halved and
after Eric Pickles made the recording of meetings a statutory right councillors have not so
often insulted residents and hurled abuse at each other. As a result the most
noteworthy activities in 2014 have been hang overs from earlier years and are all police related.
The oldest complaint (following
the Craske business)
dates from June 2012 and has been backed by my MP and the
Independent Police Complaints Commission but that cuts no ice with the
Metropolitan Police. All they have done about it is apologise for doing nothing.
A separate complaint made a year ago met a similar fate. It is stuck in limbo
somewhere at the laughably named Directorate of Professional Standards and the
officer who is holding things up - I assume under direction from her seniors - is
PC Yvonne Weeden. There comes a time when one gets fed up with protecting identities.
An evidence based allegation of Misconduct in Public Office against two Bexley
Police Commanders was initially received almost with enthusiasm by Deputy
Assistant Commissioner Fiona Taylor in January this year but that too was passed
to the hapless PC Weeden who must have stuffed it in the pending tray as all she
has done since is send me the occasional letter to confirm she has not yet done anything with it.
Mick Barnbrook has had a similar experience with his complaint against the
present incumbent of the hot seat, CS Peter Ayling. It’s hard not to assume
they are all as bent as corkscrews. I
complained about the lack of progress to
the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime on 27th November and it was eventually
acknowledged on 19th December. Another waiting game will no doubt be played out.
The case against Will Tuckley, the council’s Monitoring Officer and their Legal
Team Manager has made more progress. It has been suggested to me that if the
case gets to court the effects will be “life changing” which I like to interpret
as going to prison. Will Tuckley behind bars would be welcomed by many I am sure
so stand by for the police to get a high level instruction before long.
Leaving the police for a moment - but not for long - I am concerned by how Bexley council places a succession of
unfortunates, too many of whom are petty criminals, into leased premises making the lives of neighbours a misery.
Not all are criminally inclined,
this poor lady was dumped in
a small flat without the means to look after herself, as a punishment. I know
that because I contacted Bexley council about it and they told me so.
It’s been reported from elsewhere - but I went to see the evidence - that one of these
leased premises appears to be a drug den although it was originally thought it might be a
different sort of house of ill repute given the high number of visitors. When a neighbour
got out of bed to investigate a disturbance he narrowly avoided being knifed but copped a
wine bottle to his head instead leaving him with a nasty gash and lump.
He said that when the police arrived and found a bloodied man recently roused from his
bed and his assailant protesting innocence, who do you think was arrested? The police
seem to believe that “all parties were arrested to prevent further harm” is a sensible
response whereas most people will see it as another example of a total lack of
common sense. It is also alleged that the police at Arnsberg Way refused
legal representation to their victim. Now we have another law abiding citizen who has the same
opinion of the police service as I do. Everywhere you look the metropolitan
elite (what a joke) seem to be intent on demonstrating just how out of touch they can be.
I’d
like to think that Things Can Only Get Better but last time someone made
that claim the downward spiral took another giant leap. In 2015 things can only
get worse. We have 39 council cuts to look forward to and
as the library
protesters discovered, Bexley council listens to nobody.