8 January (Part 2) - Questionable Bexley police practice
The lady who was
arrested as she came through customs at Heathrow
because Bexley police thought that was a proportionate response to a charge of common
assault has not been allowed to have a copy of the written statement she made
last June. Why she wants it I have no idea, however I took the opportunity to
ask Greenwich police while I was at Plumstead police station yesterday what they would do if someone asked for a copy
of their own statement.
The answer was basically “let them have it of course”. When pushed further they
said that a statement should be a copy of the thoughts and recollections of the
author and that logically there could be no reason for the owner of those
thoughts not to have a written copy.
Always suspicious of police motives I suggested “so the only reason you can see
for withholding a copy would be it had somehow been doctored, for example if a
police officer deliberately wrote down something extra or incorrect and the
‘author’ was coerced into signing it, or was simply careless”. The answer once again was “yes”.
But Bexley police seems to operate on a different logical level; they are reluctant
(I have a copy of the correspondence) to provide a copy. Perhaps they are just exceptionally tardy but
one begins to wonder if once again they have something to hide.
Playing Devil’s Advocate, one reason for belatedly requesting a copy of a statement would be if
the author had lied on it but can no longer remember what the lie is.