Police Scotland have already tried to pull the wool over our eyes regarding the closure of their Aberdeen control room.
Despite trying to mesmerise us with sleight of hand and smoke and mirrors regarding Aberdeen, we were clearly promised that there would be no reduction in the quality of police services if Aberdeen closed.
Many people believed them.
I didn't.
I can tell when Police Scotland are telling lies - their lips move.
So it's no surprise to me that no sooner have they confirmed that the Dundee control room will take over the handling of emergency responses in the north, we discover that the Dundee control room will not take calls from the public.
Lewis Macdonald MSP isn't happy that untrustworthy Police Scotland didn't make it clear to us that all public calls would go to Bilston Glen, Motherwell and Govan.
Neither am I.
We were led to believe that if Aberdeen closed Dundee would take over.
In military circles they call this mission creep - it's where they get us used to an idea that a particular thing is going to happen in a specific way but then start to push the envelope a little bit further and a little bit further until eventually it bears little resemblance to how we were originally sold the idea.
Hey, at least we have a new word for this years Oxford dictionary - Police Scotland creep.
Mind you many officers in Police Scotland have been known by that moniker for years.
https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/misleading-call-centre-plan-claim/
Sunday 31 January 2016
Saturday 30 January 2016
More Power To The PIRC
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) are the body who's job it is to investigate the most serious incidents and complaints involving the police.
Kate Frame, one of the bosses at the PIRC has told MSP's that she feels they need more powers when it comes to the questioning of less co-operative Police Scotland officers.
The PIRC has reported that cases where they are trying to interview and interrogate Police Scotland officers are often 'challenging'.
So, corrupt Police officers who are being investigated for acting criminally are not being co-operative and forthcoming.
And we may have to pass laws to make Police Scotland officers tell the truth.
Who would've thunk it...
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/14205684.Strengthening_PIRC_witness_powers_may_be__worthy___MSPs_told/
The PIRC has reported that cases where they are trying to interview and interrogate Police Scotland officers are often 'challenging'.
So, corrupt Police officers who are being investigated for acting criminally are not being co-operative and forthcoming.
And we may have to pass laws to make Police Scotland officers tell the truth.
Who would've thunk it...
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/14205684.Strengthening_PIRC_witness_powers_may_be__worthy___MSPs_told/
Friday 29 January 2016
The Scottish Police Federation Are Confused
Here we go again. The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) are moaning again. Isn't it about time they just shut up and told their members (the officers of Police Scotland) to get on with the job.
This time they're harping on about Police Scotland's counter-corruption unit (CCU) treating officers badly who are under investigation.
According to The Scottish Police Federation the CCU operate in a "grey area" in regards to criminality and misconduct with what the SPF call "scant regard for the rules of fairness or proportionality" when dealing with officers of Police Scotland under investigation.
So let me educate the Scottish Police Federation on the differences in this 'grey area' between criminality and misconduct that they don't seem to understand.
Criminality is when a Police Scotland officer breaks the law and should be drummed out of the force and sitting behind bars.
Misconduct is where a Police Scotland officer breaks the law but never gets to see the inside of a court of law never mind a jail cell - and is allowed to resign or retire 'quietly' while walking away with a full pension and benefits, thank you very much.
Yeah, as if you didn't know SPF.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14201960.Police_unit_has__scant_regard_for_rules_of_fairness___body_claims/?ref=arc
This time they're harping on about Police Scotland's counter-corruption unit (CCU) treating officers badly who are under investigation.
According to The Scottish Police Federation the CCU operate in a "grey area" in regards to criminality and misconduct with what the SPF call "scant regard for the rules of fairness or proportionality" when dealing with officers of Police Scotland under investigation.
So let me educate the Scottish Police Federation on the differences in this 'grey area' between criminality and misconduct that they don't seem to understand.
Criminality is when a Police Scotland officer breaks the law and should be drummed out of the force and sitting behind bars.
Misconduct is where a Police Scotland officer breaks the law but never gets to see the inside of a court of law never mind a jail cell - and is allowed to resign or retire 'quietly' while walking away with a full pension and benefits, thank you very much.
Yeah, as if you didn't know SPF.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14201960.Police_unit_has__scant_regard_for_rules_of_fairness___body_claims/?ref=arc
Thursday 28 January 2016
Boo Hoo Greetin' Faced Police Scotland
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) who represent rank and file police officers are currently involved in a very public spat with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) who investigate wrong doing in the force.
The childish SPF have thrown their toys out of the pram and are moaning to anyone who'll listen to them that during investigations the PIRC are interviewing police officers, telling them they are just witnesses, but treating them like suspects.
Many police officers are bleating on about how unfair it is that while giving witness statements to the PIRC they feel they are being sneakily eyed-up as potential suspects for possible future proceedings.
Among other things, the greetin' faced plods are complaining that they are being interviewed for hours on end without rest.
One plod also said he was only able to use the toilet once during a seven hour interview/interrogation and when he was eventually allowed to spend a penny he had to be accompanied by a PIRC investigator.
Apparently, the police find these types of interviews oppressive and dehumanising and feel they have no place in a fair investigatory process.
Mmmm. So then Police Scotland...
How does it feel to be tasting some of your own medicine for a change? Medicine that you happily dole out to innocent members of the Scottish public every day.
I believe it's called Karma.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scotlands-police-union-says-police-7173603#mWaVQGbYbDQYO4Ir.97
Many police officers are bleating on about how unfair it is that while giving witness statements to the PIRC they feel they are being sneakily eyed-up as potential suspects for possible future proceedings.
Among other things, the greetin' faced plods are complaining that they are being interviewed for hours on end without rest.
One plod also said he was only able to use the toilet once during a seven hour interview/interrogation and when he was eventually allowed to spend a penny he had to be accompanied by a PIRC investigator.
Apparently, the police find these types of interviews oppressive and dehumanising and feel they have no place in a fair investigatory process.
Mmmm. So then Police Scotland...
How does it feel to be tasting some of your own medicine for a change? Medicine that you happily dole out to innocent members of the Scottish public every day.
I believe it's called Karma.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scotlands-police-union-says-police-7173603#mWaVQGbYbDQYO4Ir.97
Wednesday 27 January 2016
The Booze Bus
You've heard of The Love Boat? Well now we've got The Booze Bus.
Police Scotland stopped 48 buses in Girvan as they carried fans to a recent football match.
They searched the buses for drink and confiscated a staggering 200 litres of alcohol from passengers - that's a lot of booze.
They must have been absolutely gutted.
Oh, I don't mean the supporters who lost their 'kerry-oot'.
No, I mean Police Scotland who found themselves landed with 200 litres of bevvy in January...AFTER all their police Christmas and New Year parties were over.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14199291.Police_seize_200_litres_of_booze_from_Celtic_and_Stranraer_supporters_buses/
Police Scotland stopped 48 buses in Girvan as they carried fans to a recent football match.
They searched the buses for drink and confiscated a staggering 200 litres of alcohol from passengers - that's a lot of booze.
They must have been absolutely gutted.
Oh, I don't mean the supporters who lost their 'kerry-oot'.
No, I mean Police Scotland who found themselves landed with 200 litres of bevvy in January...AFTER all their police Christmas and New Year parties were over.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14199291.Police_seize_200_litres_of_booze_from_Celtic_and_Stranraer_supporters_buses/
Corrupt Lord Advocate Refuses Private Prosecution
Corrupt Lord Advocate Frank 'I'm anything but frank' Mulholland has announced his latest decision today - he is refusing to allow the families of six dead people to make a private prosecution against the man who killed them.
Good, honest, decent folks who have been following this story will struggle to understand why the Frankie boy (pictured right) and his motley crew at the Crown office are so hell-bent on letting a killer go free, especially when we, the public, entrust the Crown office to prosecute the bad guys? And make no mistake, this guy is a bad guy - he lied to get a job driving a bin lorry that killed six people. If he hadn't lied, he wouldn't have got the job, he wouldn't have been driving that day, and six people wouldn't be dead.
With the Lord Advocates decision today the story becomes even more bizarre.
Now, we all know that the Crown office, as a prosecuting body, decided a long, long time ago not to pursue the killer - that's already set in stone. The Crown are not going to prosecute the bin lorry driver nor are they going to change their mind. Period.
Therefore all the families asked Mr Mulholland to do today was give them permission to pursue a prosecution against the killer. It's a reasonable request. If you're not gonna prosecute the bad guys Mr Mulholland, then let us do it.
But today the corrupt Lord Advocate gave them his answer - and he is refusing to let the families pursue their own prosecution. (As an aside, it is incredulous that Scottish law demands that you need the permission of the Lord Advocate for a private prosecution - especially when he is the very person who refused to prosecute in the first place. Conflict of interest? Work that one out!)
I told you he'd do this. Just go look at ALL my previous posts about this case.
With the Lord Advocates decision today the story becomes even more bizarre.
Now, we all know that the Crown office, as a prosecuting body, decided a long, long time ago not to pursue the killer - that's already set in stone. The Crown are not going to prosecute the bin lorry driver nor are they going to change their mind. Period.
Therefore all the families asked Mr Mulholland to do today was give them permission to pursue a prosecution against the killer. It's a reasonable request. If you're not gonna prosecute the bad guys Mr Mulholland, then let us do it.
But today the corrupt Lord Advocate gave them his answer - and he is refusing to let the families pursue their own prosecution. (As an aside, it is incredulous that Scottish law demands that you need the permission of the Lord Advocate for a private prosecution - especially when he is the very person who refused to prosecute in the first place. Conflict of interest? Work that one out!)
The best way to describe this situation is like a cancer doctor refusing to give you a life-saving drug because it costs too much. Then when you tell the doctor you'll pay for it yourself that same doctor blocks you from buying it - just in case it saves your life and ends up embarrassing him. So you die.
By now you'll be wondering why Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland would want to purposely stand in the way of anyone else from prosecuting the bin lorry driver, especially when he has already stated that he's taken himself out the equation and doesn't want to do it?
For the answer to this we need to go back to the meeting that was held the day after the fatal crash where the Crown office, Police Scotland, and the Health and Safety Executive cosied up together and decided to treat the bin lorry tragedy as a road traffic accident rather than a health and safety matter.
By doing so, Glasgow Crooked City Council was immediately let off the hook for employing the driver and not doing full background checks before giving him the job. Crucially, the families would not be able to sue Glasgow City Council for their loss if it was deemed to be a road traffic accident (whereas if it had been a health and safety matter the Council would have been responsible for employing him).
Protecting Glasgow City Council from being sued is what this has always been about. I have never strayed from this opinion since day one and I have openly stated it on this blog and in other publications I write for. Each and every new twist and turn to this story confirms I've been correct all along.
Glasgow City Council has a number of Councillors who hail from the justice system including but by no means restricted to ex Procurator Fiscals and ex Solicitors.
These same Glasgow City Councillors sit on the board of bodies such as the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) who decide police budgets etc.
Glasgow City Council legislate for, and on behalf of, the Health and Safety Executive.
See the connections now?
Is if that's not enough, Glasgow City Council are allowed to issue and enforce fines and their fines have the same legal clout just as if a Sheriff in a Sheriff court had issued them - so Glasgow City Council can find members of the public guilty and fine them without you ever being allowed to defend yourself in a court of law. This alone completely flies in the face of any sort of democratic society and breaches every human rights law in the world!
And I haven't even started wading in to the murky waters of RIPA (The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) which gives Glasgow City Council the authority to use surveillance, investigation, and the interception of communications to spy on you.
Didn't know all that did you eh?
Protecting Glasgow City Council from being sued is what this has always been about. I have never strayed from this opinion since day one and I have openly stated it on this blog and in other publications I write for. Each and every new twist and turn to this story confirms I've been correct all along.
Glasgow City Council has a number of Councillors who hail from the justice system including but by no means restricted to ex Procurator Fiscals and ex Solicitors.
These same Glasgow City Councillors sit on the board of bodies such as the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) who decide police budgets etc.
Glasgow City Council legislate for, and on behalf of, the Health and Safety Executive.
See the connections now?
Is if that's not enough, Glasgow City Council are allowed to issue and enforce fines and their fines have the same legal clout just as if a Sheriff in a Sheriff court had issued them - so Glasgow City Council can find members of the public guilty and fine them without you ever being allowed to defend yourself in a court of law. This alone completely flies in the face of any sort of democratic society and breaches every human rights law in the world!
And I haven't even started wading in to the murky waters of RIPA (The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) which gives Glasgow City Council the authority to use surveillance, investigation, and the interception of communications to spy on you.
Didn't know all that did you eh?
When it comes to Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland, The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service, and the Health & Safety Executive, the term 'thick as thieves' doesn't even start to describe the connections between these self-serving corrupt organisations who shamelessly claim to work in our name and for our benefit.
So now you know why corrupt Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland has not only decided he won't prosecute the bin lorry driver, but won't allow anyone to prosecute the bin lorry driver.
Mark my words, once the dust has settled the councillors in Glasgow City Council will have a wee whisper in the ears of their MSP colleagues in the Scottish Parliament - and the Frankie boy will be given a nice 'thankyou' for protecting Glasgow City Council. Watch this space - in a few years time when they think this has all been forgotten by the public, it'll be 'arise Sir Frank' or some similar honour. Guaranteed.
That's how it works.
Mark my words, once the dust has settled the councillors in Glasgow City Council will have a wee whisper in the ears of their MSP colleagues in the Scottish Parliament - and the Frankie boy will be given a nice 'thankyou' for protecting Glasgow City Council. Watch this space - in a few years time when they think this has all been forgotten by the public, it'll be 'arise Sir Frank' or some similar honour. Guaranteed.
That's how it works.
And now you know why solicitors, procurator fiscals, professional people, wealthy businessmen et al are falling over themselves to give up lucrative careers to earn a lot less as a councillor for Glasgow City Council. They know that's where the real power lies. And with that power, the riches (including the riches that money can't buy) will soon follow.
Six people died and Glasgow City Council don't have to pay a penny in compensation to the families.
In the callous crooked world of Glasgow City Council that's seen as a good result.
Six people died and Glasgow City Council don't have to pay a penny in compensation to the families.
In the callous crooked world of Glasgow City Council that's seen as a good result.
The power and connections that accompany being part of a local authority like Glasgow City Council allows these charlatan councillors to circumvent the law and get away with murder - literally.
Tuesday 26 January 2016
Heederum Hoderum
Do you speak Scottish Gaelic and want to earn £18,000 a year with Police Scotland?
There's a job going a-begging for anyone who would like to be the Scottish force's first Gaelic development assistant - going around the country promoting our Gaelic language and culture.
Police Scotland aim to be bilingual by 2020.
The downside to the job is that you'll be working with police officers from Police Scotland - and the only understanding of 'Heederum Hoderum' that they have is 'you haud him and I'll heider him'.
Just ask anyone who's ever had the misfortune to encounter untrustworthy Police Scotland's thugs.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article4661762.ece
Police Scotland aim to be bilingual by 2020.
The downside to the job is that you'll be working with police officers from Police Scotland - and the only understanding of 'Heederum Hoderum' that they have is 'you haud him and I'll heider him'.
Just ask anyone who's ever had the misfortune to encounter untrustworthy Police Scotland's thugs.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article4661762.ece
Monday 25 January 2016
How To Win Friends And Influence People
Oh dear, untrustworthy Police Scotland are at it again.
They've been harassing peace campaigners from the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (SCND) just because they happened to follow a nuclear bomb convoy by road around Glasgow and Stirling - a thing the activists do on a regular basis.
Now I haven't taken any sides on the nuclear deterrent debate. Quite frankly I haven't heard enough arguments from each side to form any opinion on this issue yet - perhaps I will in the future but for the moment I'm unbiased, undecided, and unconvinced either way.
What I am absolutely convinced of though is that members of the Scottish public should be helped, supported, and protected by Police Scotland - not harassed by them.
We discover that Police pulled over SCND activists in their car and subjected their vehicle to a detailed road worthiness check.
Let's be clear here. This was nothing to do with whether their car was roadworthy or not. It was all to do with Police using the 'check' as an excuse to prevent the activists from following the lorry and exercising their democratic freedoms and rights on what is a very topical political hot bed issue.
Police Scotland served their political masters that day instead of the Scottish public.
This is disgraceful behaviour no matter what side of the fence you're on.
Did Police Scotland also stop the lorry carrying the nuclear bomb to check the lorry's road worthiness? I think we know the answer to that one.
So here we have Police Scotland who should be working on behalf of members of the Scottish public, harassing and targeting members of the Scottish public instead.
Plus there is one other important point our boys in blue seem to have overlooked.
If police are going to go around harassing members of demonstration groups, how are they ever going to be able to chat them up, win their affections, and have sex with them to get information out of them?
Because we all know how much the Special Demonstrations Squad, overseen by new chief constable Phil 'Gormless', like getting in to bed with demonstrators - literally.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/police-accused-of-harassing-peace-campaigners-following-nuclear-bomb-convoy.12241
They've been harassing peace campaigners from the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (SCND) just because they happened to follow a nuclear bomb convoy by road around Glasgow and Stirling - a thing the activists do on a regular basis.
Now I haven't taken any sides on the nuclear deterrent debate. Quite frankly I haven't heard enough arguments from each side to form any opinion on this issue yet - perhaps I will in the future but for the moment I'm unbiased, undecided, and unconvinced either way.
What I am absolutely convinced of though is that members of the Scottish public should be helped, supported, and protected by Police Scotland - not harassed by them.
We discover that Police pulled over SCND activists in their car and subjected their vehicle to a detailed road worthiness check.
Let's be clear here. This was nothing to do with whether their car was roadworthy or not. It was all to do with Police using the 'check' as an excuse to prevent the activists from following the lorry and exercising their democratic freedoms and rights on what is a very topical political hot bed issue.
Police Scotland served their political masters that day instead of the Scottish public.
This is disgraceful behaviour no matter what side of the fence you're on.
Did Police Scotland also stop the lorry carrying the nuclear bomb to check the lorry's road worthiness? I think we know the answer to that one.
So here we have Police Scotland who should be working on behalf of members of the Scottish public, harassing and targeting members of the Scottish public instead.
Plus there is one other important point our boys in blue seem to have overlooked.
If police are going to go around harassing members of demonstration groups, how are they ever going to be able to chat them up, win their affections, and have sex with them to get information out of them?
Because we all know how much the Special Demonstrations Squad, overseen by new chief constable Phil 'Gormless', like getting in to bed with demonstrators - literally.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/police-accused-of-harassing-peace-campaigners-following-nuclear-bomb-convoy.12241
Sunday 24 January 2016
Extra Extra Read All About It...
++Stop Press++Stop Press++Stop Press++Stop Press++Stop Press++
Extra, extra, read all about it...oh yay, oh yay, oh yay...
Listen up readers, I've got really explosive news that just can't wait.
It's exciting, it's controversial, it's scandalous, go on - shout it from the rooftops.
Police Scotland are investigating claims that an unnamed Labour councillor asked a developer for a £200,000 bung to ensure his planning application would get approved. When the developer refused to pay the crooked councillor the bribe, his planning permission application got 'delayed' so long that the project eventually fell through.
Hang on a minute, what am I doing? A councillor taking back-handers worth hundreds of thousands of pounds?
This isn't news - this is normal everyday business for our councillors.
Apologies. Move along now, nothing to see here...
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14193982.Police_investigate_Labour_councillor_corruption_allegations/?ref=arc
Extra, extra, read all about it...oh yay, oh yay, oh yay...
Listen up readers, I've got really explosive news that just can't wait.
It's exciting, it's controversial, it's scandalous, go on - shout it from the rooftops.
Police Scotland are investigating claims that an unnamed Labour councillor asked a developer for a £200,000 bung to ensure his planning application would get approved. When the developer refused to pay the crooked councillor the bribe, his planning permission application got 'delayed' so long that the project eventually fell through.
Hang on a minute, what am I doing? A councillor taking back-handers worth hundreds of thousands of pounds?
This isn't news - this is normal everyday business for our councillors.
Apologies. Move along now, nothing to see here...
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14193982.Police_investigate_Labour_councillor_corruption_allegations/?ref=arc
Saturday 23 January 2016
A Turf War I'm Happy To See
VERSUS
No, it's not between crime lords and drug dealers who bring so much misery to the good people of Scotland.
It's between another two organisations who are equally well known for bringing misery to the good people of Scotland - the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Police Scotland.
It turns out that the chair of the SPA Andrew Flanagan is using the appointment of the new chief constable, Englishman Phil 'Gormless', to slap down and score political points against existing Scottish senior officers who feel that the SPA conspicuously overlooked them when choosing a new top cop.
This is one turf war I'm happy to see.
It's good to know that the old umbilical cord between the SPA and Police Scotland has now been severed. Perhaps now previous SPA 'sooks' like Councillor Paul Rooney and Bailie Philip Braat who's incestuous connections to Police Scotland resulted in innocent members of the public suffering due to their vindictiveness may now be at an end.
I'm glad that the love affair between the bungling SPA and untrustworthy Police Scotland is finally over and it fills me with delight to see their divorce is getting very messy.
Let the blood-bath commence!
If anybody wants me I'll be standing at the ringside cheering on both the SPA and Police Scotland - while they slaughter each other.
For me, it just doesn't get any better than this.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14192210.MacAskill_warns_of_new_turf_war_between_Police_Scotland_and_watchdog/
Friday 22 January 2016
Shhh It's A Secret
One of Scotlands top prosecutors Alex Prentice QC, is set to speak at a masterclass tomorrow on ‘Pre-trial publicity in the internet age’.
It costs £30 to attend.
Let me save you that £30.
What Mr Prentice will say is that people who use this new fangled interwebby thingy to write about trials and gossip about cases 'n stuff are naughty and should be sent to bed early without any cocoa. He'll put forward an argument that discussions about cases before a trial could sway a jury, influence a judge, and pretty much hinder justice from being achieved.
Yeah right. As if trials have never been discussed by members of the public before?
Big trials - and the bigger and more gory the better - are one of the absolute favourite conversations among pub-goers the country over. Where do you think the expression bar-room-lawyers came from?
This ain't new, Mr Prentice.
Therefore let me translate what this is really about dear readers.
This is really about gagging the press so that the corrupt Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service can do what they want without the glare of publicity holding them to account.
It's already common knowledge that when you sue the Crown office and Police Scotland you must sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose what they paid you in compensation. They insist on this in order to save them from any embarrassment and bad publicity. They don't want the public to know they messed up, so they pay up, and force you to shut up. Not really justice is it eh?
But not content with this, Alex Prentice and his Crown office buddies want to go even further. If they can ban bloggers, newspapers, television and all other areas of the press from reporting about what they're doing in the first place, the public will never get to know about the dodgy cases they prosecute and the chaos and mess they make of trials every day never mind the embarrassing payouts they have to shell out at the end of the botched trials.
So it's all about covering up their incompetence, preventing public accountability, and maintaining secrecy over what they do so that they can continue to act in the corrupt manner the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service are infamous for.
There you go, £30 saved.
Don't spend it all in the one shop now y'all.
http://www.scottishlegal.com/2016/01/07/top-prosecutor-alex-prentice-qc-to-deliver-masterclass-on-pre-trial-publicity-in-the-internet-age/
It costs £30 to attend.
Let me save you that £30.
What Mr Prentice will say is that people who use this new fangled interwebby thingy to write about trials and gossip about cases 'n stuff are naughty and should be sent to bed early without any cocoa. He'll put forward an argument that discussions about cases before a trial could sway a jury, influence a judge, and pretty much hinder justice from being achieved.
Yeah right. As if trials have never been discussed by members of the public before?
Big trials - and the bigger and more gory the better - are one of the absolute favourite conversations among pub-goers the country over. Where do you think the expression bar-room-lawyers came from?
This ain't new, Mr Prentice.
Therefore let me translate what this is really about dear readers.
This is really about gagging the press so that the corrupt Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service can do what they want without the glare of publicity holding them to account.
It's already common knowledge that when you sue the Crown office and Police Scotland you must sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose what they paid you in compensation. They insist on this in order to save them from any embarrassment and bad publicity. They don't want the public to know they messed up, so they pay up, and force you to shut up. Not really justice is it eh?
But not content with this, Alex Prentice and his Crown office buddies want to go even further. If they can ban bloggers, newspapers, television and all other areas of the press from reporting about what they're doing in the first place, the public will never get to know about the dodgy cases they prosecute and the chaos and mess they make of trials every day never mind the embarrassing payouts they have to shell out at the end of the botched trials.
So it's all about covering up their incompetence, preventing public accountability, and maintaining secrecy over what they do so that they can continue to act in the corrupt manner the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service are infamous for.
There you go, £30 saved.
Don't spend it all in the one shop now y'all.
http://www.scottishlegal.com/2016/01/07/top-prosecutor-alex-prentice-qc-to-deliver-masterclass-on-pre-trial-publicity-in-the-internet-age/
Thursday 21 January 2016
Names Of Police Spies Who WONT Face The Music
The Police Spying scandal just drags on and on.
It's not rocket science. It's quite simple really. Police officers broke the law, they are criminals, they should face justice.
But they won't.
I can assure you right here and now that:
1. Detective Superintendent David Donaldson will never see the inside of a court room.
2. Detective Inspector Joanne Grant will never see the inside of a court room.
3. Detective Superintendent Brenda Smith will never see the inside of a court room.
4. Chief Superintendent Clark Cuzen will never see the inside of a court room.
Before it's all over the above names may change.
Other names may get added to the list as other officers get smoked out when the heat intensifies.
Some will spill the beans on each other.
Some will squeal like pigs and entirely blame others in an attempt to save their own skin.
None of this will matter though.
Because when this game of musical chairs ends and the music stops, not one of them will be sitting in a chair in the dock facing criminal charges. Not one.
Not only do officers of untrustworthy Police Scotland think they are above the law, they think they are the law.
And that's why when the face-saving blame game is over and we've spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money investigating in to all of this, none of them will ever be held accountable.
But they won't.
I can assure you right here and now that:
1. Detective Superintendent David Donaldson will never see the inside of a court room.
2. Detective Inspector Joanne Grant will never see the inside of a court room.
3. Detective Superintendent Brenda Smith will never see the inside of a court room.
4. Chief Superintendent Clark Cuzen will never see the inside of a court room.
Before it's all over the above names may change.
Other names may get added to the list as other officers get smoked out when the heat intensifies.
Some will spill the beans on each other.
Some will squeal like pigs and entirely blame others in an attempt to save their own skin.
None of this will matter though.
Because when this game of musical chairs ends and the music stops, not one of them will be sitting in a chair in the dock facing criminal charges. Not one.
Not only do officers of untrustworthy Police Scotland think they are above the law, they think they are the law.
And that's why when the face-saving blame game is over and we've spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money investigating in to all of this, none of them will ever be held accountable.
Wednesday 20 January 2016
Dangerous Killers - Round 2
Another murderer went missing last week. His name was John Wilson and he should have returned to Greenock prison after being out on leave but didn't.
This is happening regularly to untrustworthy Police Scotland.
Fortunately he was caught a couple of days ago - unlike John Casey who is still at large.
Ain't it nice to know that while we sleep in our beds at night Police Scotland allow all sorts of dangerous criminals to roam free.
It's hardly news any more, it happens so often.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/police-hunt-convicted-murderer-who-7191017#WeLzxjtxRmpxdZOx.97
This is happening regularly to untrustworthy Police Scotland.
Fortunately he was caught a couple of days ago - unlike John Casey who is still at large.
Ain't it nice to know that while we sleep in our beds at night Police Scotland allow all sorts of dangerous criminals to roam free.
It's hardly news any more, it happens so often.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/police-hunt-convicted-murderer-who-7191017#WeLzxjtxRmpxdZOx.97
Why Police Can't Catch A Dangerous Killer
Police Scotland have been severely criticised for failing to catch on-the-run killer John Casey who absconded more than a month ago.
Mary Scanlon, the Scottish Conservative MSP for the highlands and islands warns that the reputation of Police Scotland is at risk.
What reputation would that be then?
I would argue that this incompetence is par for the course for untrustworthy Police Scotland.
John Finnie MSP, the Scottish Green Party justice spokesman has argued that he feels the police are doing their best but “The police rely on public support…"
And therein lies the answer.
You see the public do NOT support Police Scotland and the public do NOT help Police Scotland. And that's what makes it difficult for Police Scotland to police effectively.
They only have themselves to blame. It's all their own fault - but Police Scotland just don't get it.
Every time Police Scotland stop and fine otherwise good, upstanding, honest members of the public for stupid minor traffic infringements in order to reach their targets, the public turn against the police and refuse to help them when they really need them.
Every time Police Scotland behave in that oh so familiar haughty and officious manner towards good, upstanding, honest members of the public, the public turn against the police and refuse to help them when they really need them.
Every time Police look upon good, upstanding, honest members of the public as possible targets to pursue instead of helping them and keeping them safe, the public turn against the police and refuse to help them when they really need them.
You reap what you sow Police Scotland.
The public do not exist to be targets for the Police to condescend upon and charge, fine, arrest, detain or otherwise pursue.
The public exist to be taken care of, helped, and respected by Police Scotland.
They work for us - not the other way around.
Until Police Scotland get this idea that they are there for our benefit, not their own, they will continue to be shunned and mistrusted by the good, decent, members of the Scottish public.
You brought this on yourself Police Scotland.
Nobody likes you and nobody trusts you.
Hell mend you.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/inverness/797554/police-reputation-at-risk-over-missing-highland-murderer/
What reputation would that be then?
I would argue that this incompetence is par for the course for untrustworthy Police Scotland.
John Finnie MSP, the Scottish Green Party justice spokesman has argued that he feels the police are doing their best but “The police rely on public support…"
And therein lies the answer.
You see the public do NOT support Police Scotland and the public do NOT help Police Scotland. And that's what makes it difficult for Police Scotland to police effectively.
They only have themselves to blame. It's all their own fault - but Police Scotland just don't get it.
Every time Police Scotland stop and fine otherwise good, upstanding, honest members of the public for stupid minor traffic infringements in order to reach their targets, the public turn against the police and refuse to help them when they really need them.
Every time Police Scotland behave in that oh so familiar haughty and officious manner towards good, upstanding, honest members of the public, the public turn against the police and refuse to help them when they really need them.
Every time Police look upon good, upstanding, honest members of the public as possible targets to pursue instead of helping them and keeping them safe, the public turn against the police and refuse to help them when they really need them.
You reap what you sow Police Scotland.
The public do not exist to be targets for the Police to condescend upon and charge, fine, arrest, detain or otherwise pursue.
The public exist to be taken care of, helped, and respected by Police Scotland.
They work for us - not the other way around.
Until Police Scotland get this idea that they are there for our benefit, not their own, they will continue to be shunned and mistrusted by the good, decent, members of the Scottish public.
You brought this on yourself Police Scotland.
Nobody likes you and nobody trusts you.
Hell mend you.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/inverness/797554/police-reputation-at-risk-over-missing-highland-murderer/
Tuesday 19 January 2016
Smoking Strong Cannabis Can Lead To Brain Damage
The respected journal Psychological Medicine, written by Kings College, London, has confirmed what I, and many others who counsel people with addictions, have always known.
Smoking strong cannabis can lead to brain damage.
I'm against the legalisation of drugs and that includes so-called 'soft' drugs like cannabis. Soft drugs are merely stepping stones to problems with health or social issues for the user further down the line.
If you are a 'moderate' drug user reading this who has experienced no such problems and don't believe me, that's absolutely fine - I don't pontificate. But be assured I've dealt with many people over the years who consider themselves to be 'moderate' cannabis users who suddenly woke up one day to find they had drug induced psychosis even though they were absolutely fine and had no ill effects up until that time. You have been warned.
So I applaud the journal Psychological Medicine and Kings College, London for their excellent study which now gives proven scientific credibility to the dangers I have spoken out about so often before.
In the study they found that the average age of healthier participants was 27 while the average age of psychotic patients was 29. I believe this change from healthy to unhealthy users which they detected happening around the mid to late twenties age band to be very significant.
You may or may not have heard of the 27 club. It's an 'imaginary' club of celebrities who all died at 27 years old. Amy Winehouse, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain - they all died from drug/alcohol abuse at 27 years old.
I have known for a very long time from the addicts I work with and counsel who are hard drug users (and by that I mean those who inject) that they rarely get more than 10 years of constant heavy drug use before their body starts to give up and it kills them. The 10 year time-span I mention is by no means scientific - it's just a time-span I've seen repeat itself from my experience of people I have known and worked with.
Considering most kids start off using softer drugs like cannabis in their early teens, they're usually quite happy puffing away for a few years before getting to their mid to late teens when they then look for harder drugs with a bit more kick to them.
So if you add 10 years on to someone who's age is around 16 or 17 years old when they start the hard stuff, hey presto, you have them dying around the 27 years old mark.
As I say, not exactly scientific, but certainly fits in with what I see happening and what Kings College, London seem to have discovered.
More than two million people in Britain smoked cannabis last year and the UK Treasury have calculated that legalising cannabis would raise tax revenues worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Legalising it would also result in huge savings for the Police, Crown office, and the courts.
So what's not to like about legalising it then?
Well, actually, there's one teeny wee problem they've kinda overlooked in their eagerness to make life easier for the police and raise a few quid for the public coffers.
The stuff they want to legalise kills people.
What price a human life?
It seems not much if you listen to our police and the government.
Our current drug laws are clearly not working, we can all see that.
But legalisation is most definitely NOT the answer. Take it from me, someone who's on the front line trying to help people recover from alcohol and drug addiction problems every day.
https://www.rt.com/uk/323662-strong-cannabis-brain-damage/
Smoking strong cannabis can lead to brain damage.
I'm against the legalisation of drugs and that includes so-called 'soft' drugs like cannabis. Soft drugs are merely stepping stones to problems with health or social issues for the user further down the line.
If you are a 'moderate' drug user reading this who has experienced no such problems and don't believe me, that's absolutely fine - I don't pontificate. But be assured I've dealt with many people over the years who consider themselves to be 'moderate' cannabis users who suddenly woke up one day to find they had drug induced psychosis even though they were absolutely fine and had no ill effects up until that time. You have been warned.
So I applaud the journal Psychological Medicine and Kings College, London for their excellent study which now gives proven scientific credibility to the dangers I have spoken out about so often before.
In the study they found that the average age of healthier participants was 27 while the average age of psychotic patients was 29. I believe this change from healthy to unhealthy users which they detected happening around the mid to late twenties age band to be very significant.
You may or may not have heard of the 27 club. It's an 'imaginary' club of celebrities who all died at 27 years old. Amy Winehouse, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain - they all died from drug/alcohol abuse at 27 years old.
I have known for a very long time from the addicts I work with and counsel who are hard drug users (and by that I mean those who inject) that they rarely get more than 10 years of constant heavy drug use before their body starts to give up and it kills them. The 10 year time-span I mention is by no means scientific - it's just a time-span I've seen repeat itself from my experience of people I have known and worked with.
Considering most kids start off using softer drugs like cannabis in their early teens, they're usually quite happy puffing away for a few years before getting to their mid to late teens when they then look for harder drugs with a bit more kick to them.
So if you add 10 years on to someone who's age is around 16 or 17 years old when they start the hard stuff, hey presto, you have them dying around the 27 years old mark.
As I say, not exactly scientific, but certainly fits in with what I see happening and what Kings College, London seem to have discovered.
More than two million people in Britain smoked cannabis last year and the UK Treasury have calculated that legalising cannabis would raise tax revenues worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Legalising it would also result in huge savings for the Police, Crown office, and the courts.
So what's not to like about legalising it then?
Well, actually, there's one teeny wee problem they've kinda overlooked in their eagerness to make life easier for the police and raise a few quid for the public coffers.
The stuff they want to legalise kills people.
What price a human life?
It seems not much if you listen to our police and the government.
Our current drug laws are clearly not working, we can all see that.
But legalisation is most definitely NOT the answer. Take it from me, someone who's on the front line trying to help people recover from alcohol and drug addiction problems every day.
https://www.rt.com/uk/323662-strong-cannabis-brain-damage/
Monday 18 January 2016
Police - Camera - Cherry Pick The Action
Police in the north-east of Scotland are still playing around with wearing body cameras.
Their colleagues down in the borders tried it but didn't have much success. However further north it seems the Cecil B DeMiserable boys in blue are getting to grips with the new tech a little bit better.
I've written about police wearing body cameras before in this blog. My opinion hasn't changed.
I'm all for it.
What I am absolutely dead-set against though is the police being able to cherry pick what bits of the film they want to use afterwards for evidence purposes.
Knowing what I know about untrustworthy Police Scotland - and I have extensive experience of how they work - the wearing of body cameras will always be used for the benefit of the police, not the public. That's a cert.
So unless Police Scotland are going to give the accused or their defence solicitors complete and unrestricted access to the WHOLE film these cameras record, the video evidence from them should be inadmissible.
The video evidence should also be continuous and uncut - if there is any break between the police arriving at the scene of a crime and the arresting of the accused for that crime, it should be deemed inadmissible as evidence too.
The police officer should not be able to start and stop the camera whenever he or she likes - because we all know the way that's gonna end up.
Then and only then can the public be confident that video evidence from a police body camera hasn't been tampered with, edited, or cherry picked by police to suit their own corrupt agenda.
Because you just know that untrustworthy Police Scotland are itching to wear these body cameras purely to benefit themselves, not justice.
https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/339-body-cams-in-use-across-n-east/
I've written about police wearing body cameras before in this blog. My opinion hasn't changed.
I'm all for it.
What I am absolutely dead-set against though is the police being able to cherry pick what bits of the film they want to use afterwards for evidence purposes.
Knowing what I know about untrustworthy Police Scotland - and I have extensive experience of how they work - the wearing of body cameras will always be used for the benefit of the police, not the public. That's a cert.
So unless Police Scotland are going to give the accused or their defence solicitors complete and unrestricted access to the WHOLE film these cameras record, the video evidence from them should be inadmissible.
The video evidence should also be continuous and uncut - if there is any break between the police arriving at the scene of a crime and the arresting of the accused for that crime, it should be deemed inadmissible as evidence too.
The police officer should not be able to start and stop the camera whenever he or she likes - because we all know the way that's gonna end up.
Then and only then can the public be confident that video evidence from a police body camera hasn't been tampered with, edited, or cherry picked by police to suit their own corrupt agenda.
Because you just know that untrustworthy Police Scotland are itching to wear these body cameras purely to benefit themselves, not justice.
https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/339-body-cams-in-use-across-n-east/
Sunday 17 January 2016
Woo Hoo It's Police Dodgems
The Scotsman newspaper has found out that Police Scotland spent £2 Million on repairs alone to police vehicles.
Most of the time the damage was done by plod drivers failing to stop at red lights and exceeding speed limits - something we all see them do regularly. Perhaps they've been watching too many re-runs of The Sweeney on UK Gold (showing my age here lol).
Other repairs that had to be made were also completely avoidable and were caused by, among other things, failing to put on the handbrake and reversing 'negligently' and hitting things. This is basic safety for goodness sake.
In a nutshell, it's not their car so they don't care.
However if you don't take care of your car - if you've got a headlight bulb out for example - expect a ticket from these police hypocrites for your 'negligence'.
According to Margaret Mitchell MSP "the astounding frequency of incidents and the cost of repairs to police vehicles over a relatively short period are staggering".
I know spare parts for a Ford Focus don't come cheap, but come on, £2 Million?
I wonder how many plods own a Ford Focus as their private car? And I wonder how much they spend on spare parts for it - and if they have a buddy in the police vehicle workshops?
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/police-scotland-spent-over-2m-on-vehicle-repairs-1-3990575
Other repairs that had to be made were also completely avoidable and were caused by, among other things, failing to put on the handbrake and reversing 'negligently' and hitting things. This is basic safety for goodness sake.
In a nutshell, it's not their car so they don't care.
However if you don't take care of your car - if you've got a headlight bulb out for example - expect a ticket from these police hypocrites for your 'negligence'.
According to Margaret Mitchell MSP "the astounding frequency of incidents and the cost of repairs to police vehicles over a relatively short period are staggering".
I know spare parts for a Ford Focus don't come cheap, but come on, £2 Million?
I wonder how many plods own a Ford Focus as their private car? And I wonder how much they spend on spare parts for it - and if they have a buddy in the police vehicle workshops?
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/police-scotland-spent-over-2m-on-vehicle-repairs-1-3990575
Saturday 16 January 2016
The New Twittering Facebook Force
Police Scotland have come up with yet another bright idea. A bright idea with a dark twist.
They are going to bypass normal newspapers and journalists - well, the journalists they're not illegally spying on that is - and communicate directly with the public via social media like Twitter and Facebook.
Seems sensible on the face of it (geddit? Facebook...on the 'Face' of it? Oh never mind).
More and more people get their news online these days. Twitter and Facebook posts are immediate so Police Scotland can get important information out to the public in an efficient and more direct way. It's much quicker than having to wait for tomorrows newspapers to come out.
Not only that, but members of the public can respond and interact with Police directly via the social media reply and messaging services.
So what's not to like? It's a great idea isn't it?
Well yes, except we're all forgetting one little tiny wee thing.
The job of the press isn't just to inform.
The press also exist to hold those in public office - like the police - accountable.
Aha, now we're getting to the nitty gritty.
By bypassing the press and going straight to social media, untrustworthy Police Scotland can retain complete control over what get's written about them and what they're up to.
And the more the public get used to getting their news via the Police Scotland Twitter and Facebook accounts, the more they'll get sucked in to accepting Police Scotland's version of everything.
And the less accountability there is.
Now I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would want to 'friend', 'like', or 'follow' Police Scotland on social media but I know many people who innocently do. It only makes it easier for Police to trawl your posts to see if they can charge you with something, anything, doesn't matter to them what. That's the way they work. Police Scotland are lazy and like easy pickings, just like their colleagues at the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service. They'd rather use a laptop to find someone to arrest in the comfort of a nice warm office than face a burglar brandishing a crowbar at them in the pouring rain.
And now they are going to use that same social media connection they have with you to push specially produced propaganda down your throat too.
If you have followed, liked, or friended Police Scotland on Twitter or Facebook, I suggest you unfollow, unlike, and unfriend them immediately.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
They are going to bypass normal newspapers and journalists - well, the journalists they're not illegally spying on that is - and communicate directly with the public via social media like Twitter and Facebook.
Seems sensible on the face of it (geddit? Facebook...on the 'Face' of it? Oh never mind).
Not only that, but members of the public can respond and interact with Police directly via the social media reply and messaging services.
So what's not to like? It's a great idea isn't it?
Well yes, except we're all forgetting one little tiny wee thing.
The job of the press isn't just to inform.
The press also exist to hold those in public office - like the police - accountable.
Aha, now we're getting to the nitty gritty.
By bypassing the press and going straight to social media, untrustworthy Police Scotland can retain complete control over what get's written about them and what they're up to.
And the more the public get used to getting their news via the Police Scotland Twitter and Facebook accounts, the more they'll get sucked in to accepting Police Scotland's version of everything.
And the less accountability there is.
Now I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would want to 'friend', 'like', or 'follow' Police Scotland on social media but I know many people who innocently do. It only makes it easier for Police to trawl your posts to see if they can charge you with something, anything, doesn't matter to them what. That's the way they work. Police Scotland are lazy and like easy pickings, just like their colleagues at the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service. They'd rather use a laptop to find someone to arrest in the comfort of a nice warm office than face a burglar brandishing a crowbar at them in the pouring rain.
And now they are going to use that same social media connection they have with you to push specially produced propaganda down your throat too.
If you have followed, liked, or friended Police Scotland on Twitter or Facebook, I suggest you unfollow, unlike, and unfriend them immediately.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Friday 15 January 2016
Crown Office Figure Fiddling
Have you heard of a confiscation order? It's where the Crown office takes money off criminals. I don't mean money that criminals pay to bribe Procurator Fiscals - that's another thing - I mean money which the criminals earned from their crimes which the Crown office confiscates.
We already know that crime has been on the increase so it would be fair to conclude that Crown office confiscation orders are on the increase too, right?
Eh, no, they're not.
In fact confiscation orders are down nearly quarter of a million quid in the last year - while crime is up.
An unnamed spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service told the Evening Express that “The value of confiscation orders will naturally vary year on year which is not unexpected and such fluctuations should not be used as a measure of success in tackling those who would seek to benefit from crime".
And I'm reliably informed that the unnamed spokesman said it with a straight face...
https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/drop-in-cash-seized-from-n-east-criminals/
We already know that crime has been on the increase so it would be fair to conclude that Crown office confiscation orders are on the increase too, right?
Eh, no, they're not.
In fact confiscation orders are down nearly quarter of a million quid in the last year - while crime is up.
An unnamed spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service told the Evening Express that “The value of confiscation orders will naturally vary year on year which is not unexpected and such fluctuations should not be used as a measure of success in tackling those who would seek to benefit from crime".
And I'm reliably informed that the unnamed spokesman said it with a straight face...
https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/drop-in-cash-seized-from-n-east-criminals/
Thursday 14 January 2016
The Crown Office RIU Scam
If you have a complaint about the Crown office, you complain to a body known as the Response & Information Unit (the RIU). The unit was specially set up to investigate in to complaints made against the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.
Recently the Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland have criticised the Response & Information Unit (RIU) over the unnecessary amount of confusing legal jargon they use when responding to members of the public who submit complaints to them.
HM Chief Inspector Michelle Macleod has made 15 recommendations for improvement, the main one being the 'overly formal and jargonistic terminology' the Response & Information Unit like to use.
Despite Ms Macleod's recommendations I can assure you that nothing will change.
Nothing at all.
Because I have had a great deal of personal experience with the Response & Information Unit - and my first-hand experiences of dealing with them have been as enlightening as they have been alarming.
Take a look at the letterhead below. It's from the Response and Information Unit (RIU) about a complaint I made to them about the Crown office:
Do you see the Response and Information Unit (RIU) logo and letterhead?
No, neither do I.
That's because the letterhead in the pic above shows it to be from the 'Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service', not the Response & Information Unit (RIU).
Why?
Because the RIU is the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.
They are one and the same.
So the first thing we discover is that the Response & Information Unit (RIU) is actually just the Crown office themselves - it's not a separate independent investigatory body who will somehow investigate in to complaints and wrong doing and hold the Crown office to account.
The use of the title 'Response & Information Unit' (or RIU for short) is an illusion, designed to deceive you in to thinking that they are some sort of separate independent body set up to investigate the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.
They are not.
When you complain to the RIU, you're complaining to the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.
That's right folks, if you're not happy with the Crown office...you complain to the Crown office.
See where this is going now?
So no matter who's desk your complaint happens to land on at the RIU, you're merely complaining to them about their own friends and colleagues.
Not exactly impartial eh?
And from my experiences of this motley crew, you can rest assured they'll pull out all the stops to dismiss your complaint.
Every complaint is dealt with from the same angle by the RIU - they find a way to dismiss your complaint. Absolutely anything will do, no matter how insignificant. The smallest 'get-out' or the teeniest loophole is all they need and they'll use it as an excuse to dismiss you and your complaint.
If they can't find a way to dismiss your complaint, it's still not a problem - they simply tell you that they don't consider it to be 'in the public interest' to pursue your complaint. Put simply, you've got a legitimate complaint but they've decided to do nothing about it. And there's nothing you can do about it.
It's also worth noting that it is the Crown office themselves who decide what they think is 'in the public interest'. A vague woolly phrase and decidedly dodgy get-out clause if ever there was one.
But sadly that's what happens when organisations investigate themselves.
RIU Dirty Trick 1
Of course, the dismissal of you and your complaint is assuming you actually manage to get a complaint to RIU/Crown office in the first place. Because the RIU/Crown office's first dirty trick is to claim they didn't receive your complaint.
That happened to me - twice.
Twice they 'lost' my complaint despite me submitting it via their online form on their website. I even got an auto-reply from them proving it had been received, yet they still claimed they didn't receive it. Oh dear. Liar liar pants on fire Mr Procurator Fiscal.
And this happened not long after Police Scotland (well known cronies and co-conspirators of the Crown office) had already faced unparalleled criticism for failures in their communications systems over the M9 debacle.
So I took it to the Scottish Parliament.
But, surprise surprise, the RIU/Crown office told the three MSP's who raised this issue on my behalf that there were no problems with their communications systems and no other member of the public had reported any problems. They assured the MSP's that no other member of the public's communications had been 'lost'.
Just mine then? I was unlucky eh? Twice?
Yeah right.
You couldn't make it up as they say.
RIU Dirty Trick 2
The RIU/Crown office's next dirty trick is to put a wee reminder in their diary to send you a 'holding' notice every 20 days - a wee message saying 'you're enquiry is important to us' and 'we're still investigating' etc, that kind of thing.
It's complete rubbish of course. They just drag things out to make it look like they're taking time to investigate and to make it look like they're being thorough. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In reality they are doing absolutely nothing except sitting back and passing time. The RIU/Crown office realise that there is always a possibility that they may be called upon by the SPSO (the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) at some point in the future to give an account of how they handled the complaint . The passage of time before giving a 'final response' is designed to give the SPSO (and you) the illusion that your complaint was given a full and thorough investigation. It never was.
Sneaky eh?
After they've kept you hanging on a string for months, their 'final response' is always the same:
'Your complaint has not been upheld'.
You see, if you decide to go a step further and complain to the SPSO, the RIU/Crown office know that the SPSO cannot look at your actual complaint - only whether the RIU/Crown office went through the proper complaints procedure. The decision the RIU/Crown office took to dismiss your complaint still stands no matter what the SPSO findings are.
A chocolate fireguard if ever there was one.
The RIU/Crown office know exactly how all of this operates and that's why they make sure they've ticked every box and completed every administrative procedure expected of them - they protect themselves just in case there's any future SPSO investigation.
All this is done well before they tell you, the complainer, to take a hike.
Put simply, the Crown cover their own backside.
The SPSO have no way of knowing that no real investigations ever actually took place...and that's the way the Crown office like it.
The most time the RIU/Crown office ever spend on your complaint is writing to you to tell you they are not upholding it. When you complain about the Crown office they work from the opposite direction you'd expect. They start at the end (i.e. they dismiss your complaint) and then work their way back to justify their decision and cover themselves.
The 'final response' you get from them was always going to be 'your complaint has not been upheld'. It was all decided from the word go.
That's how it works.
RIU Dirty Trick 3
The RIU/Crown office's final dirty trick is to fill their correspondence - especially the 'final response' to you - with what the Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland have called 'impenetrable jargon'. It is designed to hide the fact that they've done nothing.
This last dirty trick is the one the Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland have recently criticised them about. While it is certainly a positive step that they've pulled the Crown office up for this particular dirty trick, sadly they've completely missed all the others.
The Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland have failed to see that the RIU consists of nothing more than a bunch of rogue Crown office employees who exist solely to dismiss complaints and deflect criticism away from their fellow cronies in the Crown office.
The Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland don't seem to understand that the whole point of the RIU/Crown office's use of legal jargon is to purposely leave members of the public confused. They do not want to provide responses in 'plain English' because members of the public would then understand the RIU/Crown office responses - and realise that there is no substance to them.
Jargon-free communications would alert the public to the fact that their complaint was never actually investigated.
And the Crown office don't want that.
Conclusion
The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service specialise in prosecuting the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society. Visit any Sheriff court in Scotland any day of the week and take a look at the people in the dock and the ones in the public gallery waiting for their case to be called.
You'll notice immediately that they are all from the poorest and most deprived areas of our country with the poorest education.
To the Crown office, poor and vulnerable people are like low hanging fruit - ripe for the picking.
Poor, vulnerable, and uneducated people make for easy prosecutions - and Crown office Procurator Fiscals are lazy.
It's the perfect combination.
The Crown office regularly prosecute cases against people they know to be innocent. They know that on some occasions the court will find a few of these innocent people not-guilty and some of these poor and vulnerable innocent people they tried but failed to stitch up may take things further and try to hold the Crown office accountable afterwards by complaining to the RIU.
So they make sure the RIU has all the ammunition necessary to fob the complainer off using every dirty trick in the book. And it always ends with their bog-standard jargon-laden 'final response' letter telling the complainer that their complaint is not being upheld.
It's a win-win situation for the corrupt Crown office. A successful conviction, even against an innocent person, is still a successful conviction - it achieves targets and makes their figures look good. Conversely, a failed conviction against an innocent person which ends up in a complaint being made against the Crown office will never be upheld by the RIU. Either way they can't lose.
It's not right and it's not justice.
It ain't pretty but that's how it works.
And that's how the corrupt crew at the Crown office want it to continue to work, thank you very much.
If it didn't, heaven forbid innocent members of the public - especially the poorest and most vulnerable in our society - would actually get justice.
And the Crown office don't want that.
That just wouldn't do would it?
http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/prosecutors-urged-to-drop-legal-jargon-for-plain-english-1-3989754
Recently the Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland have criticised the Response & Information Unit (RIU) over the unnecessary amount of confusing legal jargon they use when responding to members of the public who submit complaints to them.
HM Chief Inspector Michelle Macleod has made 15 recommendations for improvement, the main one being the 'overly formal and jargonistic terminology' the Response & Information Unit like to use.
Despite Ms Macleod's recommendations I can assure you that nothing will change.
Nothing at all.
Because I have had a great deal of personal experience with the Response & Information Unit - and my first-hand experiences of dealing with them have been as enlightening as they have been alarming.
Take a look at the letterhead below. It's from the Response and Information Unit (RIU) about a complaint I made to them about the Crown office:
Do you see the Response and Information Unit (RIU) logo and letterhead?
No, neither do I.
That's because the letterhead in the pic above shows it to be from the 'Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service', not the Response & Information Unit (RIU).
Why?
Because the RIU is the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.
They are one and the same.
So the first thing we discover is that the Response & Information Unit (RIU) is actually just the Crown office themselves - it's not a separate independent investigatory body who will somehow investigate in to complaints and wrong doing and hold the Crown office to account.
The use of the title 'Response & Information Unit' (or RIU for short) is an illusion, designed to deceive you in to thinking that they are some sort of separate independent body set up to investigate the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.
They are not.
When you complain to the RIU, you're complaining to the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.
That's right folks, if you're not happy with the Crown office...you complain to the Crown office.
See where this is going now?
So no matter who's desk your complaint happens to land on at the RIU, you're merely complaining to them about their own friends and colleagues.
Not exactly impartial eh?
And from my experiences of this motley crew, you can rest assured they'll pull out all the stops to dismiss your complaint.
Every complaint is dealt with from the same angle by the RIU - they find a way to dismiss your complaint. Absolutely anything will do, no matter how insignificant. The smallest 'get-out' or the teeniest loophole is all they need and they'll use it as an excuse to dismiss you and your complaint.
If they can't find a way to dismiss your complaint, it's still not a problem - they simply tell you that they don't consider it to be 'in the public interest' to pursue your complaint. Put simply, you've got a legitimate complaint but they've decided to do nothing about it. And there's nothing you can do about it.
It's also worth noting that it is the Crown office themselves who decide what they think is 'in the public interest'. A vague woolly phrase and decidedly dodgy get-out clause if ever there was one.
But sadly that's what happens when organisations investigate themselves.
RIU Dirty Trick 1
Of course, the dismissal of you and your complaint is assuming you actually manage to get a complaint to RIU/Crown office in the first place. Because the RIU/Crown office's first dirty trick is to claim they didn't receive your complaint.
That happened to me - twice.
Twice they 'lost' my complaint despite me submitting it via their online form on their website. I even got an auto-reply from them proving it had been received, yet they still claimed they didn't receive it. Oh dear. Liar liar pants on fire Mr Procurator Fiscal.
And this happened not long after Police Scotland (well known cronies and co-conspirators of the Crown office) had already faced unparalleled criticism for failures in their communications systems over the M9 debacle.
So I took it to the Scottish Parliament.
But, surprise surprise, the RIU/Crown office told the three MSP's who raised this issue on my behalf that there were no problems with their communications systems and no other member of the public had reported any problems. They assured the MSP's that no other member of the public's communications had been 'lost'.
Just mine then? I was unlucky eh? Twice?
Yeah right.
You couldn't make it up as they say.
RIU Dirty Trick 2
The RIU/Crown office's next dirty trick is to put a wee reminder in their diary to send you a 'holding' notice every 20 days - a wee message saying 'you're enquiry is important to us' and 'we're still investigating' etc, that kind of thing.
It's complete rubbish of course. They just drag things out to make it look like they're taking time to investigate and to make it look like they're being thorough. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In reality they are doing absolutely nothing except sitting back and passing time. The RIU/Crown office realise that there is always a possibility that they may be called upon by the SPSO (the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) at some point in the future to give an account of how they handled the complaint . The passage of time before giving a 'final response' is designed to give the SPSO (and you) the illusion that your complaint was given a full and thorough investigation. It never was.
Sneaky eh?
After they've kept you hanging on a string for months, their 'final response' is always the same:
'Your complaint has not been upheld'.
You see, if you decide to go a step further and complain to the SPSO, the RIU/Crown office know that the SPSO cannot look at your actual complaint - only whether the RIU/Crown office went through the proper complaints procedure. The decision the RIU/Crown office took to dismiss your complaint still stands no matter what the SPSO findings are.
A chocolate fireguard if ever there was one.
The RIU/Crown office know exactly how all of this operates and that's why they make sure they've ticked every box and completed every administrative procedure expected of them - they protect themselves just in case there's any future SPSO investigation.
All this is done well before they tell you, the complainer, to take a hike.
Put simply, the Crown cover their own backside.
The SPSO have no way of knowing that no real investigations ever actually took place...and that's the way the Crown office like it.
The most time the RIU/Crown office ever spend on your complaint is writing to you to tell you they are not upholding it. When you complain about the Crown office they work from the opposite direction you'd expect. They start at the end (i.e. they dismiss your complaint) and then work their way back to justify their decision and cover themselves.
The 'final response' you get from them was always going to be 'your complaint has not been upheld'. It was all decided from the word go.
That's how it works.
RIU Dirty Trick 3
The RIU/Crown office's final dirty trick is to fill their correspondence - especially the 'final response' to you - with what the Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland have called 'impenetrable jargon'. It is designed to hide the fact that they've done nothing.
This last dirty trick is the one the Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland have recently criticised them about. While it is certainly a positive step that they've pulled the Crown office up for this particular dirty trick, sadly they've completely missed all the others.
The Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland have failed to see that the RIU consists of nothing more than a bunch of rogue Crown office employees who exist solely to dismiss complaints and deflect criticism away from their fellow cronies in the Crown office.
The Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland don't seem to understand that the whole point of the RIU/Crown office's use of legal jargon is to purposely leave members of the public confused. They do not want to provide responses in 'plain English' because members of the public would then understand the RIU/Crown office responses - and realise that there is no substance to them.
Jargon-free communications would alert the public to the fact that their complaint was never actually investigated.
And the Crown office don't want that.
Conclusion
The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service specialise in prosecuting the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society. Visit any Sheriff court in Scotland any day of the week and take a look at the people in the dock and the ones in the public gallery waiting for their case to be called.
You'll notice immediately that they are all from the poorest and most deprived areas of our country with the poorest education.
To the Crown office, poor and vulnerable people are like low hanging fruit - ripe for the picking.
Poor, vulnerable, and uneducated people make for easy prosecutions - and Crown office Procurator Fiscals are lazy.
It's the perfect combination.
The Crown office regularly prosecute cases against people they know to be innocent. They know that on some occasions the court will find a few of these innocent people not-guilty and some of these poor and vulnerable innocent people they tried but failed to stitch up may take things further and try to hold the Crown office accountable afterwards by complaining to the RIU.
So they make sure the RIU has all the ammunition necessary to fob the complainer off using every dirty trick in the book. And it always ends with their bog-standard jargon-laden 'final response' letter telling the complainer that their complaint is not being upheld.
It's a win-win situation for the corrupt Crown office. A successful conviction, even against an innocent person, is still a successful conviction - it achieves targets and makes their figures look good. Conversely, a failed conviction against an innocent person which ends up in a complaint being made against the Crown office will never be upheld by the RIU. Either way they can't lose.
It's not right and it's not justice.
It ain't pretty but that's how it works.
And that's how the corrupt crew at the Crown office want it to continue to work, thank you very much.
If it didn't, heaven forbid innocent members of the public - especially the poorest and most vulnerable in our society - would actually get justice.
And the Crown office don't want that.
That just wouldn't do would it?
http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/prosecutors-urged-to-drop-legal-jargon-for-plain-english-1-3989754
Wednesday 13 January 2016
Service? What Service?
The New Years Honours List is supposed to recognise people for their service.
This years list includes a number of Scots from the corridors of justice, namely three high ranking Police Scotland officers and the chief executive of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (notice how it's always the top dogs that get the gongs - cronyism at it's best eh?).
Catherine Dyer from COPFS get's a CBE.
Chief superintendent Eleanor Mitchell gets the Queen's Police Medal.
Chief superintendent Andrew Morris gets the Queen's Police Medal.
Detective superintendent Louise Raphael gets the Queen's Police Medal.
Let's just think about this for a moment.
Members of untrustworthy Police Scotland and the corrupt Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service have been honoured for SERVICE.
What services would that be then?
Beating up and killing Sheku Bayoh while in police custody perhaps?
Letting a bin lorry driver go scot-free without prosecution to protect their buddies in GlasgowCrooked City Council perhaps?
Somebody at Buckingham Palace is having a laugh aren't they?
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/new-year-s-honours-list-scots-recognised-for-service-1.917672
This years list includes a number of Scots from the corridors of justice, namely three high ranking Police Scotland officers and the chief executive of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (notice how it's always the top dogs that get the gongs - cronyism at it's best eh?).
Catherine Dyer from COPFS get's a CBE.
Chief superintendent Eleanor Mitchell gets the Queen's Police Medal.
Chief superintendent Andrew Morris gets the Queen's Police Medal.
Detective superintendent Louise Raphael gets the Queen's Police Medal.
Let's just think about this for a moment.
Members of untrustworthy Police Scotland and the corrupt Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service have been honoured for SERVICE.
What services would that be then?
Beating up and killing Sheku Bayoh while in police custody perhaps?
Letting a bin lorry driver go scot-free without prosecution to protect their buddies in Glasgow
Somebody at Buckingham Palace is having a laugh aren't they?
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/new-year-s-honours-list-scots-recognised-for-service-1.917672
Tuesday 12 January 2016
SPA First To Wish You A Happy New Year 2017
The Scottish Police Authority have around 2500 drugs cases still sitting in their lab unsolved.
According to Graeme Pearson MSP, the former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency it could take a year for them to clear up the backlog.
The bumbling chaos that is the Scottish Police Authority is well known in justice circles - they're about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
They are supposed to work closely with Police Scotland and the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service to manage the testing of drugs. They should then prioritise cases in order of importance and seriousness.
But the incompetence of the SPA is the kind of stuff legends are made of. So it should be no surprise to anyone that even though we only welcomed 2016 in a couple of weeks ago, the useless crew at the SPA are already way behind with their work for this year.
So far behind in fact that it'll be 2017 before they catch up.
Happy-New-Next-Year from the SPA.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-35198452
According to Graeme Pearson MSP, the former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency it could take a year for them to clear up the backlog.
The bumbling chaos that is the Scottish Police Authority is well known in justice circles - they're about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
They are supposed to work closely with Police Scotland and the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service to manage the testing of drugs. They should then prioritise cases in order of importance and seriousness.
But the incompetence of the SPA is the kind of stuff legends are made of. So it should be no surprise to anyone that even though we only welcomed 2016 in a couple of weeks ago, the useless crew at the SPA are already way behind with their work for this year.
So far behind in fact that it'll be 2017 before they catch up.
Happy-New-Next-Year from the SPA.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-35198452
Monday 11 January 2016
Phil Hitting Out
Chris Marshall in the Scotsman suggests that the new Police Scotland chief Phil 'Gormless' should 'hit the ground running'.
It's a nice dream Chris, but it's sadly little more than a dream.
Considering what we know about untrustworthy Police Scotland and how they behave (think Sheku Bayoh) I reckon that instead of hitting the ground running, there's more chance the new police boss will 'hit innocent people on the ground while running over them'.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/chris-marshall-new-police-boss-should-hit-ground-running-1-3987256
It's a nice dream Chris, but it's sadly little more than a dream.
Considering what we know about untrustworthy Police Scotland and how they behave (think Sheku Bayoh) I reckon that instead of hitting the ground running, there's more chance the new police boss will 'hit innocent people on the ground while running over them'.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/chris-marshall-new-police-boss-should-hit-ground-running-1-3987256
Sunday 10 January 2016
Phone The Police - Get A Plumber
A wee guy from Aberdeen ended up answering calls meant for Police Scotland.
Normally I would be quick to criticise police for this. But, for all the good making a call to Police Scotland does these days, hey, you might as well call a member of the public rather than the police.
And after the M9 fiasco a member of the public may be a far more responsible person to call in a time of emergency than Police Scotland.
I'm sure a member of the public answering the phone would have rushed to help as soon they received the call to say a car was in a ditch on the M9 - as opposed to Police Scotland who ignored the call for 3 days and 2 people died because of it.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/791172/police-scotland-blunder-sees-north-east-man-forced-to-handle-police-inquiries/
Saturday 9 January 2016
Criminal Pensions
A third of senior Police Scotland officers are set to retire in the next two years according to a freedom of information request obtained by the Scottish Conservatives.
Add to that the number of corrupt senior Police Scotland officers who will probably also 'retire' (as opposed to being 'prosecuted' or 'sacked') and you can bet your boots that the Police pension fund is about to get a bit of a hammering in the next couple of years.
Except that it's not just Police money that's in the Police pension fund. So it's not just Police Scotland who are about to get a hammering.
Police Scotland pensions are administered by Strathclyde Pension Fund. The fund is made up of money contributed from a large number of local government workers and others, not just the police.
Strathclyde Pension Fund is supposed to use returns it makes from investing your contributions over the years to pay you your pension when you retire.
But in reality it uses cash from contributions of employees who are currently working and paying in to the fund right now to pay pensions to people who have already retired.
Strathclyde Pension Fund panic when too many people retire at the same time. They call it a 'strain' on the fund.
Strange that eh?
Because there should be no 'strain' on the fund in any way if people are simply taking out the money they put in?
So...think 'pyramid scheme' and you won't be far off how it all works.
If you work in local government and you pay contributions to StrathclydePyramid Pension Fund, I'm sure you'll be delighted to know that your hard earned cash will ensure criminals like DC Jim Kerr (see my last blog post) and his Police Scotland cronies will receive nice retirement pensions with your money.
Heartening indeed.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/police-scotland-to-see-a-drop-in-number-of-senior-officers.11665
Add to that the number of corrupt senior Police Scotland officers who will probably also 'retire' (as opposed to being 'prosecuted' or 'sacked') and you can bet your boots that the Police pension fund is about to get a bit of a hammering in the next couple of years.
Except that it's not just Police money that's in the Police pension fund. So it's not just Police Scotland who are about to get a hammering.
Police Scotland pensions are administered by Strathclyde Pension Fund. The fund is made up of money contributed from a large number of local government workers and others, not just the police.
Strathclyde Pension Fund is supposed to use returns it makes from investing your contributions over the years to pay you your pension when you retire.
But in reality it uses cash from contributions of employees who are currently working and paying in to the fund right now to pay pensions to people who have already retired.
Strathclyde Pension Fund panic when too many people retire at the same time. They call it a 'strain' on the fund.
Strange that eh?
Because there should be no 'strain' on the fund in any way if people are simply taking out the money they put in?
So...think 'pyramid scheme' and you won't be far off how it all works.
If you work in local government and you pay contributions to Strathclyde
Heartening indeed.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/police-scotland-to-see-a-drop-in-number-of-senior-officers.11665
Friday 8 January 2016
The Generosity Of Police Scotland
This piece of scum assaulted one neighbour and tried to throw him over a fence.
He also made false allegations against other neighbours.
He's a thoroughly despicable individual - not a nice person at all, I'm sure you'll agree.
When I say his name is Mr Jim Kerr, that's not actually the main title he's known by.
The main title he's known by is Detective Constable Jim Kerr.
That's right folks. This piece of garbage is (was) an officer of Police Scotland.
And how did Police Scotland discipline him?
Errmmm, they didn't.
Yup, that's right. Detective Constable Kerr did not face a full disciplinary hearing.
Instead he was allowed to 'resign'.
Which means his 'resignation' let's him keep his lump sum payment pension with an annual income of around a quarter of his current salary.
Nice to know that Police Scotland are so wonderfully generous to criminals...with our money.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cop-out-anger-after-suspended-7076665
Thursday 7 January 2016
Government Review In To Police Scotland Disaster
The Scottish Government have announced that there is to be a review in to the disastrous £60 million Police Scotland IT project.
Why stop there.
After the disastrous one-size-fits-all national force came in to being isn't it about time the Scottish Government announced a review in to the whole failed Police Scotland project, not just their IT project?
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14168734.Scottish_Government_to_review_troubled___60m_police_IT_project/
Why stop there.
After the disastrous one-size-fits-all national force came in to being isn't it about time the Scottish Government announced a review in to the whole failed Police Scotland project, not just their IT project?
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14168734.Scottish_Government_to_review_troubled___60m_police_IT_project/
Wednesday 6 January 2016
Phil Gets The Excuses In Early
OK, so we've sworn in the new chief constable Phil 'Gormless'.
And what's the first thing he does?
Talks about getting tough on crime?
Talks about restoring public trust?
No.
The first thing he does is warns us that Police Scotland will face continued cut backs.
So let me translate.
What the new top cop is really doing is setting out his stall to protect himself from the criticism he will face when he fails.
You see when things at untrustworthy Police Scotland go pear shaped - and mark my words, they will - Uncle Phil will refer us back to his statement on his first day in the job and tell us "see, it's not my fault, I told you, it's all these cutbacks that are to blame".
Preparing pathetic excuses in expectation of failure is engrained in to the culture of Police Scotland and their buddies at the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service. It's one of the the things they do extremely well.
Expertise in the area of self protection, cover-ups, and deflecting criticism is par for the course when dealing with self-serving organisations like Police Scotland and COPFS. No surprise there.
But when we see a brand new chief constable pile on the body armour from the very first statement he makes on the very first day in the job, you just know the direction Police Scotland are headed.
It's not looking good.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/new-police-scotland-chief-warns-of-continued-cutbacks-1-3991726
And what's the first thing he does?
Talks about getting tough on crime?
Talks about restoring public trust?
No.
The first thing he does is warns us that Police Scotland will face continued cut backs.
So let me translate.
What the new top cop is really doing is setting out his stall to protect himself from the criticism he will face when he fails.
Preparing pathetic excuses in expectation of failure is engrained in to the culture of Police Scotland and their buddies at the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service. It's one of the the things they do extremely well.
Expertise in the area of self protection, cover-ups, and deflecting criticism is par for the course when dealing with self-serving organisations like Police Scotland and COPFS. No surprise there.
But when we see a brand new chief constable pile on the body armour from the very first statement he makes on the very first day in the job, you just know the direction Police Scotland are headed.
It's not looking good.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/new-police-scotland-chief-warns-of-continued-cutbacks-1-3991726
Don't Retrain Police - Sack Them
Police are to be 'retrained' in data protection laws as a result of 'errors' that were made in snooping cases.
Give me a moment while I adjust the zip that fastens up the back of my head.
Listen up readers. Untrustworthy Police Scotland spied on us without proper legal authority to do it because they thought they could get away with it. No more, no less.
These Police Scotland rogues should be sacked and behind bars, not retrained..
There were no 'errors'.
There were no 'incorrect interpretations' of laws.
This was pure and simply criminal Police officers committing crimes because they are Police officers and they can get away with it, full stop.
Next time you get arrested for a crime try telling the judge you made an 'error', you simply 'misinterpreted' the law and just need a wee bit of 'retraining'.
Let me know how you get on...
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14168077.Police_to_be_retrained_in_data_protection_as_concerns_mount_over__snooping__investigations/
Give me a moment while I adjust the zip that fastens up the back of my head.
These Police Scotland rogues should be sacked and behind bars, not retrained..
There were no 'errors'.
There were no 'incorrect interpretations' of laws.
This was pure and simply criminal Police officers committing crimes because they are Police officers and they can get away with it, full stop.
Next time you get arrested for a crime try telling the judge you made an 'error', you simply 'misinterpreted' the law and just need a wee bit of 'retraining'.
Let me know how you get on...
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14168077.Police_to_be_retrained_in_data_protection_as_concerns_mount_over__snooping__investigations/
Tuesday 5 January 2016
'Ello 'Ello 'Ello Ladies - Wanna See Phil Gormleys Truncheon?
The new Chief Constable of Scotland Phil 'Gormless' has been sworn in today.
The Scottish public are hoping he'll be a new broom and a breath of fresh air, especially after that menace-in-a-uniform Stephen 'I've got an ego as big as a' House.
No chance.
He might have come in from outside Scottish policing ranks but rest assured he's cut from exactly the same cloth as the others.
No sooner has he put one hand up to take his oath while cramming his obscenely high salary in to his pocket with the other, we now find that he previously headed the Metropolitan Police branch that controlled the notorious Special Demonstration Squad.
For those of you who haven't heard of the Special Demonstration Squad, the SDS were the undercover unit whose officers had sex with, and even fathered children with, female targets.
Any hopes that truth, decency, and honesty will follow Uncle Phil in to the Police Scotland hot seat have all but dissipated before his feet have had a chance to get under the desk.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14178774.New_chief_constable_linked_to_undercover_police__sex_spy__unit/
The Scottish public are hoping he'll be a new broom and a breath of fresh air, especially after that menace-in-a-uniform Stephen 'I've got an ego as big as a' House.
No chance.
He might have come in from outside Scottish policing ranks but rest assured he's cut from exactly the same cloth as the others.
For those of you who haven't heard of the Special Demonstration Squad, the SDS were the undercover unit whose officers had sex with, and even fathered children with, female targets.
Any hopes that truth, decency, and honesty will follow Uncle Phil in to the Police Scotland hot seat have all but dissipated before his feet have had a chance to get under the desk.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14178774.New_chief_constable_linked_to_undercover_police__sex_spy__unit/
Don't Solve Crimes - Just Arrest Lots Of People
Domestic abuse cases are one area where we all sympathise with the victims. The courts come down hard on abusers and so they should.
I agree. Lock 'em up and throw away the key I say.
And because the courts come down so hard, that's why it's vitally important that the police get it right when it comes to arresting suspects in domestic abuse cases.
But all too often they don't get it right. Just go sit in the public gallery of the Sheriff courts and you'll see how often they get it wrong.
Police mess up. I've seen it happen. All it takes is a disgruntled ex wife or girlfriend to make up a semi-believable story and before you know it the incompetents in Police Scotland have her other half in the slammer facing a horrendous domestic abuse charge.
When it all comes out later that the accuser was lying, the police never charge the false accuser for lying, making false statements, and wasting police time, because that would be an admission that they, the police, got it wrong in the first place.
The culture of cover up within Police Scotland - described so eloquently by Sheriff Dickson last year - kicks in and untrustworthy Police Scotland and the corrupt Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service close ranks to protect each other.
The innocent party gets shafted and the guilty go free.
When police mess up they don't care that an innocent man or woman ends up in the dock facing a jail sentence for a crime they didn't commit.
They don't even care if it's a man or a woman.
We know this because the Herald Scotland newspaper have discovered that Police Scotland don't actually know the gender of the victims in thousands of domestic abuse cases:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14160143.Police__do_not_know_gender_of_victims__in_thousands_of_domestic_abuse_cases/
It's outrageous that in such a serious crime as this between men and women the police don't even bother to make a note of the victim and perpetrator's gender.
Perhaps they just assume it's always a man committing a crime against a woman (it's not, many men fall victim to abuse from their ex girlfriends - I know, believe me).
Or perhaps the real reason Police Scotland don't care is because they are only concerned that they get to make an arrest. After all, every arrest is another pat on the back for the arresting officer when he gets back to the station.
Policing in Scotland is not about protecting the public.
Policing in Scotland is about targeting the public.
And any man or woman will do.
In Police Scotland's unwritten rule book you can be assured that 'lots of arrests = lots of brownie points'.
So who cares whether they arrest bad guys or good guys?
Us. We the public care.
Police Scotland don't.
I agree. Lock 'em up and throw away the key I say.
And because the courts come down so hard, that's why it's vitally important that the police get it right when it comes to arresting suspects in domestic abuse cases.
But all too often they don't get it right. Just go sit in the public gallery of the Sheriff courts and you'll see how often they get it wrong.
Police mess up. I've seen it happen. All it takes is a disgruntled ex wife or girlfriend to make up a semi-believable story and before you know it the incompetents in Police Scotland have her other half in the slammer facing a horrendous domestic abuse charge.
When it all comes out later that the accuser was lying, the police never charge the false accuser for lying, making false statements, and wasting police time, because that would be an admission that they, the police, got it wrong in the first place.
The culture of cover up within Police Scotland - described so eloquently by Sheriff Dickson last year - kicks in and untrustworthy Police Scotland and the corrupt Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service close ranks to protect each other.
The innocent party gets shafted and the guilty go free.
When police mess up they don't care that an innocent man or woman ends up in the dock facing a jail sentence for a crime they didn't commit.
They don't even care if it's a man or a woman.
We know this because the Herald Scotland newspaper have discovered that Police Scotland don't actually know the gender of the victims in thousands of domestic abuse cases:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14160143.Police__do_not_know_gender_of_victims__in_thousands_of_domestic_abuse_cases/
It's outrageous that in such a serious crime as this between men and women the police don't even bother to make a note of the victim and perpetrator's gender.Perhaps they just assume it's always a man committing a crime against a woman (it's not, many men fall victim to abuse from their ex girlfriends - I know, believe me).
Or perhaps the real reason Police Scotland don't care is because they are only concerned that they get to make an arrest. After all, every arrest is another pat on the back for the arresting officer when he gets back to the station.
Policing in Scotland is not about protecting the public.
Policing in Scotland is about targeting the public.
And any man or woman will do.
In Police Scotland's unwritten rule book you can be assured that 'lots of arrests = lots of brownie points'.
So who cares whether they arrest bad guys or good guys?
Us. We the public care.
Police Scotland don't.
Monday 4 January 2016
No End To Police Cover Ups
Joan McAlpine of the Daily Record comments that the first job the new Police Scotland chief should do is end the culture of cover up.
I agree Joan, but you have to realise that we're dealing with an organisation that is so corrupt to the core that many police officers don't even know they're being corrupt.
Because things in Police Scotland have always been done in a particular way, rank and file police officers think that's just the way things are done and don't stop to think whether what they are doing is actually legal, fair, or moral.
Because things in Police Scotland have always been done in a particular way, rank and file police officers think that's just the way things are done and don't stop to think whether what they are doing is actually legal, fair, or moral.
New boss Phil 'Gormless' will NOT end the culture of cover up.
It's too engrained in to untrustworthy Police Scotland.
Sunday 3 January 2016
Get Back To Community Policing
The Scottish green party raise an important point about community policing. They say Police Scotland should abandon this idea of a centralised Police force and resources (see https://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/blog/if-we-are-to-get-back-to-community-policing-police-scotland-will-have-to-relinquish-its-central-grip-on-officers-and-resources/ )
I agree.
The centralisation of Police Scotland and it's resources has been a disaster for the public of Scotland.
It's a failed experiment that went wrong.
But like all failed experiments that go wrong, untrustworthy Police Scotland would rather stick with the disaster rather than admit they got it all so very wrong.
No change there for Police Scotland then eh.
The Greens rightly argue that the various communities around Scotland are very different so they need to be Policed differently.
They are correct.
So why do Police Scotland prefer to centralise everything rather than cater to the individual members of the public in their very individual communities?
The answer is in Police Scotland's priority for self-protection. They police for their own benefit rather than ours.
By centralising policing under the one large Police Scotland banner they can focus on making as many arrests and issuing as many tickets and charges to members of the public as possible instead of solving crime. The sheer volume of bulk centralised data will swamp any criticism they might face from a local level (think along the lines of a question like 'why didn't you catch the thieves who burgled two houses in my street' and the Police answer 'we solved hundreds of burglaries in Scotland last year').
It doesn't really matter to police whether someone is guilty or innocent, as long as the official 'figures' can show lots of charges, detentions, arrests etc. They can then counter any argument that they may not be doing a good job.
It's all about falsifying figures.
It's a sad day when policing entirely consists of hitting targets and deflecting any criticism that may come their way.
But in a self-serving organisation like untrustworthy Police Scotland that's just the way it is.
Meanwhile communities suffer.
If, one day, a Police Scotland speed camera 'zaps' 99 people doing 35mph in a 30mph zone they've solved 99 crimes and charged 99 criminals. If on that same day one house gets burgled and they don't catch the burglar they've got one unsolved crime.
That gives them a 99% success rate.
You see, it's all about fiddling the figures and not about our safety.
Shame on them.
I agree.
The centralisation of Police Scotland and it's resources has been a disaster for the public of Scotland.
It's a failed experiment that went wrong.
But like all failed experiments that go wrong, untrustworthy Police Scotland would rather stick with the disaster rather than admit they got it all so very wrong.
No change there for Police Scotland then eh.
The Greens rightly argue that the various communities around Scotland are very different so they need to be Policed differently.
They are correct.
So why do Police Scotland prefer to centralise everything rather than cater to the individual members of the public in their very individual communities?
The answer is in Police Scotland's priority for self-protection. They police for their own benefit rather than ours.
By centralising policing under the one large Police Scotland banner they can focus on making as many arrests and issuing as many tickets and charges to members of the public as possible instead of solving crime. The sheer volume of bulk centralised data will swamp any criticism they might face from a local level (think along the lines of a question like 'why didn't you catch the thieves who burgled two houses in my street' and the Police answer 'we solved hundreds of burglaries in Scotland last year').
It doesn't really matter to police whether someone is guilty or innocent, as long as the official 'figures' can show lots of charges, detentions, arrests etc. They can then counter any argument that they may not be doing a good job.
It's all about falsifying figures.
It's a sad day when policing entirely consists of hitting targets and deflecting any criticism that may come their way.
But in a self-serving organisation like untrustworthy Police Scotland that's just the way it is.
Meanwhile communities suffer.
If, one day, a Police Scotland speed camera 'zaps' 99 people doing 35mph in a 30mph zone they've solved 99 crimes and charged 99 criminals. If on that same day one house gets burgled and they don't catch the burglar they've got one unsolved crime.
That gives them a 99% success rate.
You see, it's all about fiddling the figures and not about our safety.
Shame on them.
Saturday 2 January 2016
Tayside Police Get Away With Committing Crimes
When faced with allegations of criminality, Police Scotland investigate themselves via their own Professional Standards Department.
There have been dozens of allegations against police in Tayside's drug squad, so it'll be no surprise to anyone to learn that, as usual, they investigated themselves.
And there's some good news for the public - the allegations have been upheld.
What may be a surprise to you though is that after spending 3 years and more than £1 Million looking in to these criminal complaints against Tayside's drugs squad no criminality was found.
Although dozens of the claims have been upheld they have been dealt with as matters of misconduct by Police Scotland rather than criminality.
So yet again criminal officers from untrustworthy Police Scotland get away with committing crimes.
If you or I were to act criminally we would be in the dock, in a court of law, faster than you can say 'ello ello ello'.
But when it's 'one of their own' in Police Scotland who is the criminal, it's a different matter.
https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2015/12/22/dozens-of-claims-against-tayside-police-are-upheld/
There have been dozens of allegations against police in Tayside's drug squad, so it'll be no surprise to anyone to learn that, as usual, they investigated themselves.
And there's some good news for the public - the allegations have been upheld.
What may be a surprise to you though is that after spending 3 years and more than £1 Million looking in to these criminal complaints against Tayside's drugs squad no criminality was found.
Although dozens of the claims have been upheld they have been dealt with as matters of misconduct by Police Scotland rather than criminality.
So yet again criminal officers from untrustworthy Police Scotland get away with committing crimes.
If you or I were to act criminally we would be in the dock, in a court of law, faster than you can say 'ello ello ello'.
But when it's 'one of their own' in Police Scotland who is the criminal, it's a different matter.
https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2015/12/22/dozens-of-claims-against-tayside-police-are-upheld/
Friday 1 January 2016
£85m Funding Gap - Rip It Up And Start Again
New Year is a time to reflect on the past and look to the future.
This New years Day, when Police Scotland look back on 2015, all they will see is disaster. Yes, 2015 was the year they stumbled from one calamity to the next - too many to list here.
And when they look forward to the future they won't see much sunshine either. Instead they'll see a £85 Million funding gap by 2018 (http://www.policeprofessional.com/news.aspx?id=25066).
Neither the past nor the future is rosy for untrustworthy Police Scotland.
And it's all their own doing.
If ever there was a time for this corrupt and vindictive organisation to be disbanded and rebuilt from scratch it is now.
Innocent members of the public want to be protected by Police Scotland, not to be treated as cash cows by them and arrested purely to fulfil arrest quotas.
Innocent members of the public want Police Scotland to go after the 'difficult to pursue' bad guys, not the 'easy to pursue' good guys. Get your finger out Police Scotland and actually do some work for a change.
To be fair, shirking responsibility and shying away from hard work is hardly unique to Police Scotland.
There are many professions in which workers will try to do the minimum amount of work for the maximum pay.
There are many professions where workers will shove the difficult tasks to the bottom of the pile and only do the easy ones at the top.
But policing by it's very nature should not be one of those professions where taking the lazy way out is the norm.
Yet it is.
So what are the chances of Police Scotland officers becoming honest and working faithfully for the public in 2016?
Zero.
This New years Day, when Police Scotland look back on 2015, all they will see is disaster. Yes, 2015 was the year they stumbled from one calamity to the next - too many to list here.
And when they look forward to the future they won't see much sunshine either. Instead they'll see a £85 Million funding gap by 2018 (http://www.policeprofessional.com/news.aspx?id=25066).
Neither the past nor the future is rosy for untrustworthy Police Scotland.
And it's all their own doing.
If ever there was a time for this corrupt and vindictive organisation to be disbanded and rebuilt from scratch it is now.
Innocent members of the public want to be protected by Police Scotland, not to be treated as cash cows by them and arrested purely to fulfil arrest quotas.
Innocent members of the public want Police Scotland to go after the 'difficult to pursue' bad guys, not the 'easy to pursue' good guys. Get your finger out Police Scotland and actually do some work for a change.
To be fair, shirking responsibility and shying away from hard work is hardly unique to Police Scotland.
There are many professions in which workers will try to do the minimum amount of work for the maximum pay.
There are many professions where workers will shove the difficult tasks to the bottom of the pile and only do the easy ones at the top.
But policing by it's very nature should not be one of those professions where taking the lazy way out is the norm.
Yet it is.
So what are the chances of Police Scotland officers becoming honest and working faithfully for the public in 2016?
Zero.
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