UK Policing News

A former counter-terrorism officer has claimed the Metropolitan Police ignored evidence of extremism among its officers for fear of being labelled “Islamophobic”. Javaria Saeed, a practising Muslim, said she had complained to her bosses after hearing a fellow Muslim officer say FGM should not be criminalised because it was a “clean and honourable practice”. She said the same officer also said female Muslim victims of domestic violence should go to local Sharia courts rather than the police for help except in the “serious violent cases”. But when she raised her concerns with managers they refused to take action because they were afraid of appearing racist. Ms Saeed, wh…

A police officer has been injured while trying to stop someone from stealing a mobile phone near former prime minister Tony Blair's central London home. The officer from the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command was hurt as he tried to stop a man on a moped carrying out the theft. The Met said the officer jumped at the suspected robber as he sped on his bike towards him on Tuesday afternoon. The rider knocked the officer down in the process of fleeing, said the force. London Ambulance Service attended the scene and the officer was taken to a central London hospital to have stitches for a deep cut on his arm. ​ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37…

Bristol City Supporters Club & Trust claims West Midlands Police (WMP) breached human rights by their actions ahead of the club's Championship match against Birmingham City on September 12 last year. Police Professional :: News :: Football fans suing force for 'false imprisonment' before Championship match http://www.policeprofessional.com/news.aspx?id=27116 To be honest I'm surprised it's taken this long for an action of this type. In our force we have often held all fans at the train station then escorted them (or herded them like sheep) to and from the ground. I always wondered what legal power we had to enforce this? Not saying it was the wro…

A Lancashire police officer has been sacked for gross misconduct after leaking details of incidents. PC Jayson Lobo, from Blackburn, faced nine allegations of sending electronic communications with details of police incidents to third parties. Each allegation was proven at a Special Case hearing in Leyland and the former UK middle distance athlete was dismissed without notice. In an unrelated case, Mr Lobo is due to stand trial for voyeurism offences. The former Commonwealth Games runner has denied 18 offences against eight women, allegedly committed between December 2011 and May 2015. The former Preston-based officer is on bail ahead of a trial at Liverpool Crown …

A police officer has been sacked after she was caught on supermarket CCTV attacking her mother’s love rival in the chiller aisle. Off-duty police constable Beth Walker, a serving officer with West Midlands Police, struck out with an elbow with such force that her victim was ‘knocked flying’ near the reduced meat section.Harry Ireland, professional misconduct panel chairman, said Pc Walker had carried out a ‘gratuitous, violent act’ on a member of the public. After finding the officer guilty of gross misconduct on Thursday, the panel also found her apology to the victim was ‘too little too late’. During a two-day hearing, panel members were told of a long-standing and b…

Police are resorting to new tactics to deal with middle lane hoggers – sass. Officers following someone driving at 55mph flashed him to move out of the way. However, the guy was an ass so he didn’t move into lane one, which was empty, then dialled 999 to complain about what they were doing. GMP Salford West said: ‘Would you believe the cheek of a man who phoned us to complain that he was driving along the M60 in the middle lane minding his own business at 55 mph when a police car came up behind him and flashed his headlights making him move across into the first lane. ‘Sir, this poster is just for you and we’ll tell the officer in question to keep up the good work.’ …

Scotland Yard today smashed a suspected plot to launch an Islamic State terror attack in Britain after arresting two men in London. Counter terror detectives swooped on the pair in west London and held both on suspicion of being involved in the “preparation of terrorist acts.” The men, aged 19 and 20, were held at the same address in an early morning raid involving officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command and the South East Counter Terrorism Unit. A number of addresses in west and south west London and the Thames Valley were also being searched by specialist officers today. Police would not comment on any seizures. The operation is understood to be “significa…

Firearms officer Carol Howard received £37,000 in compensation after she was "singled out and targeted" Met Police officers "expect to be victimised and fear reprisals" if they complain about discrimination, a study by an equality watchdog has found. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report comes after PC Carol Howard won a discrimination case. A reluctance to admit mistakes, poor record-keeping and misplaced loyalty were among poor practices, but no laws were breached, the EHRC found. The Met said it was working "to tackle the perceptions of victimisation". In total 68 employment tribunal claims were brought against the Met last year, of which it lost …