So this morning the phone rings. It is the officer that is in charge of the investigation. Obviously my e-mail has at last got a response. The introductions out the way the officer tells me that he was surprised to hear from me. It turns out that the complaint had been dealt with informally as I had requested.
Eh?
Going back in time a bit, after I had sent the request in, Sgt xxxxxxx the investigating officer phoned me to say that he was in charge of it. He discussed the detail with me and pointed out that there were two options available to me. Informal complain, or formal complaint. He suggested that in the first instance we should treat this informally and see what the officer has to say for himself. Then I could decide from there if I wanted to take it further. This seemed reasonable, especially as it turned out the officer was on holiday at that time and would be for a couple of weeks. Sgt xxxxxxx would speak to him then and get back.
Fair enough.
So time passed and I hadn’t heard anything. So I called on (and I have checked this time on my mobile phone records) 29th September at 13:02. Sgt xxxxxxxx wasn’t in so I left a message for him to get back to me. He didn’t. I’m busy so I didn’t manage to phone again until the 30th October at 13:34 (again on my phone records). Again he was not in, and again I left a message for him to get back to me. Again he did not.
I finally found some time to e-mail as described in my last blog and today came the call.
The following is a rough reconstruction from my memory of the main points of the conversation
Sgt: We agreed that this would be dealt with informally, so I had a chat with him.
Me: No, I agreed that it was reasonable to chat with him to start with to know where we stood.
Sgt: No, we agreed to deal only with it informally.
Me: That was not what I agreed. Anyway, surely I would expect some form of reply from you about what happened at that meeting, especially considering he was not available when I first complained.
Sgt: I can only apologise about that.
Me: Is it not normal policy to respond to a complaint even if informal only
Sgt: I can only apoligise
Me: What was the outcome of the chat?
Sgt: Both officer xxxxxxx and the desk lady both denied they mentioned anything about arrest.
Me: That is a downright lie!
Sgt: Ummm, errr, sorry about that.
Me: What about the fact that he was saying filming faces and licence wasn’t allowed
Sgt: He was only suggesting that there was a civil issue (There isn’t!!!)
Me: Also I tried to contact you twice and left a message twice to call me back. Why didn’t you?
Sgt: We have system where if someone leaves a message an e-mail is sent to me to contact you back. I never received such an e-mail
Me: But I definitely phoned twice
Sgt: I can only apologise.
Me: What about CCTV in the station, does that back up any of my events as described?
Sgt: Unfortunately this is an older station and doesn’t have CCTV. They only get it when refurbished.
Sgt: You can make this formal if you wish
Me: I’ll need to go away and think all of this through…..
So here I am. Feeling completely let down by the police.
Here’s the full story:
http://www.magnatom.net/2011/11/anger-frustration-police.html
Or Alternatively:
