So many crooked police in Britain that there were too many to discipline

Scotland Yard will not punish 1,000 officers who misused credit cards

Metropolitan Police chiefs agreed a secret amnesty for more than a thousand officers and staff who misused corporate credit cards. An internal audit found that 1,183 Scotland Yard employees broke rules governing the use of American Express charge cards. Senior officers were so overwhelmed by the number of cases that they decided the card holders would not be punished. The staff, most of whom worked in counter terrorism and other specialist crime inquiries, were given “training and guidance” instead.

More than 300 people were initially referred to anti-corruption detectives when evidence emerged that their claims were potentially fraudulent. Of these cases, 50 were passed to independent investigators. Three officers have been convicted of criminal offences and two more await trial.

Jenny Jones, of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said that training and guidance was “not enough” and that some disciplinary action should be taken. “I find it unacceptable that the police have just let these officers go with guidance,” she said. “They must have known what they were doing was wrong.”

Members of the MPA, the force watchdog, have been told privately how an initial sift of accounts exposed the scale of the problem. Internal auditors decided 1,183 people who used a card, but did not break the law, should be put to one side and labelled “category B”. These cases included those who purchased personal items and later repaid the money or bought equipment that should have been purchased by other means.

An internal MPA document stated: “It was agreed between all interested parties that due to the volume of files involved, those officers that are deemed to have category B files would receive no formal discipline sanction for their card use, but would receive ‘training and guidance’ with regards their use.”

Meanwhile, claims found to be “potentially unacceptable”, including cases of suspected fraud, were labelled “category A” and passed to anti-corruption detectives. Inquiries into abuse of the credit card system by officers are expected to continue until next March, 2½ years after they began.

A total of 3,533 officers and staff were issued with the cards and at one point £3.7 million of public money was unaccounted for. The majority of this money has been paid back, but legal action is expected against two officers who owe £82,000 and £1,100.

Scotland Yard did not renew its American Express contract and has introduced a new Barclaycard system with tighter controls. Ms Jones added: “Personally I feel that guidance is not enough, some sort of disciplinary action ought to be taken, even if it just a note on their record. “Having police who do not obey the rules is damaging for public confidence in the Met because you ask: ‘What other rules do they break?’.”

Original report here



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