Crackdown on thug British police

Police who behave like thugs will be put on a national ‘struck off’ register to stop them sneaking back to work at a new force.

In a dramatic shake-up of police rules, Theresa May yesterday also announced plans to force senior officers to disclose their pay and perks.

There will be a new register of second jobs held by all officers so that the public knows if a constable is moonlighting.

Officers have been known to work in jobs such as undertaker, vicar and pole-dancing teacher.

And police will be stopped from effectively investigating themselves over allegations of serious misconduct. In future, all complaints will be referred to a beefed-up version of the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The Home Secretary said the aim of the measures was to restore ‘integrity’ in the police.

It follows scandals over the G20 protests, the police handling of the Andrew Mitchell ‘Plebgate’ row and the cover-up of their role in the Hillsborough disaster.

Mrs May said: ‘We need clearer rules for how officers should conduct themselves.’ She pledged that, in future, disciplinary hearings against officers who resign or retire will be pursued until their conclusion.

Currently, officers can escape a guilty verdict by standing down, which brings an automatic halt to proceedings. Anyone found guilty will be placed on a struck-off list managed by the new National College of Policing and available to all forces at home and abroad.

To the irritation of some MPs, guilty officers will not be stripped of their pension. But Mrs May said they would lose out financially because they would be unable to find another police job, either in Britain or elsewhere.

It is intended to prevent a repeat of the shocking case of PC Simon Harwood, a riot squad officer denounced as a ‘thug in uniform’. Newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson died after PC Harwood lashed him with a baton and shoved him to the ground during the London G20 protests in 2009.

The officer had an appalling record of complaints against him for violence in the years before the incident. But he was able to continue working in the police by playing the system.

He retired from the Met on medical grounds on the eve of a disciplinary hearing, re-joined the same force on its civilian staff three days later, then moved on to Surrey Police before returning to serve with the Met in 2004.

An inquest found Mr Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed. But a jury found PC Harwood – who has since been sacked by the Met – not guilty of manslaughter. The jury was not told of his disciplinary record.

A stronger system of vetting before senior officers are appointed will also be developed.

Police bosses will have to consider a candidate’s background – such as any allegations of sexual misconduct – when making recruitment decisions.

Original report here




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