Police fit up Mitchell?

[CogitOCrapNotMoreSprouts]

Seems like someone at the Met lost sight of the truth in their anxiety to smear the former chief whip. Amongst other things, a little matter of 'several members of the public were present' shown to be a lie. Article. Appalling.

isn't this all a bit bonkers? Not just the facts, but also why it';s being seen as 'important'? Neither party are trustworthy, reliable, or credible. So, a minister was not allowed to ride his bike through the right gate. Police on duty told him so. We have an 'incident' between them.

Really. So what? No doubt the minister involved is an utter cunt. The police may have lied. Neither item is 'news just in'.

Can the nation sort of..get back to what is important? Or have someone say exactly why for the majority of the population, outside of Downing St. and the Met, this is important?

It is both news and important if the police are openly colluding to bear false witness against an innocent person with the objective of getting him sacked. He was lucky enough to have the incident captured on CCTV but, if it happened to you or me, we wouldn't stand a chance of clearing our name. Surprised you can't see why it's so serious.

Well, not really, Cogit0, unless there was evidence of a conspiracy against the minister, based on previous behaviours, or the minister had previous record of making unsubstantiated claims against the Met officers, then this really is the most irrelevant crock of shit, triggered by senses of entitlement on both sides and given really long legs by the media.
Tiresome at best.

There's evidence of false statements that conveniently contain the same incorrect information. That's pretty much all you need to demonstrate a conspiracy . Police officers deciding to stitch someone up and doing so in such a casual manner is an abuse of power. You may find it 'tiresome' but some of us who would naturally support and defend the police otherwise find this kind of thing truly shocking.

It is shocking that a member of the police has been found to have potentially fabricated evidence. It is even more shocking that the police are still backing the stories of the other two policemen when there is reasonable suspicion to conclude their side is not factually correct. The police could have, and should have, said they are taking this very seriously and review the account of events submitted by each policeman.

Given the expenses scandel it is a shame that it appears our police seem to be as corrupt as our politicians.

funnyperson - The CCTV pictures are timestamped. It is therefore clear that the pictures of the "public" were recorded at the same time as the incident.

As Mitchell said to the police, it is common practise for the gates to be opened to allow cyclists through. Mitchell himself had been allowed to cycle through the main gates earlier that day. It is not clear why the officers on duty refused to open the gates on this occasion.

And whilst a passing member of the public might well be a serving policeman, the serving policeman who claimed to have observed this incident appearst to have admitted to a journalist that he was not there. His description of the incident has him there with his nephew and a small crowd of onlookers. The CCTV does not show any group fitting that description.

nametakenagain - If we believe Mitchell's account he said, quietly but audibly, "I thought you lot were supposed to f*ing help us", for which he apologised repeatedly. Is that unacceptable swearing at police officers?

Pan if you don't think it's important, try living in a country where police corruption is the norm- where people do just get fit up because the police don't like them or because they've got form and the police can't be arsed to actually do an investigation and find the real culprit. You tend to find those countries don't function very well. This is all the more bizarre because there never was any crime that anyone needed to be fitted up for, so it's not even a "pressure of crime statistics" story.

It's splitting hairs but I would say "You've a fucking twat" (example: not said in this case) is unacceptable swearing at someone" whilst "I thought you were supposed to fucking help us" is still swearing at someone, but not as bad.

Yes, the CCTV seems to suggest the fake police witness is a liar and probably that he was in cahoots with his colleagues whose own statements are therefore now highly suspect sa they show a longish winded incident which clearly did not happen. "I thought you lot were supposed to f*ing help us" is all Mitchell said he said and is probably exactly right. It was a few seconds as he went through. have the police said why they let him through on his bike earlier in the day but not later?

Perhaps we should wait for the report. They have 30 officers on it. Which is a bit OTT

I agree with tiggytape. I am surprised they only have 30 officers working on this. This is extremly serious as the courts rely on police statements all the time.

If this policeman who is accused of gaving a false statement is found guilty the punishment should be severe. Personally I thought the MP's who fiddled their expenses should have gone to jail. They were caught stealing and should have been punished. Given that they are MP's it should be a sackable offence. If I was caught stealing at work I would lose my job even if I paid back the money. I would also expect jail time as I hold a position with fiscal responsibilities - IE I know better.

He wasn't sacked for his use of an inappropriate word [pleb], he was sacked for his lack of self control and inappropriate behaviour.

He behaved very badly and so should have resigned anyway. An apology is not enough for the role he was taking on.

Attempting to defend the indefensible undermines your credibility.

He behaved badly, and should have gone. The investigation is a separate issue.

I thought he resigned.

That one sentence for which he apologised is not particularly bad. However the alleged stitch up is very bad. I hope the 30 officers are not working on how to get their 2 colleagues who were on duty off. I hope they are looking at call records between those two and emails with the off duty man. The second man arrested is alleged to have helped the off duty officer with his emails I think.
Meanwhile Mitchell will be glad Hogan H has gone on holiday until early January.

So someone needs to be asking the 2 policemen on duty at the time where is this non existent crowd on the CCTV? I agree with them that there usually are members of the public where and may be there were and they were shocked but if so why has none of those people come forward to say I was there. I was one of those visibly shocked? Probably because they don't exist.

They also need to look into the role of Mitchell's deputy if any in this.

Hogan-Hough talks the talk. Does he walk the walk?.

The MET probably needs splitting up

HH is on holiday which may not be very wise.

The stitch up is v. bad indeed but in a way it is satisfying to see politicians having to learn that they are not exempt from police malpractice.

Thing is, Mitchell has never admitted what it was he did say, merely that he swore.

Unfortunately it will make it easier for the govt. to cut police budgets, cut police numbers and push ahead with privatisation. While wasting money on police and crime commissioners who have merrily awarded new jobs and fat salaries to their bessie mates.

From what I understand ( happy to be corrected ) Mitchell's behaviour ( swearing ,attitude towards police ) is an arrrestable offence .

But police advised not to arrest unless can prove that members of public observing such behaviour were visibly distressed .

which makes the non existent crowd and made up story from a policeman who wasn't there even more of a fit up .

The police are sworn at all the time and will act on it to suit themselves.
I was a residential worker for years and was constantly attacked threatened and sworn at at work. On the rare occasion we resorted to calling the police we were told that it was expected as part if our job well I'd say its more expected in their job but that doesn't stop them pressing charges to suit.
Working all my life with vulnerable clients I have seen the police behave appallingly as I have at times with my own sons.
The IPCC is a joke and I think the power these people hold is very frightening.
Dh is police and agrees and on the rate occasion I have met his colleagues I have to say some if them come across as power hungry Neanderthal individuals.
Example "what department do you work in"
Reply "kicking down fucking doors love"
That said I work a lot with the dc and cp teams who I have found to be dedicated a d professional.