View Full Version : No Lambeth return for Paddick
Despite the promises of reinstatement if cleared, it's clear that Paddick has been given the political cold shoulder under a cloud of dishonest doublespeak, described as " restructuring of senior posts" and "realigning structure".
Full story:
No Lambeth return for Paddick (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2311365.stm)
Met Police and the Daily Mail: you should be ashamed of yourselves - you've just put community policing in Brixton back ten years.
More: Yard reshuffle moves Paddick from Brixton frontline into backroom role (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=340933)
Mrs Magpie
08-10-2002, 23:17
and basically, read this thread.........
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21209
grubby local
08-10-2002, 23:40
fucks sake. well i hope your hope is right Mrs M....
gx
Clapham Omnibus
08-10-2002, 23:59
They post them here they post them there.
There seems to be a lot of scrambled egg looking for a plate.;)
When in doubt stick them in the Yard.
Only thing is the yards full up.
I wonder if the management consultants have considered what the call center industry is doing and posting them abroad.
Difficult one though. Ops Controller in Bombay.
Unit in Kensington.:eek:
Initial response from Lambeth here (http://www.lambeth4paddick.org/)
You can use links on this page (http://www.lambeth4paddick.org/html/lambeth_talk.html)
to communicate your disgust to the Met, the MPA, and the so called "great and the good".
Some more news reporting here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,1271,-2074570,00.html
We've put out a response from the lambeth4paddick campaign (which I guess will be up on the website, I dunno - ask the day shift).
But now's the time to really kick up shit.
This is not just an issue about police structures, or even about what happpens to Paddick himself. It's about whether the police respect the Lambeth community, whether Sir John Stevens keeps his promise to reinstate Paddick, and whether the community gets included in the decision-making.
What's happened tonight, with a decision that will have a major effect on our community just being slipped out at a time when we don't even really have a chance to get our point of view into the news stories, is like a throwbackto the kind of 'fuck you' hierarchical methods of decision making that caused the first Brixton riots.
Get onto the website,folks, (www.lambeth4paddick.com), and send messages that kick back. Tell your MPs, tell the press, tell Sir John Stevens.
Don't let them just slip it out without feeling they have to explain it to the community.
So, they've got the most senior black policeman, the most senior Asian policeman and now the most senior gay policeman... all together in a room doing the same non-job.
Anyone sense a pattern emerging?
Indeed, wireman. The UK police, and the Met, have not been making great progress in this area and are due for some butt kicking. What better than to set up some of those uppity minorities to take the flak?
It will also be noted that DAC Mike Fuller, who is suggested as Paddick's line manager according to the reports, was one of the most disruptive elements around the cannabis trial with his talk of stoned kids in teh caribbean and of "middle class liberals" in Lambeth. Great team building.
Guardian Report (http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,807314,00.html)
Originally posted by pooka
It will also be noted that DAC Mike Fuller, who is suggested as Paddick's line manager according to the reports, was one of the most disruptive elements around the cannabis trial with his talk of stoned kids in teh caribbean and of "middle class liberals" in Lambeth. Great team building.
Really? Useful info. Thanks.
Yeah, this is gutting. It just makes me feel that, once again, ordinary people don't count. When I feel this I just want to ignore the powers that be rather than engage with them. Not a helpful attitude to encourage amongst the people of Brixton.
I've posted a more detailed comment on the Lambeth4Paddick site which I'll copy here later.
This from the BBC on the 27th March this year -
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News Online
The campaign to reinstate Brian Paddick to one of the toughest policing jobs in Britain has begun with hundreds attending a rally in the heart of south London.
If someone had said just five years ago that black, white, young and old, straight and gay, liberal and anarchist would all be standing together giving a standing ovation to a police commander in Brixton, people might have said they had smoked one spliff too many.
But there they were - the kind of cross-community gathering local politicians would give their right arm for - cheering Commander Brian Paddick, the officer who has shaken up the very concept of policing.
In one of his first - and now infamous - posts to a community action website in Lambeth, Brian Paddick said that he was mulling over a new strap line for police posters: "Don't damage my community".
Those who on Tuesday night at Lambeth Town Hall fired the first salvo in the campaign to reinstate him believe that his transfer to a desk job pending an investigation has done the greatest damage of all.
Community relations
Twenty years ago the Brixton riots marked one of the lowest ebbs in relations between London's police and the black community. Serious disturbances in 1995, deaths in custody and the handling of the Stephen Lawrence murder inquiry elsewhere had harmed the patient attempts at bridge-building.
Lee Jasper: Letter of support from Mayor
And then, in an extraordinarily short space of time, a new commander arrived and appeared to win the kind of support that so many before him have failed to attract.
While this may appear a local matter, the show of strength for Brian Paddick prompts serious questions about the direction of Policing in Britain's towns and cities.
Quite simply, how many other police officers could honestly expect to be enthusiastically applauded by 250 people from all walks of life?
Media focus
The media focus has been firmly on Lambeth police's softly-softly approach on cannabis and Paddick's position as Britain's most senior openly gay policeman.
Campaign: Up and running
But to his supporters last night, numbering some 250, Paddick's strength has been in his apparent ability to communicate and empathise with all manner of people.
Lee Jasper, the influential race adviser to London mayor Ken Livingstone, told the audience that he has been personally and pleasantly "shocked" at the steps Brian Paddick had taken to ensure that he was accessible and that police decisions were transparent.
Floating around the audience - which included a curate and a rabbi - were a number of camcorder-wielding alternative action activists, the kind usually seen filming the police for signs of mistreatment of protesters.
Ken Livingstone himself sent a letter of support laying the blame for Brian Paddick's predicament firmly with a homophobic press.
"There can be little could be that Brian Paddick would not be in the position he is in today if it was not for his sexuality," the mayor wrote. "Those who have waged a campaign against this officer are the real obstacles in the fight against crime [in Lambeth]."
Other speakers joined the fray. Kevin Boyle of the Lesbian and Gay Police Association described Paddick's treatment as a homophobic violation of his privacy. Particular ire on the panel was reserved for Sun columnist Richard Littlejohn.
"Commander Paddick has made a difference in policing in this community," said local clergyman, the Reverend Idelaw Bowman.
"Not only has he made a difference but he has also shown how this metropolis should be policed in the future." Thunderous applause followed.
Dissenters in the minority
Not everyone in the audience supported the "crackpot commander", as one headline has described him.
One woman said that Paddick had failed to investigate the treatment of her son by police. Another man said that Paddick had only shifted crime out of Brixton to elsewhere in the borough.
But when the commander himself made a surprise appearance and took to the stage, they were in minority. The hall stood in rapturous applause.
Paddick may have been portrayed as all sorts of things in the press, but with his cropped hair and grey suit he looked the model of modern policing.
A thank you to the audience, a quick pose for the photographers on the steps of the Town Hall, no comment to the media and he was off walking his old beat towards Brixton Underground station.
On his way he would have passed some of the campaign posters now appearing around Lambeth, run up by a local Green activist.
One of them is a satire on the famous scene from the Monty Python's Life of Brian.
"He's not a very naughty boy, he's the Messiah," it read.
:( :( :( :( :(
septic tank
09-10-2002, 05:32
This is revolting, however predictable. Trust the Met brass to crawl inside their ninja turtle-shell suits and hide when faced with nothing more fearsome than the impotent wrath of a bigot Tory tabloid. Well, they're meek enough critters. We're talking brass buttons, here, not brass balls. I'll say it again: stick to your pickets, Brixton. It ain't over, yet. Keep the heat on and these stuffed suits'll melt like butter, leaving nothing but a mess of grease and gold-braided epaulettes in their wake.
Stobart Stopper
09-10-2002, 07:31
I knew this would happen.
drfranni
09-10-2002, 07:52
Heard it on the news at 6.30am. What a way to start the day.
Gutting.
Well, walk with the Goddess, friends, because we have lost an important protector
http://aunimages.animfactory.com/animations/people_a_l/heads/old_man_sad_lg_clr.gif
Streathamite
09-10-2002, 07:53
yet again, lambeth gets screwed over
Met Police and the Daily Mail: you should be ashamed of yourselves - you've just put community policing in Brixton back ten years.
That is so exactly right editor!
Never underestimate the ability of the narrow-minded, sanctimonious and reactionary to get their way.
Mr Retro
09-10-2002, 09:36
This is revolting, however predictable.
My reaction exactly
Stobart Stopper
09-10-2002, 10:24
I have an old 12" record. It was made just after the Brixton riots. It expresses the anger of the black kids/adults in the area at the time and it's quite incredible to hear the anger in the words.
I feel that removing the Commander will cause alot of damage to the relationship that the local people have with the police. Just as things were improving and a senior officer made the effort to get out, walk the beat and talk to them they take him away. I hear that Commander Paddick is very highly respected by the beat officers in Brixton as they know he cares about the community they work in. I would love to know what they make of this decision. This was a bloody witchhunt from the beginning and it's so unfair.
If you are reading this, Mr Paddick, at least you can hold your head up and say you tried your very best for Brixton. You have done nothing wrong. All you've tried to do is to be a normal, caring human being, listening where others turned a blind eye, understanding where others seemed to be at a loss as to what to do next.
You are the one who has come out on top. Ok, you might not be where you want to be but you have proved one thing- that 'equal opportunities' only apply to people who are willing to toe the line, saying "yes" to everything and never putting forward a sensible, rational opinion. Say what you think and they will find any way to stitch you up.
Good luck, boss. I really mean that. You are one of the best!
Just got this predictably dull cut and paste response from my letter of complaint to the Commissioner' at @met.police.uk:
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your email. As part of the realignment of the management structure, Commander Paddick will be taking on the responsibility for the Metropolitan Police operation of the National Intelligence Model, which will be part of the new Specialist Crime Command under AC Ghaffur.
,
IntoStella
09-10-2002, 10:41
Everything I was going to say has already been said. It has been a stitch-up from day one and I feel very angry and sad about it. I will write to that slimeball Stevens. :mad:
As for Brian's new appointment, it just sounds like a Jim Davidson joke: ''Did you hear the one about the top black policeman, the top Asian policeman and the top gay policeman... ''
Brian, we are all gutted. :( :(
(PS: Hi Grubby, Hi Septic. It's the Brixton global village!)
I've just done a live radio interview for the BBC London Jon Gaunt show which went alright - even if I was, worryingly, filmed in my room as I did the phone interview by a BBC London TV crew, filming a feature for the lunchtime news.
A Spandau Ballet put it so succinctly, "I don't need this pressure on....! " ;)
IntoStella
09-10-2002, 10:46
Originally posted by Stupid Twat
I feel that removing the Commander will cause alot of damage to the relationship that the local people have with the police. Too bloody right. ST, thanks for a totally blinding post. Completely seconded by me.
CANNABIS ROW OFFICER `VICTIM OF CONTRIVED ALLEGATIONS'
The police commander who pioneered the softly softly approach to cannabis is the victim of contrived allegations and must be returned to his job, his supporters declared today
'The Metropolitan Police had broken its word to the people of Lambeth, south London, by moving Brian Paddick, 43, Britain's highest-ranking openly gay policeman, to a less high-profile post', according to the Support Brian Paddick Campaign.
Scotland Yard's decision to move him to implement the National Intelligence Model, the force's recently developed blueprint for reducing crime, could also be a blow to police/community relations, the campaign said.
Mr Paddick is currently under investigation over allegations, made by a former boyfriend in a kiss-and-tell article, that he smoked cannabis.
The decision has angered his supporters as it pre-empts a Crown Prosecution Service announcement, expected within days, on whether Mr Paddick will face charges.
Brian Paddick is a respected police officer who has been the victim of contrived allegations, said a campaign spokesman.
Many members of this community do not trust the police further than they can throw them.
What are those of us who feel that it is worth working with the police to tell them now?
Mr Paddick was moved from his £93,000-a-year post after the allegations arose in March.
Campaigners fear his latest appointment indicates that he will not be able to return to south London if he is cleared of the allegations.
Scotland Yard said the decision was due to a restructuring programme affecting 22 commanders and 10 deputy assistant commissioners.
Metropolitan Police Authority chairman Lord Harris said Mr Paddick's career would have been disadvantaged if he had been 'artificially held' in Lambeth.
'The post he has been assigned is an extremely important one. It is a very serious role in Scotland Yard,' he said.
'It is part of an allocation that would have been made irrespective of the allegations against him. It does not pre-judge those allegations in one way or another.
The reality is that this has not about the allegations or the work he did in Lambeth. The people should not feel this implies any change of approach in tackling the crime issues'.
Mr Paddick, who was head of policing in Lambeth, will be moved to his new post once the inquiry is finished.
Under his cannabis scheme users were warned rather than arrested when they were caught with the drug.
The initiative caused concern among senior police officers, as did Mr Paddick's comments on a website where he expressed an attraction to the concept of anarchism.
[Weird glitches edited out by Editor, suitably miffed to find urban75 described as 'a website' ]
edited to add: sorry bout the glitches mike! something weird goes on when i transfer it from our system ....
and (this isn't really worth a whole new post of its own) why miffed bout u75 being described as 'a website'??? it's better than most of the descriptions i've seen journos use. would you prefer 'internet bulletin board'? 'community website'??? don't quite understand the problem .....
IntoStella
09-10-2002, 10:50
Lord Harris said Mr Paddick's career
would have been disadvantaged if he had been ´artificially held´ in Lambeth. . BAH! And Toby Harris used to be a good egg. Power corrupts, eh? Or maybe peerage corrupts. :mad:
Stobart Stopper
09-10-2002, 10:55
Some time a go my husband came home and said " I keep hearing about the new Commander at Brixton, apparently the rumour is that he just goes out on the beat all the time on his own."
I was a bit surprised and just thought it was a bit of a joke, I'd never heard of anything like that before. OK, they do go out but it's not that often.
We heard that it was quite usual for Mr Paddick to just take off down to Brixton High Street on the spur of the moment, calling in to the shops, walking around the market, listening to people's concerns and just talking to everyone. I don't live in Brixton so I am not sure if this is true but it was a talking point among the junior ranks and they thought he was the bees knees.
Have you any idea what it does to the morale of a young, inexperienced probationer to see, coming the other way, his Commander, just doing exactly the same thing as he is? Walking the beat.
Mrs Magpie
09-10-2002, 11:01
It's true, ST. One would often see Brian out and about, in a high-visibility jacket, on the high street, in the market, communicating. That yellow jacket meant you'd see him easily. No skulking about for him.
I am now fully prepared to engage in Civil Disobedience over this, and I'm not the only one.
IntoStella
09-10-2002, 11:23
Originally posted by Mrs Magpie
I am now fully prepared to engage in Civil Disobedience over this, and I'm not the only one. Chain me up, baby!! :eek: :eek: :D
Saxon Rillet
09-10-2002, 11:45
SOUTH London exploded in outrage this week when it emerged that a man who has been masquerading as a cop for 20 years will not retain his job as a Met commander.
Brian Paddick, who possesses no policeman-like qualities, was last seen on an Internet site extolling the virtues of anarchy.
But a source close to the gay pseudo-cop said: "Everyone around Brixton is very upset.
"It is entirely inappropriate for his bosses in the police not to give him his job back even though he may have smoked illegal drugs and was going out with a man who was on bail for fraud.
"Some of these police officers do very nasty things like arrest people, put them in vans and take them to prison - or try to uphold the law.
"Of course Bri's not like that. Hail Brian."
ITV London has run a story that Paddick's going to quit the force if he fails to get back to Lambeth, with the report directly quoting from a private email 'sent to his support campaign'.
So who leaked that, then?
And Saxon: haven't you learnt that if you've got nothing intelligent to say on a subject you know nothing about, the best advice is to shut the fuck up?
Stobart Stopper
09-10-2002, 12:12
It never ends.......
When will they leave him alone?
What is all this bollocks about the 'private email' if it was private what is it doing on the news?
(He can't leave anyway, he will lose too much of his pension!!!!!!)
If he does leave then I understand why. It's about what's right and what's wrong. It will be their loss, a big loss if you ask me.
People with communications skills like the Commander has are very thin on the ground in the Met, in the senior ranks anyway.
IntoStella
09-10-2002, 12:15
(Did you know an anagram of Saxon Rillet is NIXES A TROLL ?
Another is TALLER IN SOX. OK, back on topic....) ;)
Stobart Stopper
09-10-2002, 12:20
wish I could get my hands on an Eddie Stobart scrunchie thingy for the hair. The Editor could wear it on tv every time he does an interview.........
might send him a truck in a box to put on top of his computer .:D
Mrs Magpie
09-10-2002, 12:32
I would imagine that this is now wider than just Lambeth Wants Brian Back. I wouldn't be at all surprised if gay groups now get involved. I have visions of a fat middle-aged lady (me) chained to the railings outside New Scotland Yard while lesbians abseil down the front of the building and the building is stormed by fit young men in pvc. Meanwhile the Brianettes Direct Action Dancers tap dance on top of the revolving New Scotland Yard sign.
:eek:
I reckon John Stevens and Toby Harris have really misjudged on the PR front over this...............
sonicdancer
09-10-2002, 12:38
I saw that, some private email eh ?
whos the leak, how much did you get for it ?
The latest news that Brian Paddick will not be returning to his south London post is a blatant snub to the people of Brixton and Lambeth. Sir John Stevens promised Paddick's return should he be cleared of the charges against him. Now Sir John has conveniently forgotten that promise.
It would seem that "community policing" and "policing by consent" are just empty phrases as far as the Met Commissioner is concerned.
Paddick had built a level of trust of the police never before seen in Brixton. Now that will all go down the drain.
I guess the public opinion on the streets, on the website Lambeth4Paddick and the 5000 signature petition which was mostly collected around Brixton's shops and pubs count for nothing!
It is also interesting to note that the Paddick (the Met’s top gay officer) is to be sidelined with the both the Met’s top Asian officer and the Met’s top black officer into the same behind the scenes job. Is there a pattern emerging there?
Now you know what happens when the people of Brixton aren't treated with respect by the cops don't you Sir John?
PS It wasn't me who leaked (or even received) that email - it probably didn't exist.
IntoStella
09-10-2002, 12:59
Originally posted by Mrs Magpie
I have visions of a fat middle-aged lady (me) chained to the railings outside New Scotland Yard while lesbians abseil down the front of the building and the building is stormed by fit young men in pvc. Meanwhile the Brianettes Direct Action Dancers tap dance on top of the revolving New Scotland Yard sign.Oh, can I play? :D
Caught the news in a shop on Tottenham Court Road. Did they say the expected Disciplinary action - how so when the panel hasn't even met yet?
The email thing was odd, did anyone catch the addressee? It flew up the screen.
If people want to mail newspapers, there are links set up here (http://www.lambeth4paddick.org/html/lambeth_talk.html) (saves you looking them up).
Over the next few days, various groups in Lambeth will be getting together to plan a response - we'll keep you posted.
The press release issued late last night by lambeth4paddick can be read here (http://www.lambeth4paddick.org/).
Mrs Magpie
09-10-2002, 13:35
There will be something on London Tonight on ITV too......they've done an interview with someone on the campaign to re-instate Paddick in Lambeth......
Turboprop
09-10-2002, 13:40
This is terrible news. It is also a sad day for Lambeth, and for the rest of us. This is just another typical example of senior management playing politics. They are so narrow minded. They are also scared of visionary people such as Brian.:mad:
Mr Retro
09-10-2002, 14:35
I would imagine that this is now wider than just Lambeth Wants Brian Back. I wouldn't be at all surprised if gay groups now get involved.
I hope they do along with all other minorities and non minorities.
You need to earn trust but this situation now shows the Met can't be trusted. How can they be, when they say one thing and mean another?
...NOT NOW, NOT EVER, NEVER!
No, I am not going to resign. Softly, softly...
grubby local
09-10-2002, 17:35
go Brian! Fuckers. (sorry don't have anything constructive to add, just bitter hate)
gx
Stobart Stopper
09-10-2002, 17:51
Brian, or Sir.........I should say!
From hubby:
Don't give up, no matter what you do or what role you perform if you are in a position of power you can still make a difference. If you joined the police service to make a difference (and you know what I mean by 'difference') then I would say to you, don't give in, stick at it, and make the difference where you can.
And if anyone had the misfortune to witness Kate Hoey's clueless rant about what 'we' in Lambeth supposedly want on the BBC London news, may I suggest this:
Slap Kate Hoey (http://www.urban75.com/Punch/hoey.html)
I wish she'd hurry up and join the Tory party.
Maybe you should add a 'Slap Sir John Stevens' after the way he's let us down.
Jessiedog
09-10-2002, 18:50
Brian,
You brought me to these boards and for that I will forever hold you in my heart.
Your courage is inspiring.
Bless you.
Woof
Mrs Magpie
09-10-2002, 18:53
Can it feature him with a forked tongue? He lied to us.
Clapham Omnibus
09-10-2002, 18:57
It seems to me a real odd bit of officialdom to put an intelligent person in Intelligence.
Yeah I wonder who leaked the typing of an e-mail?
Probably someone in government or TV (much are the same these days).
Perhaps they have got their wires wrong Kate Hoey in intelligence if she can find where it is or indeed what it is.
Brian Paddick in Lambeth.
Keep going Brian
Best regards
CO;)
Caspar Hauser
09-10-2002, 19:05
Originally posted by ats
Maybe you should add a 'Slap Sir John Stevens' after the way he's let us down.
I'd say slapping is too good for that bastard! :mad:
Any chance we could warp him? :D
mummymonster
09-10-2002, 19:43
We're with you all the way! What an utterly disgraceful way you have been treated. I'm not a Lambeth resident (any more) but I support you all the way. I think the comments about, the highest ranking black police officer, asian police officer, and now gay police officers have been totally spot on. Its a good job (for the Met) that this news wasn't released in the height of a hot summer, or I do reckon we might have another riot on our hands. I don't advocate violence, but sometimes its not surprising - especially when the people are treated with contempt, as we all have been.
Peter Matisse
09-10-2002, 23:04
Let's look through the round window today everyone, what do we see, one black officer, one Asian officer, and one gay officer - well we must be in minorities corner!
Isn't that nice, we set up a unit that is under funded, under resourced, and 18 months behind schedule and designed to make failures of those that serve in it. We call it minorities corner.
We do all this so we can say ' Minorities, they are just not up to it and besides we must keep the upper ranks racially pure.'
I wonder who polishes Sir Johns jackboots ? I wonder where he keeps his national front membership card ?
One thing Sir John does very well is spitting in the faces of the people in Lambeth.
'Lets work together to fight crime?' - In a pigs eye !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Really Peter, something comes over you round midnight! :)
Meanwhile, the MPA disciplinary panel jobby are now going to meet next Monday - walking backwards for Christmas
MPA Release (http://www.mpa.gov.uk/news/press/02-101.asp)
Interesting that this time they announce their meeting on their website, last time it was just the TV crews who knew.
And the emails keep coming! (Independent (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=341208)
missing twin
09-10-2002, 23:32
Originally posted by Peter Matisse
Let's look through the round window today everyone, what do we see, one black officer, one Asian officer, and one gay officer - well we must be in minorities corner!
hear, hear..
nothing to add except I didnt know whether to laugh or cry when I read the Guardian this morning:confused: Though I must say the reporter must have been chuckling!
On the issue of Paddick returning.. let's keep going strong, don't give the Mail any satisfaction they've won:mad:
MTx
Yes I'm sure that new unit for Paddick is exactly as it sounds - a sick joke.
GaryJenkins
10-10-2002, 06:57
Peter Matisse
Let's look through the round window today everyone, what do we see, one black officer, one Asian officer, and one gay officer - well we must be in minorities corner!
So do you think people in these categories should automatically be given the best jobs? (& I'm not necessarily saying there's anything wrong with the jobs they've got)
Stobart Stopper
10-10-2002, 07:32
No, it's about EQUAL opportunities, something that the Met seems to have overlooked for years. Things are now improving but once the racist, homophobic brigade are finally pensioned off, they will finally be able to move with the times.
Peter Matisse
10-10-2002, 08:13
What I am saying is that the Met is institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic. Despite what you read this job is designed to make failures of those that serve there. So you put in all the uppity minorities to shut them up. People should be treated fairly and on merit and this job is a rubbish job.
To hear Toby Harris talk you would think this was one of the best jobs in the Met. Again this is rubbish. He was the man who reccomended that Brian be moved in the first place, to 'protect' him. All that did was deliver him into the hands of the biggoted homophobic senior officers at the Met. Brian need never have left Lambeth. Toby Harris is part of the plot. He and Sir John Stevens have colluded to destroy Brian's career because he refuses to fit in to the white straight racist model, that they expect from their senior officers.
There are some serious questions to be asked about the way the Met have handled this, and I think we deserve a public enquiry into the Met with regard to this matter.
They are public servants paid for by our taxes and should not be allowed to behave in this way.
White Lotus
10-10-2002, 08:54
Smile everyone, you're on camera! Or at least on the BBC News website, which is now quoting from this thread and includes a link to U75:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2313725.stm
Stobart Stopper
10-10-2002, 08:57
also in the Daily Mail today....... the 'anarchist' website...ROFL!
jon gaunt on bbc london radio is questioning paddicks motives on his show.
a quote from gaunty, "why is he talking to anarchists websites" :mad:
IntoStella
10-10-2002, 10:22
Originally posted by White Lotus
Smile everyone, you're on camera! In that case:
WE WANT BRIAN BACK! NOW!
Originally posted by 43mhz
jon gaunt on bbc london radio is questioning paddicks motives on his show.
a quote from gaunty, "why is he talking to anarchists websites" :mad:
Gaunt was mentioned in last week's New Statesman as being a bit of a twat ... why on earth do the BBC, of all people, employ him! He should be on some shite backwater like Talk Sport.
William of Walworth
10-10-2002, 12:22
No time (these days!!) to say much except to add my support for what it's worth to everyone campaigning to get Brian back. This is all outrageous!!
also in the Daily Mail today....... the 'anarchist' website...ROFL!
WTF is the Daily Mail saying today, btw? Suggest Mike casts a careful legal eye over it.
Stobart Stopper
10-10-2002, 12:28
same old shite........page 20.
"I am not going to quit, says defiant Paddick on 'anarchy' website."
(Mean-looking pic!)
"last night, the officer returned to the website, where he once revealed that he found the idea anarchy attractive, to say that he would stay in the force."
blah blah blah.
off to eat my baby now.
IntoStella
10-10-2002, 12:30
Originally posted by William of Walworth
WTF is the Daily Mail saying today, btw? Suggest Mike casts a careful legal eye over it. Well, if they are reading this, I'm just off to do loads of crack and heroin at a huge kinky-sex orgy with one-legged asylum seekers. Anyone coming, so to speak? ;)
IntoStella
10-10-2002, 12:33
Originally posted by Stupid Twat
"last night, the officer returned to the website...."WOOOO! WHAT A SCOOP! :eek: :D
There a quite a few 'guests' hanging around in here today, I notice....
Anna Key
10-10-2002, 12:42
Originally posted by Stupid Twat
same old shite........page 20.
"last night, the officer returned to the website, where he once revealed that he found the idea anarchy attractive, to say that he would stay in the force."
I remember feeling insulted at the time. Why is just "the idea of Anna Key" attractive?
Why not the real thing?
:(
agricola
10-10-2002, 12:42
Why is it the job seems determined to shoot itself in the foot at any given opportunity? Hope you get back soon sir, keep going no matter what they do next.
IntoStella
10-10-2002, 12:48
agricola - you might know. What, in a nutshell, is the position of a police officer compared with a 'civilian' employee in cases of unfair or, more to the point, constructive dismissal? I am assuming police officers' rights are curtailed in some ways for putative 'security' reasons.
agricola
10-10-2002, 13:19
infostella,
i have no idea; but in terms of sex- and race-discrimination its been shown that what the Police say or do in their disciplinary code is trumped by the civil system, most notably with Sgt. Virdi's case. of course, that we are even talking about it is a shocking state of affairs :(
White Lotus
10-10-2002, 13:21
Originally posted by IntoStella
Well, if they are reading this, I'm just off to do loads of crack and heroin at a huge kinky-sex orgy with one-legged asylum seekers. Anyone coming, so to speak? ;)
You missed a bit - lesbian asylum-seekers, shurely? ;)
IntoStella
10-10-2002, 13:46
Originally posted by White Lotus
You missed a bit - lesbian asylum-seekers, shurely? ;) Everyone welcome :p :p Come on, we're about to sacrifice the virgins.
Miscellaneous
10-10-2002, 13:51
It makes me sick at the way they are treating Brian Paddick, and it certainly changes my mind to wether I want to join the force and in some years time possibly have to face this shit too.......
A word for the Police Cheifs:
Its not good for recruitment is is you idiots?!?!?
oOoOoOo Sacrificing- can I come????? :D
Manda
xxxxx
IntoStella
10-10-2002, 14:20
Originally posted by Manda
oOoOoOo Sacrificing- can I come????? :D Manda, we do have SOME standards! ;) :D :p
One of the virgins has cried off sick. Perhaps we can invite Manda after all? :D
White Lotus
10-10-2002, 17:11
Originally posted by DrJazzz
One of the virgins has cried off sick.
Er ... not morning sickness I hope?? :eek:
(Sorry I can't stay & chat ... got a bloke strung up & coming to the boil nicely here ... ;) )
Miscellaneous
10-10-2002, 18:32
C'mon you know you want to :D
detective-boy
11-10-2002, 19:07
What, in a nutshell, is the position of a police officer compared with a 'civilian' employee in cases of unfair or, more to the point, constructive dismissal? I am assuming police officers' rights are curtailed in some ways for putative 'security' reasons.
Constructive dismissal applies to police officers like anyone else. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to prove. And the fact a copper is moved sideways from one job to another would not be viewed automatically as being detrimental (it's in the contract that you agree to serve wherever the organisation wants you).
Sadly even if Brian proved he was being discriminated against because he is gay he would not have an alternative cause of action.
Now, if he'd been black (racial discrimination) or female (sex discrimination), both of which give rise to specific causes of action in the Employment Tribunal, he'd just be sitting around with his lawyers wondering about how many "0"'s he wanted (they are talking about bringing in a sexuality discrimination act - why stop there - why not a Discrimination Based on any Bloody Irrelevant Characteristic Act but it won't be applicable for ages and won't be retrospective)
Appearing on BBSNews Page One http://bbsnews.net
Daily Telegraph Missed Key Paddick-Lambeth Facts
BBSNews Updated 2002-10-13 -- The Daily Telegraph surely made a halfhearted
attempt in covering the latest news into what will happen with Commander
Brian Paddick. (2002-10-10)1 And their recollection of local Lambeth history
looks a bit shaky even from this far away here in North Carolina.
The Telegraph leads with the fact that Brian Paddick was cleared of drug
charges. But they left out that those now non-existant charges came about
because of an enormous sum of money. This homophobic row kicked into high
gear after $156,000, was handed over to James Renolleau2 by a tabloid for a
sensationalistic smear story. Renolleau then promptly scooted off to
France3.
To be fair the Telegraph does conclude that Paddick will keep his
£93,000-a-year salary. But then they go on to bring up that old "anarchy"
thing again. Was this a "cub" reporter who has not taken the time to see
remarks that The Commander made were taken wildly out of context4 and then
published in a tabloid? The article goes on to claim that "opinions on him
have been sharply divided."
Not from any factual perspective. In February 2002, The Guardian opined "We
need more police officers like Paddick."5 On March 11th, Big Issue editor
Matthew Collin was joined by the Mayor of London, Paul Livingstone, MP's
Paul Flynn and Brian Iddon, and many other community leaders and opinion
makers as signatories to an open letter to Sir John Stevens6 which is
poignantly supportive of Brian Paddick. (Metropolitan police commissioner
Sir John Stevens' office declined to comment to
BBSNews for this report.) Also in March, eight days after Paddick announced
he would be transferred, 300-400 supporters gave him a standing ovation and
cheers in a Brixton town meeting. A meeting attendee and favorite at
urban75.com is Mrs. Magpie. She said after the March 26th, 2002 General
Meeting of the Community Police Consultative Group for Lambeth: "I am glad
that there was a huge spontaneous cheer. It didn't surprise me, because he
has always regarded us in Brixton as allies7, not as
means to furthering his career and he was there to thank us for our support
and we appreciated him being there."
On April 24th, 2002 a 5,000 signature petition was presented to New Scotland
Yard8 asking for Paddick's return. In July of each year Lambeth holds a
"County Show" in Brockwell Park. This year Lambeth4Paddick set up a stall
and gathered 400 comments that were overwhelmingly in favor of Commander
Paddick9. I cannot recall the time that a senior police official here in the
United States or in the UK for that matter has so spontaneously elicited
such a sustained groundswell of community support.
The support was unprecedented right from the start. As soon as the removal
of Paddick from his rightful post in Lambeth happened, the posters went up
in support of a man that truly has the respect of the community.
The claim by the Telegraph that the local petition was anything but an
outpouring of community feeling towards this top cop, who even understands
some cultures extreme aversion to large dogs10, is unsupportable even from
this great distance. This is an amazing display that so many people have
gotten together in support of a police chief whose job is to make safer some
very tough ground by all accounts. His way has been largely vindicated by
the facts11 and by the amazing support of his community.
Acting Lambeth Borough Commander Brian Moore said on October 1st, 2002 that
one of the reasons for success in tackling local crime was "The impact of
Commander Brian Paddick in forging an alliance between the community and the
police.12"
To Kate Hoey I say, the "stunt" you speak of, it is to be adopted across the
whole of London is it not13? And how can cannabis even be called a large
problem when most people across the UK don't even know cannabis is
illegal14? Also in the BBC's Cracking Crime report15 it was noted that
"almost half (46%) did not think the government's cannabis policy - under
which the drug will be downgraded but remain illegal - would have any effect
on overall crime levels." This man has been cleared. He should be going back
to the place that is ready to honor his return. Sir John Stevens promised16.
Send Brian Paddick back to Lambeth.
The numbers above are the references included with this article. They accompany the article on BBSNews in clickable form and the copy that I sent to Sir John Stevens after they refused to directly comment. I could not include any of the 16 refs here as Mike has the BBS set to keep messages short.
As has been the case, BBSNews also calls for the return of Brian Paddick to Lambeth. It would be great if we had a couple of thousand police chiefs like him here in the states. If anyone has had a successful reply back from Sir John Steven email address please let BBSNews know. I don't believe that it serves any function at all given the run-around that I have gotten from them.
Michael Hess
Editor, BBSNews
http://bbsnews.net
IntoStella
14-10-2002, 23:17
Originally posted by detective-boy
Now, if he'd been black (racial discrimination) or female (sex discrimination), both of which give rise to specific causes of action in the Employment Tribunal, he'd just be sitting around with his lawyers wondering about how many "0"'s he wanted (they are talking about bringing in a sexuality discrimination act - why stop there - why not a Discrimination Based on any Bloody Irrelevant Characteristic Act but it won't be applicable for ages and won't be retrospective)DB -- thanks for the clarification. No, it won't be restrospective, unfortunately, but a time will eventually come when police officers (or anyone else) will be able to successfully fight cases of discrimination on the grounds of sexual preference. And the police force are so going to hate it. :D I can't wait.
bbsnews/michael - brilliant stuff! Keep up the great work, if that doesn't sound too patronising (I hope not). I'm so glad you see this as such a crucial fight (it is), even from all the way over there in N Carolina. This is what blows me away every time about urban75. It's globalisation in a GOOD way!
Hobgoblin
16-10-2002, 17:16
Paddick did manage to achieve a reduction in street crime in Brixton which can only be a good thing. Why is it that when ever there is a decent police chief who really does something useful and achieves good results they get booted out. Another example would be Rob Malon police chief of Middlesborough who achived a 20 per cent redution in crime in that city within 18 months who had vowed to reduce the crime rate within six months or resign. He was booted out of the force too on trumpted allegations of corruption!
the offer of a new job in the Met implies he'll be cleared of charges... being blamed tomo on re-structuring of senior posts and a desire to keep him low profile
peter matisse - haven't forgotten pics, got v limited access to internet at the mo :)
That implication is quite clear. The response I got from the Commissioner's email flunkey was unambiguous:
"As part of the realignment of the management structure, Commander Paddick will be taking on the responsibility for the Metropolitan Police operation of the National Intelligence Model, which will be part of the new Specialist Crime Command under AC Ghaffur."
No ifs or buts
A great piece of writing Michael. Thanks, it helps keep our sanity as the media here is frankly full of garbage. Reading the papers is like looking in the mirror - and seeing a laughing monkey as the reflection... :(
detective-boy
17-10-2002, 19:37
Originally posted by Hobgoblin
Another example would be Rob Malon police chief of Middlesborough who achived a 20 per cent redution in crime in that city within 18 months who had vowed to reduce the crime rate within six months or resign. He was booted out of the force too on trumpted allegations of corruption!
I agree that Ray Mallon would be another example of the "if you rock the boat we'll get you somehow" approach which appears to be ever more prevalent in todays police service. However, when it comes to style, I think you'll find he's about as far from Brian as it's possible to get. He favoured the "get tough", "zero tolerance" approach and the allegations centered around persuading criminals to accept a few more offences to clear the books (as well as some more dodgy stuff involving recycling hard drugs).
He was cleared of criminal charges and resigned before the disciplinary things were sorted out in order to stand as Mayor of Middlesborough (claiming the police were deliberately delaying things in order to stop him standing). (He was elected Mayor I think).
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