lambeth4paddick Media Statements

Paddick Cleared Entirely!

12 November 2002

The Metropolitan Policy Authority disciplinary panel for officers of ACPO rank released, this morning, the following statement:

“ Members of the Metropolitan Police Authority's senior officer conduct sub-committee have announced today their decision in respect of allegations against Commander Brian Paddick.The case will not be referred to a tribunal hearing. The MPA has provided feedback and comment to Commander Paddick.

The matter is now closed

The sub-committee's decision was made in accordance with its powers under the Police (Conduct) (Senior Officer) Regulations 1999 in respect of allegations that Commander Paddick's conduct had failed to meet the appropriate standard.

The sub-committee has taken this decision after full and thorough consideration of all the evidence collated by the investigating officer in this matter including written submissions received from Commander Paddick.

The Authority is unable to discuss the details of any individual case - no media interviews or facilities.”

We say:

Unless the Met announce otherwise, there is still a job to be done heading up Lambeth’s police by an officer of Commannder rank and that officer should be Brian Paddick. Sir John Stevens and Lord Toby Harris now have not even a privet leaf with which to hide their shame.

The retention of the rank of Commander in the borough is the subject of an allegedly independent review, costing £70,000 of public money, by Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting). Within the borough, there are serious doubts as to the independence of this review:

On Friday 25 October, the Met’s press office briefed Richard Evans of the South London Press, that the decision to abolish the Commander rank had already been taken;

At the November meeting of Lambeth Police Community Consultative Group on 4 November, Chair Lee Jasper reported that the Group had not been approached by Accenture for consultation;

At the same meeting, Lambeth Councillor Charles Anglin (Deputy Executive Member for Community Safety) reported that “regrettably” Accenture had not approached the Council either.

There is an old saying, that a consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time. In this case, it looks like the hands have been set first. The Mail on Sunday allegedly paid £100,000 to get Brian Paddick out of Lambeth. Looks like London’s tax payers are having to cough up £70,000 to help Sir John and Lord Toby finish the Mail’s business.

MPA Spins It Out......Again!

15 October 2002

At their meeting on Monday 14 October, the Metropolitan Police Authority’s Disciplinary Panel for ACPO ranking officers decided to seek further information from Commander Brian Paddick, and have set a period of 28 days to do so. lambeth4paddick made the following statement:

Commander Brian Paddick: Lambeth’s patience wearing thin

Lambeth’s respect for due process is being sorely tested by the twists and turns in the authorities’ handling of the contrived allegations against Commander Brian Paddick.

Last week, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that Commander Brian Paddick had no charges to answer. The Metropolitan Police Service announced their intention to post him to what they described as a key role within a new Intelligence unit.

On Monday 14th October the Metropolitan Policy Authority’s Disciplinary Panel for ACPO ranking officers determined that they wish to seek yet further explanation from Commander Paddick, and have allowed a period of 28 days in which to do so.

 This is after a six month investigation by a senior officer from Humberside, which was subsequently reviewed over three weeks by the CPS.

This will give Commander Paddick the opportunity to fully clear his name. But it will prevent him from contributing to the debate, growing apace in the borough, around the rank of the borough commander in Lambeth.

This debate surrounds the review by consultants Acenture of the grading structure of the Met, and of the Lambeth post in particular. By some coincidence, this review is also expected to report in four weeks time.

The feeling is growing in Lambeth that the authorities are hell bent on keeping Brian Paddick out of his post in Lambeth, contrary to earlier commitments given by Sir John Stevens to return Paddick if there are no charges to be faced. For whatever the reason, they seem eager to comply with the wishes of a newspaper group far more than those of the people of Lambeth.

The issue of the independence of the Met from political interference by newspapers and the implications for the trust and confidence of Londoners, has moved to centre stage.

The MPA’s meeting coincided with the announcement of crime figures showing that Lambeth led London in reductions in street crime in the first 9 months of this year. The reduction in Lambeth was 39%, for London overall 11% whilst that for the next highest borough (Westminster) just 18%.

These results are an unambiguous vindication Commander Paddick’s strategy in Lambeth, the more so since reduction in street crime over the period of the Cannabis Trial was even higher (49%).

We note that this is happening in the same week as the newspaper group responsible for this major disruption of policing in our borough has also been accused of bringing undue influence on another public body, the Lottery Community Fund, by that body’s Chair.

At some point the public need to be assured that major public institutions, and the individuals who run them, have the courage to resist such political sabotage.

Paddick Cleared!

Wednesday 9 October, 2002

The Crown Prosecution Service today announced that Commander Paddick has no charges to answer to. This is no surprise to people in Lambeth.

lambeth4paddick issued the following statement:

PADDICK CLEARED - THE COMMUNITY RESPONDS

lambeth4paddick welcomes the news that no criminal charges are to be brought against Commander Brian Paddick.

Two questions now remain:

Why was a newspaper able to promote its political agenda at the expense of the Lambeth community?

Why is Sir John Stevens refusing to keep his promise that Commander Paddick would be returned to his post?

We want to see community and police work together in Lambeth to fight crime on our streets. The best person to lead that process is Commander Brian Paddick, the only senior policeman ever to have won the trust of the Lambeth community.

Community reactions here

Met Commissioner Breaks Faith with Lambeth

Midnight, Tuesday 8 October, 2002

According to BBC online, the Metropolitan Police Service have announced tonight that Commander Brian Paddick is to be reassigned to a permanent post within Scotland Yard and not to be returned to Lambeth

This announcement preempts the response from the Crown Prosecution Service to investigations into the allegations against Brian Paddick, and also preempts the Metropolitan Police Authority’s Disciplinary Standards panel. Such is the eagerness of the Met to follow the Daily Mail’s agenda, that due process has been stood on it’s head.

lambeth4paddick made the following statement:

PRESS RELEASE

The Metropolitan Police Force has not kept its word to the Lambeth community.

Brian Paddick is a respected police officer who has been the victim of contrived allegations.

Commissioner Sir John Stevens said in April that, if these charges did not stick, Brian Paddick would return to his duties.  Apparently, he has not kept his promise.

Following the announcement that Commander Brian Paddick was to be moved to a job in police intelligence, the Support Brian Paddick Campaign (lambeth4paddick) issued this statement:

Many members of this community don’t 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?

Ever since the Scarman report, members of this community have been working to achieve real communication between community and police. Lambeth has been the origin of many initiatives, such as lay visiting of police stations, that have since been copied nationwide.

The first time we got a senior police officer who seemed to share our commitment to that process, he was attacked by a right-wing newspaper with a clear political agenda.  We respected the police’s duty to investigate those allegations.  Now it appears there are no charges to answer and Brian Paddick should return to Lambeth. But Sir John Stevens is not keeping his word.

This may seem an easy fudge in New Scotland Yard.  But for us it is about more than whether the police get a bad press from Associated Newspapers.  It is about whether our streets are over-run by crack-dealers and whether our community goes up in flames as a result of bad policing, as has happened too many times before.

With Stop and Search ( the cause of the original Brixton riots) about to be scaled up, the police appear to be showing no respect whatsoever for those in the Brixton community who have been trying to work for harmonious relations between police and community.

We expect Commander Paddick to be returned to his duties in Lambeth.

In April this year, 5000 people signed a petition calling for Brian Paddick's reinstatement. A packed public meeting in the Town Hall gave Commander Paddick a standing ovation and called for his immediate reinstatement. Since then, hundreds of residents have pledged their support at www.lambeth4paddick.org.