A few days ago David Abbott received a letter from a Chief Inspector working in the professional Standards Branch of GMP. In it this Chief Inspector said that “it is in the best interests of all parties to bring this matter to a conclusion as soon as practical”.

 The Chief Inspector went on to say “ In June 2011 the IPCC decided that the matter was neither vexatious nor oppressive and directed that the complaint should be progressed by either local resolution or local investigation.”

So... after 4 years of doing everything they could to not record David Abbott's complaint, even down to applying to the IPCC for dispensation from investigation, despite a Court ruling that the IPCC had acted unlawfully in refusing David's appeal against the PSB not recording his complaint which also means that the PSB acted unlawfully, they are still trying it on by going for local resolution.

Now let us remind ourselves of the job of the Professional Standards Branch of the GMP. Their role is to maintain standards within the Force and a major part of that is to investigate complaints against police officers. Ok so given that let us look at the law covering complaints against a police officer who is a member of the Professional Standards Branch. In the IPCC statutory Guidelines it states the following as a general rule for all complaints.

“A complaint is only suitable for local resolution in the first instance if the conduct

which is being complained about (even if it were proved) would not justify

bringing any criminal or disciplinary proceedings”

Now forgive us for being naive but, given that the allegations against Barnard are, and always have been, perjury,conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, amongst others, one might be forgiven for thinking that these are allegations which, if proven, might just result in criminal or disciplinary proceedings being taken against that officer. That says to us that Local Resolution of the complaint is a non-starter.

The IPCC Statutory Guidelines go on to say about local resolution, “The complainant’s consent is required in order to proceed with a local resolution

process.:

78 A recommended way of ensuring that a complainant is fully informed

about local resolution before gaining his or her consent is by giving the

complainant a copy of the IPCC’s local resolution leaflet and discussing its salient

points, including the right of appeal. The complainant should not feel under

pressure to consent to local resolution.”.

The Chief Inspector who wrote to David Abbott, must have missed this bit as he said in his letter, “It is therefore decided that your complaint will be subject to a fresh local investigation.” So no consultation there then.

In the same letter this Chief Inspector stated that “ the IPCC directed that the complaint should be progressed either by local resolution or local investigation.” Given that David Abbott had read the IPCC Statutory Guidelines unlike the members of the PSB, he thought it strange that the IPCC would go against their own guidelines and against the law governing complaints. David rang a senior casework manager at the IPCC and asked if this statement made by our local PSB Chief Inspector was true or not. The lady replied, “once we have told a police force to record a complaint it is up to them to decide within the law how to proceed. We would never direct them as to whether a complaint should be decided by Local investigation or resolution.”

So, conflicting stories then. Who do we believe? Well in fairness to the Chief Inspector some one from the IPCC may have said this. It would be interesting to see that correspondence. The truth is that, in law, saying that you did not know the law is not a defence. so... we come back to the PSB knowing the law. It seems that they don't despite the fact that their main reason for existence is dealing with complaints against police officers. That must give every police officer great confidence that complaints against them, are going to be handled by seasoned professional who know the law regarding complaints.

Over the last 4 years, senior officers from the PSB have deliberately and wilfully tried to stop the recording of David Abbott's complaint instead of dealing with it pro-actively and within the law.

They had to be taken to Court (as an interested party) for a Judge to tell them they were acting unlawfully. Now they expect David Abbott to say yeah why don't you highly professional officers from the PSB who have done everything you can to not investigate Barnard, investigate my complaint for me. That would work wouldn't it?

The IPCC Statutory Guidelines state: “Processes for dealing with complaints about members of a professional standards department should demonstrate fairness and impartiality. The appropriate authority should ensure that the officer or member of police staff complained about is not involved in handling the complaint.”

Well, given the way that David Abbott's complaint has been dealt with over the last 4 years by various members of the PSB, he might be forgiven for feeling that no investigation carried out by that department of GMP would ever be fair and impartial. It is not rocket science is it? David tells us that he made a complaint about the Chief Supt. of the PSB due to the way this person responded to his complaint. Definitely rules out the PSB investigating then doesn't it.

A Chief Officer such as Peter Fahy, might want to ensure that his professional Standards Department is working properly, and is fair and objective in the handling of complaints against his officers. After all, Peter Fahy is the person responsible under the Police Reform Act 2002 for the handling of all complaints against his officers. The fact that he delegates that responsibility to the PSB does not remove his overall responsibility for complaints under the law. That is why David Abbott has battled with the GMPA to get them to record and investigate his complaint against Fahy for Misconduct in Public Office based on the wilful and unlawful attempts by members of his PSB to subvert and pervert the Course of Justice by doing anything they could to stop the complaint against a member of the PSB being recorded.Whilst this latest Chief Inspector dealing with David's complaint might be the most honest officer in the UK, and whilst he might investigate the complaint fairly and objectively, he has done himself no favours by simply getting the fundamentals wrong from the word go.

So what lessons could Mr. Fahy and the PSB learn from all this.

1. Treat all complaints in the same light and record and investigate those complaints according to the law. Let Justice take its natural course.

2. Be pro-active towards members of the public who make complaints as they just might be genuine.

3. Stop looking at the public as the enemy and start striving for a better and more honest police force or problems will come back to haunt you.

Barnard moved on?

A little bird tells us that SGT Paul Barnard has now joined the neighbourhood police in Rochdale. Be very careful Rochdale, this man will stitch you up whenever he can. His career path is not going so well at the moment. He moved (or was moved) from the GMP Force Murder Investigation Team to the Professional Standards Branch in 2006 and now he has reached the dizzy heights of neighbourhood policing. Did he leave the PSB or was he pushed out? All we can say to the team at Rochdale is watch your backs, this one is extremely good at stitching fellow officers up and will go to any lengths to get a result even to removal of evidence and continually lying. You have been warned.  We wonder what the people of Rochdale might think of a neighborhood police officer who has a complaint recorded against him for conspiracy to pervert.

The notion that the GMP PSB would now investigate David Abbott's complaints fairly is ludicrous. They have the right to ask an outside force in to investigate the complaints so that any result would be seen to be independent as far as it can be. Had they recorded and investigated the complaint originally all the hassle they are now being put under from outside agencies might not have happened. So please, GMP PSB just do your job that is all the public expects and you will be able to hold your heads up.