replying. No surprise there, then, and Julie Reid omits to mention that in her email.What is now readily apparent is that the investigation broke every rule in the IPCC book and some that aren’t even in there. Starting with the fact that neither Iris nor her solicitors were even aware that an investigation was taking place, or that it had been referred to another police force. No victim statement was taken from her at any stage, which should have been the starting point.Most astonishingly of all, the investigation outcome signed off by DCI Khan, flies completely in the face of statements made by Circuit Judge, HH Judge Peter Benson at the trial of her friends Shamim Khan and Kash Ahmed. Both of whom, incidentally, were fully exonerated. Iris was, of course, never charged at all with any offence.“Yes, I have to say, I was somewhat troubled by D/Supt Bennett’s justification of that. They went to Mrs Gabriel three times previously saying, “Will you be a witness?” and when she said “NO” for the third time they said: “All right, we’re going to arrest you then”. Either she was suspected of being complicit in it or not, and the fact that she exercised her right not to give a statement does not add, should not of itself add, to any grounds of suspicion, if none existed and before that they were complicit”. Judge Benson then added “An objective observer might consider that it (the

September 2012 unProfessional Standards DepartmentVolume 1, Issue 9 West Yorkshire Police

Another PSD shocker dupes the Police Authority yet againThis is a disturbing story of the arrest of a shy, innocent, hard-working, single mother – also a highly respected Bradford community worker - that provides another stark signal of a police Professional Standards Department completely out of control.

Iris Gabriel’s ‘crime’ was simply exercising her legal right in not providing a statement to officers from West Yorkshire Police’s PSD who harassed, threatened and bullied her, at her place of work, over a period of nine months. This led to Iris’s solicitors making a written complaint to the CPS regarding the way in which officers were behaving towards her. They specifically set out that any approach to Iris by the police should have been through them. The reality is, there was nothing for her to tell the police as proved later in open court.The formal complaint following Iris’s unlawful arrest was made in August 2010 to West Yorkshire Police and the IPCC. It alleged prima facie criminal behaviour by officers from the Professional Standards Department. Almost two years later in June 2011, and completely out of the blue, Iris received a letter from DCI Osman Khan at WYP informing her that that her complaint had been investigated by South Yorkshire Police’s C/Supt Robert Varey. Through very reliable sources uPSD already knew that Bob Varey had retired in December 2011 and been replaced by DC/Supt Neil Jessop.No explanation has been forthcoming from WYP or the West Yorkshire Police Authority to explain away the unacceptable delay. WYPA’s Julie Reid wrote to Iris to say: ‘We have been reassured that the force took all reasonable steps to inform you of the decision as soon as it was able.’ Now, just exactly what does that mean, Julie, after an investigation lasting almost two years? It would be better to not write at all rather than insult members of the public with that type of tosh. uPSD regular DCI Osman Khan didn’t even trouble himself with the courtesy of

“ I was somewhattroubled by D/Supt Bennett’sjustification ofthat”HH Judge Benson –Trial Judge

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ACC John Robins Portfolio responsibility for Professional Standards

Neil Jessop South Yorks Police

Head of PSD

uPSD regular DCI Osman Khan

unProfessional Standards Department West Yorkshire Police

confidence in police service. This was shattered by their appalling behaviour leading up to my arrest. It is apparent to me or any other reasonable person that South Yorkshire Police were only provided with evidence that assisted the police and not the complete picture”.Iris is now awaiting the outcome of her IPCC Appeal which was filed in early July.

Will Callaghan clean up PSD?Former Wakefield Commander, C/Supt Marc Callaghan, is stepping in as Head of Quality and Standards at WYP at a very difficult time for his Force. It is a big job, but he is a built for it, and at least starts with a good reputation around the City.CS Callaghan says: “It really is a difficult and challenging time for a lot of people but despite that neighbourhood policing teams deliver a service the community should be proud of.” uPSD endorse that.His challenge in Q&S is very different and a priority has to be clearing out the incompetent and dishonest officers, from both the proactive and reactive discipline teams, and set the bar much higher than has been evident for some time. A succession of weak appointments of the calibre of C/Supt Ian Kennedy, DCS Sarah Brown and C/Supt Andy Battle have left behind unacceptably low standards of personal and professional performance – and, most worryingly, a culture of unchecked misconduct and criminality. As we have relentlessly exposed these PSD failings, it has not only disgraced his own beleaguered Force but, ultimately, the entire police service: This at a time when public perception of police practices is at an all-time low, following publication of the Hillsborough inquiry report.If C/Supt Callaghan was given to receiving advice then uPSD say this: Make it clear to every supervisor/manager in the Force that the uttering of the words ‘THIS IS GOING NOWHERE’ at the outset of a complaint process is a misconduct offence.Managing expectations is key to the complaint process and our bulging files tell us that very few cases handled by PSD meet that test.Over to you, C/Supt Callaghan

arrest) smacked of oppressive conduct.” And finally summed up by saying: “I have to say that the treatment of those witnesses did give me cause for concern”.It obviously didn’t concern DCI Khan in trying to cloak a West Yorkshire Police criminal investigation that Judge Benson described as having “a very serious irregularity and impropriety at it’s root”. At the trial, Supt Steve Bennett stated the decision to arrest Iris was his. Guy Kearl QC cross examining Bennett averred that it was not a responsible use of PACE powers. There were, in fact, nine separate prima facie breaches of PACE involved in Iris’s arrest, detention, search of her work premises and handling of her retained property. DCI Khan managed to identify one: Which, on the evidence of case after case reported in uPSD, is a fair reflection of his detective skills and integrity.The OIC in Iris’s case was DI Peter Howarth who has featured previously in uPSD and will feature again, regularly. Howarth went on to attempt to deceive Iris’s solicitor regarding the purpose of arrest and the pre-interview disclosure. His partner at the time of the arrest was DS Penelope Morley, much favoured by Supt Bennett. HH Judge Benson was not quite so enamoured with her and described DS Morley as untruthful at the trial: In other words, a liar. Yet the police rely on Morley’s accounts in Iris’s complaint as though they were the Gospel itself. More crucially for the public of this County, Morley has faced no charge or misconduct hearing for providing perjured evidence in a Crown Court.DCI Khan did however state in his letter: “In relation to the discrepancies on the search record, this complaint is upheld and the officers concerned be subject of management action and receive words of advice.” Really?Iris Gabriel comments: “By continuing to behave in this calculatingly deceptive manner in covering up criminal acts by their own officers, this only serves to further undermine my trust and

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C/Supt Marc Callaghan new Head of PSD

Cloud of corruption hangs over WYP HQ

“my trust and confidence in the police was shattered.” Iris Gabriel Community worker

Guy Kearl QC

unProfessional Standards Department West Yorkshire Police

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Software misappropriation is endemic in West Yorkshire PoliceFollowing on from shock revelations in issue 8, uPSD now find a sinister pattern emerging where a police force feels entitled ‘by right’ to steal the intellectual property of suppliers, or prospective suppliers.In November last year, West Yorkshire Police lost a high profile High Court case against FTS, a forensic telecommunications company. The total cost to the taxpayer will be around £400,000. FTS offered, at least twice, to walk away from the legal action but the ‘gung-ho’ approach of WYP ensured it was they who suffered the bloody nose at the Royal Courts of Justice.It has now been confirmed by uPSD that there are now at least three other companies whose software has been embedded in the IT systems of both the High Tech Crime Unit and Imaging Units at WYP and, subsequently, their codes and/or data tables ripped off.A West Yorkshire officer, whom uPSD identified at an early stage, but who cannot be named for legal reasons, is the common link to three of those cases. During the FTS investigation that led to the court trial it is a matter of record that a West Yorkshire officer said: “The police should have access to the best forensic software available no matter what, and commercial IT companies should not be in a position to sell software to Forces at exorbitant prices”.The software misappropriation is being investigated initially by Leicestershire police. A High Tech Unit counterpart of the West Yorkshire officer employed by that Force has been involved in a joint enterprise. At this stage it would appear, quite clearly, that WYP are the lead partner in the scam.A highly respected and market leading company in their field, spoke to Investigative journalist Neil Wilby. He comments: “I have discussed the position in detail with the Managing Director of the third company and he is in touch with MD’s of two of the others. I have also shared with him the credible information brought to us by a whistle-blower regarding the fourth incident”. Mr Wilby continued: “It is fair to say that the owners of all these companies are completely shocked at what has been discovered. Sadly, following my investigations into the FTS matter, I have to say I am not at all surprised. My

suspicion right from the outset was that there were more.” There is now at least a shared understanding of both the chronology and the potential scope of the criminality which will assist Leicestershire Police in their enquiries.This was always going to be much more widespread than just the one case. The thoroughly dishonest behaviour of the PSD officers covering up the original

software incident always implied to uPSD that the police were fending off something much, much bigger.As with much of the corrupt activity that goes on in West Yorkshire Police, the Command Team are at the heart of it.

These latest discoveries also provide a different insight into why DCC Parkinson was so keen to smear FTS and, in the process, attempt to deter other companies from taking on West Yorkshire Police. They very nearly got away with it and DCC Parkinson has, of course, once more declined to comment.

Crucial CCTV evidence crashes again according to CarrA recurring feature of PSD investigations is the missing CCTV evidence that just happens to go ‘missing’ at the crucial point in the enquiry.Apart from concealing 13 (yes thirteen) out of the 16 hours of CCTV tapes that was crucial in wrongly sending Danny Major to prison, we have the more recent case of Tony Ramsden who was assaulted at Elland Rd. Tony has proved that officers have repeatedly lied to conceal the CCTV and, despite a formal request from his solicitor, it has still not been produced.He is now joined by a recent case of Huddersfield man, Steve Bradbury, who has suffered the same fantastical explanations as to why police station CCTV cameras happened not be working at the crucial moment he was assaulted.There is an completely unsurprising investigative link to all three cases: uPSD regular and serially dishonest DI Damian Carr.

“ thepolicewerefendingoffsomethingmuch, muchbigger”Neil Wilby

West Yorks Police lost to FTS at

Royal Courts of Justice

DCC John Parkinson Did he know of software scam?

Leicestershire police are investigating software theft

CCTV mysteriously goes missing again

unProfessional Standards Department September 2012 West Yorkshire Police Volume 1, Issue 9

The House of Fraser The startling views of ex-Police Authority member Roger Taylor Below is a complete text of a letter sent by Cllr Taylor to a respected and hard working Bradford-based civil liberties organisation who had expressed their honestly held belief that, if guilty of misconduct, the Chief Constable should resign. The female and Asian members of their team have found this message particularly upsetting. So did we at uPSD.“So is your ultra-left ‘organisation’ claiming that the police actually pushed into the terraces and suffocated the victims?Are you telling me that this (Hillsborough) report is not overloaded with politically correct language rather like the Stephen Lawrence “enquiry” (a joke in itself) was?You are not fit to tie Sir Norman Bettison’s shoe laces (I was on the WYPA for nearly three years by the way) so how dare you call for his resignation. As racist and anti-American Muslims once again rail against the west with their vile language of death to infidels you choose to ignore that and concentrate on Sir Norman.What a bunch you really are. If I thought you were getting tax-payers’ money I would be the first to secure its removal!”Apart from not having sufficient intellect to distinguish an inquiry from an ‘enquiry’ these are the ramblings of an apparently deranged man drunk on the delusions of his own perceived power.

Or possibly, just drunk?If ex Police Authority member Taylor doesn’t understand, or embrace, the workings of the widely acclaimed Lord Justice MacPherson report into Stephen

Lawrence’s death and its unequivocal conclusion, or the universally accepted police culpability for the loss of 96 lives (41 of whom could have been saved) at Hillsborough, then he needs to reflect on his position in public life.Chief Constable Bettison is widely suspected of being part of the ‘Black Ops’ team that set out to deliberately smear the dead - and many leading politicians, public

figures and media organisations have reported widespread concerns and calls for Bettison’s resignation, stripping of his knighthood and withdrawal of honorary degrees.Is Taylor busy writing to all these politicians and organisations with his outlandish views? We suspect not, otherwise he may have been carried away in a straitjacket, by now.His words are utterly abhorrent and insensitive in the extreme. Like his ‘hero’ Sir Norman Bettison, he ultimately will be forced to apologise and eat humble pie. Or face calls for his own resignation.The Police Authority’s Karen Grey stated: ‘We will not be commenting on this article’. Now why might that be? ‘Weak and invisible.’ Again?

Anonymous email saga plays out as expectedIn another interesting development, a reliable source from within the Police Authority suggests that the decision not to investigate the complaint was made three days before the letter from WYPA’s Julie Reid was received, inviting Ms Stewart-Smith to a meeting to discuss the complaint.That artless subterfuge simply reinforces the stated uPSD position that the whole WYPA handling of this was an artifice. That is underscored by the fact that a complaint allegedly concerning the Deputy Chief Constable was being dealt with by a person ranked joint seventh in the hierarchy at WYPA. The anonymous email matter will now be played out with the IPCC sometime in the New Year. By which time, WYPA will have passed into history and we will have a new Chief Constable.Following the front page story in issue 8 of uPSD, concerning DCC John Parkinson’s Black Ops, another source confirms that no misconduct investigation has been launched by WYPA.This is backed up by the fact that none of the BBC, the Yorkshire Post, Just West Yorkshire, FTS Telecommunications, Kashif Ahmed or the FTS report author, Neil Wilby has been contacted to provide the damning evidence that will prove Parkinson’s misconduct.

“ I was on the WYPA for nearly 3 years, by the way”Cll Roger Taylor

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Cloud of corruption hangs over WYPA HQ

WYPA Chief Executive engaged in artless

subterfuge

Cllr Roger Taylor sent offensive communication