Community constabulary officers in one of England’s flagship boroughs for tackling antisocial behaviour are being investigated over allegations of inappropriate use of police powers.
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair has asked for the investigation following allegations that officers in Newham Council’s antisocial behaviour team used warrant cards that were “virtual facsimiles” of those carried by Met officers.
The officers, who only have the same powers of arrest as members of the public, were also found to be wearing uniforms bearing the word “police” and using blue lights on vehicles, according to an internal council report.
The report by Amanda Kelly, former interim head of legal services at the east London council, said the uniform was in danger of contravening laws that make it illegal to impersonate a police officer.
While officers had no authority to carry weapons on the streets, the report uncovered allegations that one officer had threatened a member of the public with a baton, while another handcuffed a person “because he didn’t like the way [he] spoke to him”.
Another uniformed officer allegedly harassed his ex-partner while on duty and “co-opted” other officers in the harassment.
The report accused the constabulary of running “more like a private police force than a council service”, and raised concerns about anecdotal evidence that officers had stopped and searched members of the public, in breach of human rights.
Mike Law, a Conservative councillor in Newham, said community constables had made around 54 arrests, including for people being drunk and disorderly and begging.
Newham was the first council in England to have a multi-disciplinary division dedicated to tackling antisocial behaviour. It includes 33 community constables.
The crime and antisocial behaviour division was allocated 10m on top of its existing budget for 2004-6 by elected mayor Robin Wales in recognition of its commitment.
Newham chief executive Dave Burbage defended the council’s record on tackling antisocial behaviour and said an action plan had been put in place.
Newham community officers face Met probe for ‘using police powers’
November 16, 2005 in Youth justice
More from Community Care
Related articles:
Job of the week
Featured jobs
Employer Zone
‘There’s a real sense of pride in our work to reunite families’
‘We want everyone to succeed in their career’
‘Solutions can’t be scripted here – you have to be creative’
Putting a team around the social worker to make a difference to families
How working in residential care enables staff to build one-on-one relationships with young people
‘We will always challenge ourselves to transform our services to improve outcomes for children and families’
Employer zone – showcasing a selection of the sector’s top recruiters
Community Care Inform
Latest stories
Bill to remove social work from councils in Scotland published
Unions seek 11% wage rise for Cafcass staff after chief’s warnings of social worker exodus
Ukraine: council heads raise safeguarding concerns as UK starts accepting unaccompanied children
National DoLs court launched to handle children’s deprivation of liberty cases
Comments are closed.