CCTV REALLY DOES PROTECT THE PUBLIC
An article published in Private Eye Magazine No:
1142, Sept 30, 2005
http://www.private-eye.co.uk
YOU'VE BEEN FRAMED
WHEN student Jennifer Pope and two of her friends became embroiled in a melee after
leaving a concert in London’s Finsbury Park, they also found themselves in an altercation
with several police officers, triggered, it seems, by a sudden police horse charge.
Jennifer,
20, panicked; and when she remonstrated after one of her friends was hit and pinned
to the floor, she too found herself surrounded by police, thrown against a wall,
handcuffed and placed in a van with her friends to be taken to Tottenham police station.
She
was accused of kicking a female PC and charged with assault and drunk and disorderly
behaviour. The “drunk” charge was soon dropped when Jennifer, a chief inspector’s
granddaughter, offered to be breathalysed. She had not been drinking.
None of the
trio had ever been in trouble with the police before and all three were incredulous
at their treatment.
Fortunately Jennifer’s father managed to get hold of CCTV footage
of the incident from the local authority and this was produced in court. After a
three-day hearing, all three were acquitted. The footage had shown Jennifer distressed
and pinned to a wall but certainly did not show her kicking a WPC.
Jennifer made a
formal complaint about the incident, their detention at the police station and the
fact that after one of her friends was acquitted one of the officers said in the
courtroom in front of Jennifer’s father: “Don’t worry. We will get them next time.”
After
studying the CCTV footage, the magistrates evidently preferred Jennifer and her friends’
account of events to those of the nine police officers in court. But the Independent
Police Complaints Commission (IPPC), which oversaw the investigation by the Metropolitan
police, wasn’t convinced.
In a report sent to the Pope family, it concluded that the
CCTV footage was inconclusive; and that while the officers may have changed their
accounts when they saw the footage in court, that was only because it jogged their
memory.
As for the threat “Don’t worry we’ll get them next time”, the ofticer was
apparently talking about it being her turn to buy the coffees!
www.slimeylimeyjustice.org