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| NEWS > 05 August 2007 |
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West Midlands, UK: Police forc
A total of 35 West Midlands police officers have been arrested in the past year, it has been revealed today.
Their alleged crimes include cases of assault as well as incidents of shoplifting and drink driving.
The figures were released to the Express & Star after a freedom of information request and show a total of 24 police constables have been arrested between November 2006 and October 2007, as well as six special constables, two sergeants, two support staff and one detective constable.
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Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingd
05 August 2007
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Nottinghamshire Police, UK
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UK: Police joined dark side to
Amid unprecedented secrecy, Operation Utah went into full swing.
Unbeknown to almost all the 2,400 members of the Nottinghamshire force , 20 hand-picked officers had been ordered to disappear to the "dark side" - their undercover mission to target the vicious criminals who had brought the force to its knees.
The formidable task of bringing hardened, armed killers to justice was made all the more dangerous by the fact that "bent" police officers were suspected of working hand in hand with the gangsters.
In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Steve Green admitted yesterday that nothing had prepared him for the problems that he encountered two years into his job as Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire.
By 2002, murders and gun crime were so out of control that Nottingham was nicknamed "Shottingham". The city had gone from nowhere to fourth in the gun crime league. That year, it saw 21 murders, many gang-related.
Drug and extortion rackets - primarily in and around the Bestwood estate - had escalated to new levels. Initially, police suspected that Yardie - or black - gun crime was spiralling out of control.
Soon they realised, however, that a new and sinister force was in operation: a 30-strong crime syndicate of vicious white hoodlums headed by Colin Gunn, 41, a shaven-headed bodybuilder, and his older brother, David.
The details of how their multimillion-pound crime empire built on fear and corruption was brought down can only now be told. After Colin Gunn was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday for corrupting police, orders banning his identification were lifted.
It meant too that Mr Green, 51, a policeman for 29 years, was free to reveal how he had tackled his "unique" problem.
"We knew we were dealing with ruthless killers," he said. "I suspect there is no force of our size which has tackled a problem of this scale before."
The Gunn brothers tried to ensure that nobody dared cross them. Almost overnight in the summer of 2002, the Bestwood estate joined a growing list of crime-ridden areas every bit as menacing as Peckham in south London and Manchester's notorious Moss Side.
Anyone operating without permission on the Gunns' "patch" was dealt with brutally. Theft was routinely punished with the culprit being shot through the hand, while others had their knuckles shattered with a hammer. A more serious offence could lead to murder.
Families moving to the estate were "visited" and told that the brothers ran the show. On the rare occasions the police received genuine information from an informant, it invariably led to nothing.
Early morning raids in search of drugs and stolen goods were fruitless. Crooked policemen were tipping off the Gunns when a raid was imminent. It was this internal corruption that persuaded Mr Green to set up his squad of "untouchables".
Operation Utah was launched in 2003. Police believed the gang was implicated in the murders of John and Joan Stirland, an innocent couple who had been killed at their home in Lincolnshire in 2004, and the murder of Marian Bates, 64, a jeweller gunned down in Nottingham in September 2003.
David Gunn's reign of terror ended last October when he was jailed for 8½ years for supplying amphetamines. Colin was jailed in June of the same year when he was found guilty of masterminding the Stirland murders, for which he will serve a minimum of 35 years. On Thursday, he was also sentenced to a further nine years, to run concurrently, for corrupting police.
Meanwhile, TDc Charles Fletcher, 26, was jailed for seven years for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. Pc Philip Parr, 41, who was convicted of the latter offence, was jailed for a year.
Yet this weekend on the streets of Bestwood, residents spoke fondly of the Gunns, maintaining that like the Kray twins before them, they "looked after" the community and only targeted gangsters.
The Gunns had grown up, along with most of their gang, on the estate, a Fifties development two miles north of the city centre. Their empire was run from Colin Gunn's modest three-bedroom bungalow, where he lived with Victoria Garfoot, 35. The couple has been together since she was in her teens and have four children, aged between seven and 18.
Their home is situated behind a wrought-iron gate with at least three CCTV cameras, security lights and a burglar alarm. Miss Garfoot said they had been raided by police on three occasions since moving in five years ago.
"No one says [Colin] has been an angel: he sells a few bent cars and that sort of thing," she said. "He's being blamed but where is the evidence? The police just don't like him. But everyone round here likes him. We're not scum like everyone makes out."
Today Mr Green is convinced that Nottingham is a safer place to live with the Gunns behind bars. The Chief Constable, however, intends to pursue other crimes, including up to six murders and 50 shootings that may have links to the brothers.
"There are still families out there who have not had justice. People died during this episode and some lives will never be the same again."
Nottingham police yesterday revealed that six people linked to the criminal gangs in the city had applied to become policemen in the last six months. The applications were rejected after checks revealed their connections to some of Nottingham's most powerful criminals.
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