|
|
|
| NEWS > 19 March 2006 |
Other related articles:
Authorities raid Harvey police
Cook County sheriff's investigators and Illinois State Police raided the Harvey police station Wednesday, truck in tow, to collect files and other evidence in homicide cases dating back five years.
Prosecutors and state police were seeking evidence related to unsolved gang crimes and murders, sources close to the investigation said.
A number of reports involving homicides, aggravated batteries and other "crimes against persons" were taken from the station, a Harvey police source said.
About nine investigators took forensic evidence, such as bullet fragments, th... Read more
|
 Article sourced from
|
|
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingd
19 March 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
|
Sir Ian Blair's salary is £228
|
Blundering Met Police chief in
Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is being recommended for a performance bonus of up to £34,000 despite a string of gaffes and questions over his leadership.
The merit award scheme, the first ever offered to a Metropolitan Police commissioner, was approved in principle by police watchdogs at a secret meeting last week. But critics are now asking why Sir Ian, whose basic salary is £228,000, is even being considered for a bonus after lurching from one crisis to another in the 13 months since he took the job.
He has apologised for secretly taping telephone conversations with public officials and for saying that he could not understand why the Soham schoolgirl murders received so much media coverage.
He was criticised for intervening in a political row over anti-terrorism laws and is under investigation for remarks he made after his officers shot dead an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, on the London Underground last July when they mistook him for a suicide bomber.
Fresh doubts about Sir Ian's future were raised this weekend as a furious row broke out among his senior officers.
Damian Hockney, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "After this period of turmoil at the Met, Sir Ian should be stepping aside for a period, not claiming a pay bonus." Under the rules of the bonus scheme, agreed by the MPA remuneration sub-committee, Sir Ian qualifies for the pay-out if he meets up to six "personal objectives", which include reducing crime and boosting the ethnic diversity of the force.
He will be asked to explain in a letter why he deserves the pay-out, and to defend his performance at an "end of year review" meeting with Len Duvall, chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, and Denis O'Connor, HM Inspector of Constabulary.
The sub-committee, chaired by magistrate Rachel Whittaker, will decide in June whether he qualifies for a payout of between £11,400 and £34,200, worth five to 15 per cent of his salary. The payout will be based on "the degree of excellence" that Sir Ian has shown, and may be withheld if his performance is judged below-par.
The biggest threat to the Commissioner's future is the ongoing probe by the Independent Police Complaints Commission into shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was mistaken for a suicide bomber.
Sir Ian claims he did not know for 24 hours that the wrong man has been shot. His version of events has been disputed by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick, who is threatening to sue for libel after Scotland Yard refuted his evidence to the IPCC. A disciplinary committee is examining a claim that Mr Paddick leaked information to a journalist.
In a separate outbreak of infighting, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said last week that he had taken legal advice over cuts in his budget for tackling organised crime.
In a letter to The Times yesterday, Sir Ian pleaded for an end to "continual speculation about reports that are not yet published, investigations that are not yet finished and the results of considerations by prosecutors which are not yet finalised".
Mr Duvall said: "Ian Blair's detractors cannot diminish the significant achievements under his leadership."
Around 20 more senior Scotland Yard officers, including Mr Paddick and Mr Ghaffur, are also in line for merit awards. The system was recommended in 2004 by the Home Office and HM Inspectorate of Contabulary as a way for forces to reward exceptional performance by their top brass.
The Association of Chief Police Officers opposes performance bonuses and insists that they do nothing to improve the overall success of forces. The organisation said in a statement: "We consider them to be inappropriate, undermining public confidence if the public believe that operational decisions are being made to ensure a chief officer's bonus. It is right that there is an assessment of a chief officer's performance, but success relies on the contributions of others and bonus payments to individuals can be divisive and arbitrary."
|
| |
 EiP Comments:
|
|---|
|
| |
* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 |
Ethics in Policing, based in the UK, provide information and advice about the following:
Policing Research | Police News articles | Police Corruption | International Policing | Police Web Sites | Police Forum | Policing Ethics | Police Journals | Police Publications |
|
| |
|
