Cops Close Ranks

The Guardian reports today that the head of ACPOS (Association Of Chief Police Officers) is calling for the independent regulator of the Police - the IPCC - to be wound up and replaced by a new body.

Now this is rich indeed and signals a dangerous development in the long-running 'Plebgate' scandal because the wrongdoing in this affair lies with the three serving police officers and the Police Federation - who ought to be held to account for their actions.  

Instead Sir Hugh Orde seeks to exonerate the guilty men and punish the IPCC for daring to challenge their motives, honesty and integrity - by blatantly misrepresenting the position of Andrew Mitchell MP after a meeting they held with him in October 2012.

But the problem for these police bullies is that the camera does not lie - and Andrew Mitchell recorded the meeting, unbeknown to the police officers at the time, although their deliberate lies and mendacity is clear for all to see.  

For this ridiculous knight of the realm to try and brush such a serious matter aside -  with his dismissive comment about 'the question is the quantum of seriousness' - shows that the Police are completely out of touch with public opinion and wrong to close ranks on this particularly nasty case. 

Plebgate: police chief calls for IPCC to be axed

Sir Hugh Orde admits behaviour of some officers was unacceptable but questions seriousness of their wrongdoing

Sir Hugh Orde: 'There’s no issue … the officers’ behaviour fell below the standard, the question is the quantam of seriousness.' Photograph: Steve Back/Rex Features

The behaviour of some police officers in the Plebgate scandal fell below acceptable standards but there are questions over how serious their wrongdoing was, Sir Hugh Orde has said.

The head of the Association of Chief Police Officers also criticised the Independent Police Complaints Commission's handling of the affair and called for it to be replaced by a new police ombudsman.

Orde appeared to back the decision of three forces not to discipline officers who have been accused of stitching up Andrew Mitchell and costing him his cabinet post.

The officers are alleged to have given a misleading account of a meeting between Mitchell and the Police Federation in his constituency, after they accused him of refusing to elaborate on what happened during an altercation at the gates of Downing Street. A tape recording of the meeting revealed Mitchell admitted swearing in front of police but denied calling officers "fucking plebs".

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has questioned the conduct of police while Theresa May, the home secretary, said Mitchell deserved an apology.

But speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Orde said the chiefs of West Mercia, West Midlands and Warwickshire, whose forces were represented at the meeting, deserved a chance to put their case across for not disciplining the officers at a hearing of MPs.

"I think what's important is the service is seen to be transparent and recognise where we get things wrong. We have a history of doing that and being prepared to explain in the public forum why we made the decisions we made," he said.

"It seems to me in this case there's no issue that the finding by the police service was the officers' behaviour fell below the standard, the question is the quantam of seriousness and I think that's why the [West Mercia] chief constable is determined to explain that – the full investigation – to the Home Affairs select committee and be held to account and judged on that."

He suggested the IPCC should have investigated earlier and called for it to be replaced by a new police ombudsman.

"It is a matter of record that this was a case which the service tried to have independently investigated by the IPCC who made a decision that it should be investigated by the service," he said. "I think the current decision by the home secretary to take money from the service to support the IPCC, maybe that would be better spent looking at the bigger picture and [ask] do we need a police ombudsman system in the rest of the UK."

His comments came as Jack Straw, a former home secretary, said the Police Federation showed a "poverty of leadership" during the affair.

"[Officers had] the idea that if they embroidered the truth, and I put that mildly, then they could get the scalp of a Conservative cabinet minister of an administration with whom they were in conflict at the time. Now, what this shows, I think, is a poverty of leadership by the federation and a readiness by them to resort to completely inappropriate behaviour, which you would not expect of anybody but least of all of police officers."