Claims of racism and malpractice underlie constabulary report

7:00pm Sunday 20th November 2005

DETAILS of damning evidence in a secret section of a report into the Community Constabulary emerged during a council meeting, it has been claimed.

Two independent sources told the Guardian that Cllr John Saunders said he had been given permission to raise issues detailed in the confidential Appendix 2 of the report at the overview and scrutiny committee meeting last Tuesday.

The report by Amanda Kelly found the former Parks Constabulary had evolved into a badly managed and poorly trained second-tier police force riddled with allegations of bullying, favouritism and racism.

The contents of Appendix 2, which are thought to contain detailed evidence regarding allegations of malpractice in the service, have never been made public.

Michael Gavan, Newham's Unison representative who attended the meeting, said Cllr Saunders referred to evidence that managers had asked constables to hand in their notebooks, containing details of their day-to-day activities, when allegations about the service were first made public.

It is alleged that when constables asked for their notebooks to be returned when the formal investigation was launched, they were told they had been lost.

Mr Gavan claims Cllr Saunders also raised the issue of an officer carrying an extendable baton, or ASP, while on duty and was told by the council's deputy chief executive Chris Wood that this was only an allegation.

Mr Gavan said: "Cllr Saunders refuted this and said he had special dispensation to raise the issue and that in Appendix 2, the officer admitted carrying one.

"The deputy chief executive did not challenge him on this further information, he simply sat there and remained impassive, but did not deny evidence to this effect was included in Appendix 2."

Conservative Cllr Mike Law, who was also at the meeting, agreed with Mr Gavan's account of what was said.

Cllr Law said: "I was pleased the issue of the pocket books was put in the public domain because it is a crucial aspect of the investigation.

"I was surprised when it was not in the main body of the report.

"A lot of the guys in the division told me these notebooks contained their evidence of what was going on."

However, a council spokeswoman denied the claims, saying: "No-one has been granted special dispensation to discuss any part of the contents of Appendix 2, the contents are subject to data protection.

"All that Cllr Saunders referred to at the meeting is included in the main report.

"Chris Wood repeated at the meeting what Amanda Kelly's report concluded: there is no concrete evidence of malpractice and that the allegations were based on anecdotal evidence."

jbunn@london.newsquest.co.uk