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| NEWS > 20 November 2007 |
Other related articles:
UK: Police officers escaping punishment by resigning
Hundreds of police officers accused of misconduct are escaping punishment by
quietly resigning, according to a BBC Panorama investigation.
At least 489 officers from 47 forces facing misconduct action were allowed to
discreetly leave through the 'back door' between 2008 and 2010, the programme
found.
There were 1,915 guilty findings against officers for misconduct over the same
period.
One fifth of officers who were given punishments - 382 all told - were dismissed
or required to resign, Panorama found through Freedom of Information (FoI) Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingd
20 November 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Police tried to 'censor' C4 ex
Police have been accused of trying to censor efforts to expose Islamist extremists after television watchdogs cleared broadcasters of distorting the views of "preachers of hate".
Ofcom dismissed a complaint from West Midlands Police against a Channel 4 documentary, Undercover Mosque.
The ruling triggered an avalanche of criticism of the police decision - backed by the Crown Prosecution Service - to refer the Dispatches programme to the regulator.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the police "risked impeding freedom of speech".
After the programme was shown in January, West Midlands Police held a lengthy inquiry into comments made by Muslim preachers at mosques in Birmingham.
But in August, the police decided not to prosecute anyone. Instead, they referred the programme-makers to Ofcom, alleging distortion in the editing of 50 hours of videotape.
The complaint alleged that Dispatches had misrepresented the views of Muslim clerics and risked undermining "community cohesion".
Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat media spokesman, said: "This raises serious questions about West Midlands Police and the CPS in what appears to be an attempt to censor television, stifle investigative journalism and inhibit open debate."
Kevin Sutcliffe, Channel 4's deputy head of news and current affairs, who oversees Dispatches, said: "This was a rigorous investigation. All the preachers featured were offered a right to reply and none of these individuals complained to Ofcom.
"In these circumstances it seems perverse that Hardcash [the programme makers] and Channel 4 should have found themselves the subject of a police investigation. In the view of various commentators, their action gave legitimacy to people preaching a message of hate to British citizens."
Ofcom also rejected 364 complaints from viewers that it said appeared to be part of a campaign.
A separate complaint - also dismissed - was lodged by the Saudi Arabian government over suggestions that "the message of hatred and segregation is … influenced by the religious establishment of Saudi Arabia".
The ruling raised fresh questions over whether the police and prosecutors were serious about dealing with extremist ideologues fomenting hatred of the West and other religions.
The police complaint was prompted by concerns that the programme was "likely to undermine feelings of public safety" in Muslim communities.
The ruling said there was no evidence the documentary misled the audience or was likely to incite criminal activity.
The programme makers filmed imams making comments alleged to be homophobic, anti-Semitic and sexist.
One cleric in Birmingham said the killer of a British Muslim soldier in Afghanistan was a "hero of Islam".
Abu Usamah, a preacher at the Green Lane mosque, was secretly filmed saying: "If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered, that is my freedom of speech."
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