Michael Brown Case

I will concur that some times riots are intentionally provoked - or at least touched off by specious rumors which didn't have to be disseminated.

The same thing happened in the 1943 race riots in Detroit, causing the death of 34 and the wounding of hundreds, and millions of dollars of property damage. Inflammatory rumors had been spread which turned out to be not true, for example that somebody had thrown a black mother and baby into the Detroit river, or that a white woman was raped and murdered on Belle Isle bridge. We don't know ultimately who was all responsible for inciting the riots but we do know about inflammatory actions and rumors which were just plain wrong and could never end well.
 
Its funny. You complain about hearing only one side of the story, and then go and post all those videos that literally are only one side of the story. And while there's not video evidence of what happened in the car (as far as I'm aware), there is the swelling of the officer's face, blood inside the car, blood on the gun, gun powder residue in the thumb wound (only), bullet in the door of the car, and all of that included in witness testimony that said how brown fought with the officer in the car. I don't think the altercation in the car is in question.

That is simply not true, the eye witness testimony is not agreed on what happened; the incident IS in question

http://www.ibtimes.com/ferguson-gra...ng-michael-browns-death-1729302?ref=hihidnews

Hundreds of pages of witness statements came out Monday night after the Ferguson grand jury released its decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August. Bystanders' accounts included misstatements and exaggerations called out by prosecutors who asked about not only the case, but also their criminal records, health and media diets.

Activists continued to protest police violence and race relations across the country Tuesday after learning the 12-person Missouri grand jury found no probable cause to charge Wilson with Brown's death. The jury heard the case for three months and reviewed testimony from 60 witnesses, St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said Monday night at a news conference.
The legal proceedings were hard to follow in the documents. Most of the time the court played recordings of statements followed by in-person testimony, but sometimes they only played audio or distributed interview transcripts. Technical difficulties sometimes shuffled the order in which the jury saw evidence.
Witness credibility was an issue, as well, McCulloch said. Many openly admitted they didn't want to be there. Some had searched for the case's details online, and at least two were convicted felons. One woman was called back after reading her diary and remembering new details. Witnesses waffled, often contradicting themselves, and others got defensive when called out for distorting the truth. At one point, a prosecutor asked, "And why did you say that if it wasn’t true?" "I do not know,” the witness answered. None of the witnesses was identified in the testimony released to the public.
Four witnesses confessed to having vision problems, which was problematic for prosecutors relying on them to describe the scene of the shooting. Another couldn't hear well, and at least two mentioned having memory problems. One witness had multiple personalities and took 14 medications a day.
After reading the evidence released Monday night, only one thing's for certain: Witness testimony debated almost every aspect of the case. A few examples:
Brown's gun
Brown did not have a weapon, but at the time, at least two witnesses said they thought he did. "He's about my size, young black guy, and he looked like he was pointing," one witness told the grand jury. "I can't tell one finger or two, I can't tell what he had in his hand, but I thought I saw a glint. I believe it was a gun."
The fight
Three witnesses minimized the fight between Wilson and Brown, calling it a "scuffle" where they were "tussling" and "fussing." Another said Brown's whole upper body was inside Wilson's car. "The big dude, Michael Brown, like he got mad kind of," one person said. "He just went immediately to the drivers' window and they got into it."
Running at Wilson
Once Brown broke away from the window, he reportedly began running down the street. Two witnesses said Wilson got out of his car and grabbed Brown by the collar. Then Brown started to charge at Wilson like a football player, one witness said. "His hands were balled up," another said. "He has his arms bent towards his chest and he’s running like, you know, almost like a tackle running." Someone else contradicted that, saying Brown's arms were loose at his sides and he walked toward Wilson.
Hands up, don't shoot
The witnesses were split over whether Brown was holding his hands up -- now a symbol for Ferguson protesters. After the first shot, "his palms were out facing forward, they were about at his ears," one witness said. "That meant surrender, that meant 'Take me to jail.'" But another said he was sure Brown's hands were down.
It was unclear whether Brown asked Wilson not to shoot. "It was a scream, like if the bullets is piercing his skin," one witness said. Another said Wilson was the one screaming at Brown, asking him to stop.
Falling to the ground
Some said Brown was kneeling when Wilson shot him -- "I seen my friend Big Mike on his knees with his hands in the air," his cousin said -- but others remembered him standing, holding his wound. Brown “started to lean forward like this and then he kind of fell on his knees and smacked the ground on his face,” one person said. Another witness had a different version: "He fell face forward. There wasn't no pause on his knees or nothing. It was just straight down."
How many gunshots
The numbers vary depending on who's being questioned: three, seven, nine, 12. Brown's autopsy report later showed six bullet entrance injuries. “I seen the one hit him in the face because you could see like the blood splatter," one witness said. "You couldn’t really see the bullets themselves, but you seen like the blood fly away from his face.” Others said they couldn't see blood at all, and one witness thought Wilson Tasered Brown.
 
[video=youtube;xo7Szrbd7GM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo7Szrbd7GM[/video]
 
Another eye witness

[video=youtube;fLGe2YoxjbY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLGe2YoxjbY[/video]
 
That is simply not true, the eye witness testimony is not agreed on what happened; the incident IS in question

http://www.ibtimes.com/ferguson-gra...ng-michael-browns-death-1729302?ref=hihidnews

Hundreds of pages of witness statements came out Monday night after the Ferguson grand jury released its decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August. Bystanders' accounts included misstatements and exaggerations called out by prosecutors who asked about not only the case, but also their criminal records, health and media diets.

Activists continued to protest police violence and race relations across the country Tuesday after learning the 12-person Missouri grand jury found no probable cause to charge Wilson with Brown's death. The jury heard the case for three months and reviewed testimony from 60 witnesses, St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said Monday night at a news conference.
The legal proceedings were hard to follow in the documents. Most of the time the court played recordings of statements followed by in-person testimony, but sometimes they only played audio or distributed interview transcripts. Technical difficulties sometimes shuffled the order in which the jury saw evidence.
Witness credibility was an issue, as well, McCulloch said. Many openly admitted they didn't want to be there. Some had searched for the case's details online, and at least two were convicted felons. One woman was called back after reading her diary and remembering new details. Witnesses waffled, often contradicting themselves, and others got defensive when called out for distorting the truth. At one point, a prosecutor asked, "And why did you say that if it wasn’t true?" "I do not know,” the witness answered. None of the witnesses was identified in the testimony released to the public.
Four witnesses confessed to having vision problems, which was problematic for prosecutors relying on them to describe the scene of the shooting. Another couldn't hear well, and at least two mentioned having memory problems. One witness had multiple personalities and took 14 medications a day.
After reading the evidence released Monday night, only one thing's for certain: Witness testimony debated almost every aspect of the case. A few examples:
Brown's gun
Brown did not have a weapon, but at the time, at least two witnesses said they thought he did. "He's about my size, young black guy, and he looked like he was pointing," one witness told the grand jury. "I can't tell one finger or two, I can't tell what he had in his hand, but I thought I saw a glint. I believe it was a gun."
The fight
Three witnesses minimized the fight between Wilson and Brown, calling it a "scuffle" where they were "tussling" and "fussing." Another said Brown's whole upper body was inside Wilson's car. "The big dude, Michael Brown, like he got mad kind of," one person said. "He just went immediately to the drivers' window and they got into it."
Running at Wilson
Once Brown broke away from the window, he reportedly began running down the street. Two witnesses said Wilson got out of his car and grabbed Brown by the collar. Then Brown started to charge at Wilson like a football player, one witness said. "His hands were balled up," another said. "He has his arms bent towards his chest and he’s running like, you know, almost like a tackle running." Someone else contradicted that, saying Brown's arms were loose at his sides and he walked toward Wilson.
Hands up, don't shoot
The witnesses were split over whether Brown was holding his hands up -- now a symbol for Ferguson protesters. After the first shot, "his palms were out facing forward, they were about at his ears," one witness said. "That meant surrender, that meant 'Take me to jail.'" But another said he was sure Brown's hands were down.
It was unclear whether Brown asked Wilson not to shoot. "It was a scream, like if the bullets is piercing his skin," one witness said. Another said Wilson was the one screaming at Brown, asking him to stop.
Falling to the ground
Some said Brown was kneeling when Wilson shot him -- "I seen my friend Big Mike on his knees with his hands in the air," his cousin said -- but others remembered him standing, holding his wound. Brown “started to lean forward like this and then he kind of fell on his knees and smacked the ground on his face,” one person said. Another witness had a different version: "He fell face forward. There wasn't no pause on his knees or nothing. It was just straight down."
How many gunshots
The numbers vary depending on who's being questioned: three, seven, nine, 12. Brown's autopsy report later showed six bullet entrance injuries. “I seen the one hit him in the face because you could see like the blood splatter," one witness said. "You couldn’t really see the bullets themselves, but you seen like the blood fly away from his face.” Others said they couldn't see blood at all, and one witness thought Wilson Tasered Brown.

I'm sorry, I think you misunderstood me. I'm not saying that the eye witness testimony is in any way convincing. In fact I have often said how human declarative memory cannot and should not be trusted. That's why I listed the physical evidence of the blood and face swelling and residue. I then said that there is eye witness testimony that is supported by this.

Nonetheless the point is the same. There was a fight at, or rather in, the car over the officers gun. The shaky part of the story is the end where Brown charged. While there is evidence to support this claim, in my opinion it's only just enough. It's hard to prove malicious intent like a supposed charge without video.
 
Shoot for the legs. Stop him from charging. Or stop shooting when he doubles over.

Or, if the officers actions are considered justifiable, maybe we ought to revisit how the justice system looks at self defence in general. As it stands, it's rather incongruent.
I wanted to touch on this a bit. Firstly I understand what you are saying even though you did not say it directly. Life good, death bad. :) Everyone should have the ability to recover from mistakes they have made. In a perfect world. Killing another living thing should be a last resort.

Having said that here is what I know. When an officer pulls his gun he does so with an intent to protect his/her life and others. They believe they are at risk and the gun is pulled knowing at that time its more likely it will be used than not. I have weapons experience and know enough about police training to tell you that they and anyone trained to take down an opponent are trained to shoot for body mass because it gives you the best chance of hitting something. Asking them to shoot for the legs is the same as asking them to shoot the gun out of someones hand or for that matter asking them to shoot for the head to minimize bullet usage. You aim for body mass and keep firing because you cant kniw how many bullets actually have hit their target. Remaining calm enough to aim in a situation where you believe you are being attacked is not easy at all. This is why officer's s go through extensive training. For that matter the military as well.

Having said that I by no means believe officer's can do no wrong. They sure as hell can. They are human. In some cases they are more corrupt then the criminals they arrest. Given they are human and have the ability to kill people, I fully support and believe video cameras are a good idea.

For the Brown case, he was given a trial and only those people have all the evidence. Is it possible something was corrupt in the trial? We all kniw our justice system is broken. Yes its possible. But if we take this attitude we cant ever know anything to include guilt or innocence on the officers part.

Mo is after hearing everything Brown was a thug. He attacked a police officer and now he is dead.
 
I'm sorry, I think you misunderstood me. I'm not saying that the eye witness testimony is in any way convincing. In fact I have often said how human declarative memory cannot and should not be trusted. That's why I listed the physical evidence of the blood and face swelling and residue. I then said that there is eye witness testimony that is supported by this.

Its the easiest thing inthe world to smear blood wherever you want it

If you wanted a black eye to make it look like self defence it would be the easiest thing to get your partner to throw a punch at you

All evidence can be called into question and has to be weighed

Nonetheless the point is the same. There was a fight at, or rather in, the car over the officers gun.

No you don;t know the fight was over his gun

For all you know the officer might have called michael over to the car and then grabbed him by the collar to act tough and then verbally abused him; he might even have drawn his gun and stuck it in michaels face

You just do not know what happened in that car

The shaky part of the story is the end where Brown charged. While there is evidence to support this claim, in my opinion it's only just enough. It's hard to prove malicious intent like a supposed charge without video.

There is counter evidence too

To what extent michael felt his life was in danger from how the cop had been treating him upto then we won't know

What i think we can say quite reasonably is that there is a growing distrust of the police amongst the public which has led to riots in both the UK and the US

So is there any smoke without fire?

For example there was a rapper in the UK who the cops say killed himself in front of them with a knife whilst they were questioning him in his flat

Here in the Uk we have a euphemism for people murdered while on police 'care'...we say they were killed ''falling down the stairs'' because that was the old police excuse
 
Its the easiest thing inthe world to smear blood wherever you want it

If you wanted a black eye to make it look like self defence it would be the easiest thing to get your partner to throw a punch at you

All evidence can be called into question and has to be weighed
Ok sure, it's possible that he could have called an officer over to punch him in the face. It's also possible for me to go to the moon next week. It's also possible that Brown was a shapeshifting alien scouting our planet, and that's why the police wanted to take him down. So what. And no, it's not that easy to plant evidence. The blood was splatter, they found consistent with a gun shot. Seriously, it's not that easy to fake. This is you just wanting to make the situation into something it's not. There is no conspiracy here muir. You just want their to be.



No you don;t know the fight was over his gun

For all you know the officer might have called michael over to the car and then grabbed him by the collar to act tough and then verbally abused him; he might even have drawn his gun and stuck it in michaels face

You just do not know what happened in that car
There is a gun shot wound on his thumb with powder residue in the wound. There is blood inside the car. There is a bullet in the door frame as well as another bullet that was fired then that wasn't recovered. The only time brown was close to the officer during a shot was in the car. If it was on his thumb, that is highly suggestive of a person going for a gun.



There is counter evidence too

To what extent michael felt his life was in danger from how the cop had been treating him upto then we won't know

What i think we can say quite reasonably is that there is a growing distrust of the police amongst the public which has led to riots in both the UK and the US

So is there any smoke without fire?

For example there was a rapper in the UK who the cops say killed himself in front of them with a knife whilst they were questioning him in his flat

Here in the Uk we have a euphemism for people murdered while on police 'care'...we say they were killed ''falling down the stairs'' because that was the old police excuse

That's pure speculation on your part, not evidence. You don't even know the evidence. I don't even know all of the evidence. Only the grand jury and maybe a few very ambitious people that have looked into it by now.

I don't distrust my police in the least. I'm very good friends with some of them. I got pulled over one time because an officer thought I was drunk driving. In truth, my car hydroplanes really bad so I would drive over the yellow line and curve back whenever a car came by me. This officer, whom I didn't know, heard my explanation then said oh yes, I understand. We chatted for a bit, he gave me a written warning (does not go on the record) he told me to have a good night and I said the same to him. This was with an officer I didn't know. Every experience I've had with an officer has been enjoyable and honest. One time I got pulled over because I drive a red mustang. Just earlier there was a robbery and the 3 Japanese people got away in an orange mustang. I had two friends with me at the time. When the officer came up, he radioed that they had the wrong people. He apologized, wished us a good day, and we went on to our movie. Do you see the difference between me and Brown? I respect the officer, and I don't try to fight him. Therefore, I was fine
At the university I go to, I have asked my friends (who are from Chicago) if they have ever had trouble with officers, and none of them said yes. One of my other friends worked at his local precinct.

What I'm getting at is you have no idea what your talking about when it comes to police brutality muir. Your just regurgitating all those videos you've heard about. You don't even live here, so you don't have experience with out police force. I do think that gives you a third party perspective which could be good in several ways, but you must take into account the natural bias your position puts you in. I know my bias. I live in a rural area. Natural bias towards friendlier officers. etc. That's why I talk to my Chicago friends. Because they report the same result, it reduces the location bias. However my friends are from richer parts of Chicago. Another bias. Reducible by talking to other friends from inner Chicago which I have done. I tackle my biases, why don't you try doing the same muir.
Eventhorizen is still correct. Police cameras would be good, but it depends on what the media does with it. If they sensationalize all the bad cops, which they very well could, then it will actually make things worse. However I still support the cameras because at least the truth will be available. Perhaps then people will see that yes there are bad cops, but that is a truly rare occurrence. And maybe it will show people like you why the police need to be ready for anything. Preparation is not a bad thing to have. It's the actual use, and the police are actually useful and doing a truly wonderful job. Not perfect, not foolproof, not fully effective, but given what they are working with and the situations they deal with, they are doing a good job.
 
Ok sure, it's possible that he could have called an officer over to punch him in the face. It's also possible for me to go to the moon next week.

No its not really possible for you to go to the moon next week

t's also possible that Brown was a shapeshifting alien scouting our planet, and that's why the police wanted to take him down. So what.

Well i think that would certainly change the general circumstances

And no, it's not that easy to plant evidence.

Sure it is

The blood was splatter, they found consistent with a gun shot. Seriously, it's not that easy to fake. This is you just wanting to make the situation into something it's not. There is no conspiracy here muir. You just want their to be. There is a gun shot wound on his thumb with powder residue in the wound. There is blood inside the car. There is a bullet in the door frame as well as another bullet that was fired then that wasn't recovered. The only time brown was close to the officer during a shot was in the car. If it was on his thumb, that is highly suggestive of a person going for a gun.

You're missing the obvious point...what caused the situation to escalate? Why was there a scuffle?

You don't know what was said betwwen the two people. The policeman might have been baiting him, threatening him, pulling him about unjustly or anything; for all you know he might have been sticking his gun in the guys mouth

You don't know...you're speculating

What we do know is a young guy got shot over a packet of cigarellos

That's pure speculation on your part, not evidence. You don't even know the evidence. I don't even know all of the evidence. Only the grand jury and maybe a few very ambitious people that have looked into it by now.

Its all pure speculation on your part

What we do know is that the cop handled this situation in a way which killed a guy over a pack of cigarellos


I don't distrust my police in the least. I'm very good friends with some of them. I got pulled over one time because an officer thought I was drunk driving. In truth, my car hydroplanes really bad so I would drive over the yellow line and curve back whenever a car came by me. This officer, whom I didn't know, heard my explanation then said oh yes, I understand. We chatted for a bit, he gave me a written warning (does not go on the record) he told me to have a good night and I said the same to him. This was with an officer I didn't know. Every experience I've had with an officer has been enjoyable and honest. One time I got pulled over because I drive a red mustang. Just earlier there was a robbery and the 3 Japanese people got away in an orange mustang. I had two friends with me at the time. When the officer came up, he radioed that they had the wrong people. He apologized, wished us a good day, and we went on to our movie. Do you see the difference between me and Brown?

Yeah you are white and he is black (you wanted me to say that right?)

I respect the officer, and I don't try to fight him. Therefore, I was fine

You don't know why that scuffle happened

The cop might have treated you very differently....i'm amazed this hasn't occured to you

At the university I go to, I have asked my friends (who are from Chicago) if they have ever had trouble with officers, and none of them said yes. One of my other friends worked at his local precinct.

What I'm getting at is you have no idea what your talking about when it comes to police brutality muir. Your just regurgitating all those videos you've heard about. You don't even live here, so you don't have experience with out police force. I do think that gives you a third party perspective which could be good in several ways, but you must take into account the natural bias your position puts you in. I know my bias. I live in a rural area. Natural bias towards friendlier officers. etc. That's why I talk to my Chicago friends. Because they report the same result, it reduces the location bias. However my friends are from richer parts of Chicago. Another bias. Reducible by talking to other friends from inner Chicago which I have done. I tackle my biases, why don't you try doing the same muir.

In my next post let me share some perspectives on the police where i'm from (and you'll be a fool if you think its different in the states)

As for the police videos yeah due to the media i follow i see new cop abuse videos every week

Eventhorizen is still correct. Police cameras would be good, but it depends on what the media does with it. If they sensationalize all the bad cops, which they very well could, then it will actually make things worse. However I still support the cameras because at least the truth will be available. Perhaps then people will see that yes there are bad cops, but that is a truly rare occurrence. And maybe it will show people like you why the police need to be ready for anything. Preparation is not a bad thing to have. It's the actual use, and the police are actually useful and doing a truly wonderful job. Not perfect, not foolproof, not fully effective, but given what they are working with and the situations they deal with, they are doing a good job.

What you are failing to realise is that the police are changing...militarising

I posted a very good interview by VICE earlier in the thread, i recommend it to you to get some perspective on this issue
 
HE DID NOT GET SHOT OVER A PACKET OF CIGARELLOS.
 
So...who are the police?

Well the police are part of the system. In the UK they have the crown symbol on their hats and must swear an oath to the queen. The crown symbol is next to a band around their hat of chequered black and white squares known as 'silitoes' tartan after the freemasonic police chief who had that masonic pattern put on the police helmet

The 'crown' is not actually the reigning monarch but rather the directorate of the city of london corporation. The queen must receive permission before she can enter the 'city of london' (the square mile banking district in the middle of wider london)

The city of london has its own police force because it is its own legal enclave within britian just like the vatican city is within italy and washington DC is within the US and the british police can not investigate crime in the city of london without first being granted permission from the secretary of state

The city of london is at the centre of the global tax evasion network and due to its lack of regulation all the recent scandals like MF Global, AIG, the london whale etc all ran through the cuty of london. The city of london is also implicated in the child abuse scandals on the isle of jersey (tax haven) haute de la garenne chidlrens home

So in the newspapers today the head of a childrens home in wales that is at the centre of a child abuse and murder scandal has been arrested as part of british police investigation pallial...more information below regarding the police members involved in the scandal and its cover up

http://google-law.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/freemason-and-ex-north-wales-police.html?spref=tw
[h=2]Thursday, 16 January 2014[/h] [h=3]Freemason and ex North Wales Police Superintendent Gordon Anglesea arrested by operation Pallial for historic child abuse[/h] RETIRED FREEMASON and NORTH Wales Police superintendent Gordon Anglesea has been arrested on suspicion of historic physical and sexual assaults against children.

Rebecca Televison reveals thatAnglesea was detained at his Colwyn Bay home in December by officers of the National Crime Agency. He was the 18th person to be arrested as part of Operation Pallial, based at North Wales Police headquarters.
Operation Pallial was set up by David Cameron in November 2012.
ON 12 DECEMBER officers from the National Crime Agency knocked on the door of a house in a quiet suburban street in Old Colwyn on the North Wales coast.
[FONT=&quot]Inside the property they arrested a 76-year-old man and later took him to a police station in Cheshire.[/FONT]
[TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Anglesea finally Arrested​
[/TD]
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[FONT=&quot]The detectives were part of the Agency’s Operation Pallial team.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]They questioned the arrested man about allegations of child abuse dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Seven men have alleged that they were sexually or physically abused by the retired police officer in the period 1975 to 1983 when they were between 8 and 16 years of age.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The following day the National Crime Agency, which is in charge of Operation Pallial, said the pensioner had been released on police bail until mid-April.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Agency would not reveal his identity. But it is Gordon Anglesea.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Between 1975 to 1983 he was a North Wales Police Inspector based in Wrexham.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He served as a policeman for more than 34 years and reached the rank of Superintendent by the time he retired in 1991.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Anglesea is a Rotarian and a Freemason.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Shortly after his arrest last December, he informed his local Rhos on Sea Rotary Club that he had been detained.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Six days after the arrest, on December 20, [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Rebecca Television in North Wales [/FONT][FONT=&quot] rang John Roberts, secretary of the Rhos club. They told him they were planning to name Anglesea. Roberts replied that Anglesea had not resigned.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Roberts said the retired police officer had applied for leave of absence and that the request would be considered at the club’s January meeting. At that meeting, which took place on January 7, Anglesea was given leave of absence until April.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He is a long-standing Rotarian, one of 51,000 members in Britain and Ireland.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He has been President of the Rhos on Sea club on three occasions — 1989-90, 1990-91 and 2007-8.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In 2010 he was the club official in charge of “Youth Service”.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A spokeswoman for Rotary International told [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Rebecca Television[/FONT][FONT=&quot] that “while there was a legal process under way, the organisation could not comment.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Anglesea is also a Freemason of more than 30 years standing.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There are 250,000 masons in England and Wales — outnumbering Rotarians 5 to 1.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In 1976 Anglesea joined a masonic lodge in Colwyn Bay.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In 1982 he became a member of Wrexham’s Berwyn lodge.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He left in 1984 to join a new Wrexham lodge called Pegasus becoming its Master in 1990.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The secretary of the North Wales Province of Freemasonry, Peter Sorahan, said:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“In view of the fact that Operation Pallial is an ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate for me to comment.” “However”, he added, “I can assure you that if requested by the Police to do so, the Province of North Wales will provide full assistance with their inquiries.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Masonic HQ, the United Grand Lodge of England based in London, also confirmed it would assist the police if asked.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On January 8 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Rebecca Television[/FONT][FONT=&quot] wrote to Gordon Anglesea informing him that the website intended to reveal that he was the man arrested on December 12.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We asked for a comment. Royal Mail confirmed delivery of the letter. There was no reply.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The present accusations are not the first he has faced.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The background is laid out in the article [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The Trials Of Gordon Anglesea[/FONT][FONT=&quot].[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In 1994 a libel jury found journalists had falsely accused him of abusing children at the Bryn Estyn children’s home in Wrexham.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Private Eye[/FONT][FONT=&quot], The Observer, Independent on Sunday and the broadcaster HTV paid him combined damages of £375,000 with their legal bills running into several million pounds.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]These and other allegations were also considered by the North Wales Child Abuse Tribunal of 1996-2000.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In its 2000 report Lost in Care, the Waterhouse Tribunal found no evidence that the retired police officer had abused children.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]story curtesy of Rebecca TV[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Gordon Angelsea not only took advantage of and abused children in North Wales Care Homes but made a small fortune from his perjury to the High Court in London. Will operation Pallial now also look at the child porn trade supported by the North Wales Police? [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Operation Pallial can be contacted on 0800 118 1199 or by email at operationpallial@nca.x.gsi.gov.uk.[/FONT]
 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...lice-officers-that-break-the-law-9065376.html
[h=1]Brothel-running, child abuse images, and selling firearms among nearly 200 crimes committed by police in last three years[/h]
Brothel-keeping and child porn among police officers’ crimes
Thursday 16 January 2014
Serving police officers have been found guilty of nearly 200 crimes in the past three years, with some actively using their positions for illegal gain.
Police forces across the country have arrested their own officers for a range of offences – including some as serious as running a brothel, possession of child abuse images, and selling firearms – Freedom of Information requests by The Independent have revealed.
At least 179 crimes have been committed by officers in the past three years, a figure which the former deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Brian Paddick, described as “very worrying”.
The reports show that officers are guilty of serious crimes including sexual assault, possession of cocaine, using excessive force and lying on a crime report form relating to a rape case.
The reports also show that dozens of officers are caught speeding and drink-driving every year – with many escaping with little more than a written warning.
In July 2010, two firearms training officers were convicted for selling guns that they had obtained during their employment with Durham Constabulary. Another officer from the same force was found guilty of possessing child pornography on his personal computer in 2012.
Jon Stoddart, Durham’s chief constable at the time of the convictions, condemned the officers. “They were criminals whose conduct was beneath contempt,” he said. “These officers brought disgrace to the uniform they wore and the good name of Durham Constabulary.”
In 2012, a police constable with Northumbria police resigned after he was found guilty of running a brothel, supplying a class C drug, money laundering and one offence under the Consumer Credit Act. Another officer leaked sensitive police information to “associates” from a confidential force database.
In one case last year, a Hampshire police officer was fined £4,030 for abusing a domestic cat and was banned from keeping pets for 12 months.
The Metropolitan Police, Britain’s largest force, had the most offences among the 31 of 46 regional forces that responded to our request. They arrested 46 of their own officers for offences committed whilst on-duty – including one cop who conspired to sell controlled drugs in 2010.
In 2013, a Metropolitan police officer was caught speeding at 102mph in a 50mph limit. Another resigned after being convicted of stalking and harassment while on duty.
A spokesperson for the Met said: “Only a tiny minority of our officers fall below the very high standards expected of them. Those that do are dealt with robustly, either through the criminal law or police misconduct procedures.
Greater Manchester Police has the second highest number of officer convictions (26) – including seven constables caught drink-driving, three arrested for domestic assault and one case of “sexual assault/rape”.
Michael Cunningham, head of professional standards at the Association of Chief Police Officers, says that many criminal officers “choose to resign” before facing a misconduct panel and are only reinstated on “rare occasions”
However, in the Met, nearly half of convicted officers were reinstated by the force after committing crimes, including speeding, dangerous driving and fraud. Four officers escaped disciplinary proceedings by resigning after committing serious offences such as stalking, causing injury to a police dog and conspiracy to supply controlled drugs.
Kent police, who reinstated six officers found guilty of speeding and drink-driving said: “Just like all people, police officers sometimes make mistakes. Any offences committed by officers or staff are investigated in the same way as anyone else, but are also subject to disciplinary action from the force.”
 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...the-freemasons-to-corrupt-police-9054670.html
[h=1]Revealed: How gangs used the Freemasons to corrupt police[/h]
Gangsters able to recruit police officers through secret society, says investigation for Scotland Yard
Tom Harper Monday 13 January 2014
Secret networks of Freemasons have been used by organised crime gangs to corrupt the criminal justice system, according to a bombshell Metropolitan Police report leaked to The Independent.
Operation Tiberius, written in 2002, found underworld syndicates used their contacts in the controversial brotherhood to “recruit corrupted officers” inside Scotland Yard, and concluded it was one of “the most difficult aspects of organised crime corruption to proof against”.
The report – marked “Secret” – found serving officers in East Ham east London who were members of the Freemasons attempted to find out which detectives were suspected of links to organised crime from other police sources who were also members of the society.
Famous for its secret handshakes, Freemasonry has long been suspected of having members who work in the criminal justice system – notably the judiciary and the police.
The political establishment and much of the media often dismiss such ideas as the work of conspiracy theorists. However, Operation Tiberius is the second secret police report revealed by The Independent in the last six months to highlight the possible issue.
Project Riverside, a 2008 report on the rogue private investigations industry by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, also claimed criminals attempt to corrupt police officers through Freemason members in a bid to further their interests.
Concerns over the influence of freemasons on the criminal justice system in 1998 led former Home Secretary Jack Straw to order that all police officers and judges should declare membership of the organisation.
However, ten of Britain’s 43 police forces refused to take part and the policy was dropped under threat of legal action. In England and Wales, the Grand Master of the Freemasons is Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. The United Grand Lodge of England declined to comment last night.
The Independent [FONT=&quot]revealed last week that Operation Tiberius found[/FONT] that organised crime syndicates such as the Adams family and the gang led by David Hunt were able to infiltrate the Met “at will”.
Asked to comment on the Tiberius report, a spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “The Metropolitan Police Service will not tolerate any behaviour by our officers and staff which could damage the trust placed in police by the public.
“We are determined to pursue corruption in all its forms and with all possible vigour.”
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...e-attack-on-David-Camerons-riot-response.html
[h=1]Freemasons in the police leading the attack on David Cameron's riot response[/h] [h=2]Leading police officers have set up a national Masonic lodge where they can meet in secret in defiance of fears about the influence of the secret society on the criminal justice system.[/h] By [FONT=&quot]Jason Lewis[/FONT], Investigations Editor
9:00PM BST 20 Aug 2011
[FONT=&quot]124 Comments[/FONT]
The founding members include senior officials from the Police Federation, the police staff association, which is currently fighting the Government over its plans to cut budgets.

The new Masonic lodge is led by John Tully, a Metropolitan Police officer
The new Masonic lodge is led by John Tully, a Metropolitan Police officer, who has given numerous interviews in recent days accusing the Prime Minister of "fighting violence, arson and looting on our city streets with sound-bites".
Other founder members include officers from the Metropolitan Police, Essex Police, Thames Valley Police and from other forces including Northumbria, Dyfed Powys, South Wales, South Yorkshire and even a high ranking officer from the Royal Gibraltar Police.
The "Sine Favore" Lodge was opened despite the conclusions of a Parliamentary inquiry which warned of public fears that "Freemasonry can have an unhealthy influence on the criminal justice system".
The inquiry followed questions about masonic involvement in the abandonment of an investigation into a shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland and with the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad, which was disbanded after evidence of police malpractice.
[h=2]Related Articles[/h] · [FONT=&quot]Archbishop allows freemason to be bishop[/FONT]
14 May 2011
· [FONT=&quot]Judges no longer have to declare Freemasonry[/FONT]
05 Nov 2009
· [FONT=&quot]Straw threat to police Masons[/FONT]
05 Nov 2000
· [FONT=&quot]Straw scores own goal with Freemasons' register[/FONT]
11 Mar 2001
Membership is open to all serving and retired officers across Britain and others working alongside the police, including lawyers, criminologists and even the financial advisers who manage officers' retirement plans.
The idea for the new police Masonic lodge grew out of a series unofficial get-togethers in hotel bars during Police Federation annual conferences.
Masonic rules require members to do all they can to support each other, to look after each other and to keep each others' lawful secrets.
New members of the so-called Brotherhood are blindfolded, a hangman's noose placed around their necks and they are warned their throat will be slit and their tongue torn out if they break their oath. Critics argue this could put them at odds with discharging their duty to serve the public.
The inquiry by the Home Affairs Select Committee in 1998 called for a public register of police officers who joined the Freemasons, although in the end the then Labour government proposed that officers could make voluntary disclosures about their membership. Few did.
The new "Sine Favore" lodge, is named after the Latin motto of the Police Federation, "Without Fear, Without Favour".
The founders include Police Federation Treasurer Martyn Mordecai, John Giblin, chairman of the Federation's Sergeants Central Committee, and Steve Williams, general secretary of the Federation's Inspectors Central Committee.
Earlier this year Mr Giblin told the Federation's annual conference that government ministers "hate the police service" and wanted to "destroy" it.
Other founding members include solicitor Tristan Hallam, a personal injury lawyer who specialises, according to his firm Russell Jones and Walker, in "road traffic accidents and public liability cases for both private clients and associations including the Police Federation".
Mr Hallam said: "Membership of any organisation is a personal choice. Russell Jones & Walker are aware of my membership."
Stewart Imbimbo, an ex-Thames Valley police officer and now a senior official at Milton Keynes council, Robert Taylor, a financial adviser, Eric Misselke, director of a police credit union which provides cheap loans, savings accounts and insurance, and the Metropolitan Police's resident criminologist Dr Attilio Grandani.
Dr Grandani sits on the Metropolitan Police Authority's equality and diversity sub-committee and is behind the Met's new controversial statistical-led policing model, which aims to combat areas of high crime as opposed to more thinly spread bobbies-on-the-beat territorial policing.
Lodge number 9856 was officially opened by a senior Masonic official, Russell Race. He is the Metropolitan Grand Master, head of the Grand Lodge of London, a corporate financier and chairman of a construction firm behind the huge Westfield shopping centre in west London and The Pinnacle office development, which, when complete, will be the tallest building in the City of London.
The lodge is based at 10 Duke Street in central London, which is also the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, one of the most important and mysterious bodies in international Masonic circles, which has an elite membership of only 75 people.
The building, known as Grand East by Masons, contains the "Black Room", the "Red Room" and a "Chamber of Death", used for Masonic rituals.
The Police Federation last night refused to discuss whether any of its officials had disclosed their involvement with Freemasonary.
A spokesman said: "Being a member of any organisation is a matter for the individual, so long as membership of that organisation does not compromise their duties and responsibilities as a police officer."
Lodge Secretary Mr Tully, vice chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation refused to comment.
 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...uspicion-of-a-deliberate-coverup-9802307.html


Police cover up Rotherham child abuse scandal


[h=1]Rotherham child abuse scandal: Missing files 'fuel public suspicion of a deliberate cover-up’, say MPs[/h]
Rotherham.jpg








[h=3]MPs accuse council and police of ignoring credible warnings
[/h]
Nigel Morris
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Deputy Political Editor

Saturday 18 October 2014


Fears of a “deliberate cover-up” by public officials of the sexual abuse of children in Rotherham have been fuelled by the large number of documents detailing the scandal which have vanished, an investigation by MPs has concluded.

They urged the Home Office to launch an immediate search for the missing paperwork and to examine claims that files warning about the activities of paedophile rings were stolen from a locked council office in the South Yorkshire town.
In a report published on Saturday, the Commons home affairs select committee said the “shocking” failure to act on repeated warnings of systematic exploitation had exposed more victims to abuse.
At least 1,400 girls as young as 11 were groomed and abused by gangs in the town over a 16 year period and new victims continue to come forward.
The committee, in its second inquiry into Rotherham, said there was “compelling evidence” that the town’s council and South Yorkshire Police ignored “numerous, credible warnings about the scale of child sexual exploitation”.
And it raised suspicions that officials colluded to conceal evidence which could have uncovered the scandal years before it came to light.
The MPs heard private evidence from a former researcher who was hired by Rotherham Council to find ways of catching men who tried to lure girls and vulnerable young women into prostitution.
Rotherham-Getty.jpg
MPs have accused council and police of ignoring credible warnings (Getty Images)
She referred in a report, which was about to be sent to the Home Office, to the “alleged indifference towards, and ignorance of, child sexual exploitation on the part of senior managers”, the committee said.
“The researcher told us that an unknown individual subsequently gained access to her office and removed all of the data relating to the Home Office work.
“There were no signs of a forced entry and the action involved moving through key-coded and locked security doors. “She was also subjected to personal hostility at the hands of Council officials and police officers,” the committee said.
The MPs said: “This is not the first case in which it has been alleged that files of information relating to child sexual exploitation have disappeared. The proliferation of revelations about files which can no longer be located gives rise, whether fairly or not, to public suspicion of a deliberate cover-up.
“The only way to address these concerns is with a full, transparent and urgent investigation and the Home Office must do everything in its power to locate any missing files in its possession relating to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham and other places.”
Keith Vaz, the committee chairman, said: “A number of individuals attempted to bring these crimes to light, only to face obstacles from the council and police, which in some cases questioned their credibility and the veracity of their claims.
Keith-Vaz.jpg
The committee chairman Keith Vaz (Getty Images)
“If the council and police had taken these warnings seriously, the abusers could have been brought to justice more quickly and some of the later victims could have been spared their ordeal.”
His committee also called for the introduction of a power of recall for police and crime commissioners (PCCs).
Its recommendation was prompted by Shaun Wright refusing to step down as South Yorkshire’s PCC despite being the councillor responsible for children's services in Rotherham from 2005 to 2010. He eventually bowed to pressure and quit last month after spending weeks resisting calls for his resignation.
The committee said: “We are concerned that at present there is no mechanism at all to suspend or remove a Police and Crime Commissioner for behaviour which falls short of criminal.
“This is clearly anomalous when compared to Members of the House of Commons, who may be suspended or expelled by the House for breaches of the Code of Conduct.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Home Secretary has been very clear that what happened in Rotherham amounted to a total dereliction of duty by the authorities.
“We are already taking a wide range of action to ensure police, councils, the health sector and other agencies are taking their safeguarding responsibilities seriously and share our commitment to ending this appalling abuse.
“The increasing number of cases the police are bringing before the courts demonstrates the progress being made.”
 
[FONT=&quot]http://www.nickdavies.net/1997/01/01...in-the-police/
Freemasons in the police
The Guardian
Published January 1997

Today the Guardian publishes for the first time what we believe is a unique photograph. It pierces the wall of secrecy which surrounds one of Britain’s most mysterious organisations by revealing a large gathering of London policemen wearing the white gloves, embroidered sashes and lambskin aprons of the worshipful order of freemasonry.

At the time that the picture was taken, these 60 men were members of Masonic Lodge number 9179, known as the Manor of St James, which was founded eleven years ago, on January 27 1986, for the exclusive use of Scotland Yard officers who had worked in the West End of London. The picture, which has been leaked to the Guardian by non-Masonic Metropolitan police officers, appears to have been taken at one of their inaugural meetings and includes men who then occupied some of the most powerful jobs in the force.

Since April 1985, when Sir Kenneth Newman was Commissioner, Scotland Yard have been advising their officers to stay away from the lodges. According to The Principles of Policing, which was produced under Sir Kenneth: “The discerning officer will probably consider it wise to forgo the prospect of pleasure and social advantage in freemasonry so as to enjoy the unreserved regard of all those around him. It follows from this that one who is already a freemason would also be wise to ponder from time to time whether he should continue as a freemason.”

And yet the Manor of St James is still active. On Monday of this week, a Guardian photographer caught dozens of former and serving police officers as they made their way through the crowded pavements of St James’s Street, off Picadilly. Wearing dinner jackets and carrying their Masonic regalia in flat black brief cases, they converged on number 86, an imposing sandstone building which looks like any of the gentleman’s clubs around the corner, in Pall Mall, but which is in fact the site of a Masonic temple.

Inside, they gathered to hold their annual ritual to install a London policeman as the new master of the lodge, to elect other police officers as their stewards, tylers and almoners, and to consider the names of prospective new members, all of them drawn from the past and present ranks of the Metropolitan Police, all of them willing to be blindfolded with a noose around their neck and a dagger to their heart while they are warned that if they break their vows of secrecy and loyalty, they will have their throats cut and their tongues torn out by the root. And then, until late into the night, they dined together.

The leaking of the photograph co-incides with new efforts by politicians and senior police officers to meet public concern about the role of freemasons in law-enforcement. Masons insist that they are misunderstood and that their organisation stands for service to “our God, our country and our laws”. Critics fear that the secrecy of the organisation and its stern oaths of “mutual defence and support” conflict with a police officer’s need to be seen to apply the law impartially.

The Police Complaints Authority, which says its own ranks are free of masons, is pressing for a new law to compel police masons to declare their membership on a register of interests. Last October, the Association of Chief Police Officers, ACPO, supported the move. And today (Jan 29), the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs continues its own inquiry into the issue, taking evidence from ACPO as well as from the Police Federation, which represents lower ranks and which is fighting for the status quo. Until now, the issue has been as secretive as it has been controversial.

The evidence of the membership of the Manor of St James is that freemasonry reaches high into the command structure of the Metropolitan Police. Among the founder members of the lodge was Gilbert Kelland, who was in charge of all of London’s three thousand detectives when he was the Assistant Commissioner for Crime from 1977 to 1984. He is pictured here in his regalia, in the third row back, three from the right.

Among his worshipful brothers who joined the lodge, in spite of Sir Kenneth’s request, are two Deputy Assistant Commissioners, Peter Nievens and Edgar Maybanks; twelve commanders, including George Churchill-Coleman and Jim Neville, both of whom headed the Anti Terrorist Squad, and Malcolm Campbell, who was the head of Scotland Yard’s intelligence branch; John Cass, who was a Scotland Yard commander before becoming co-ordinator for the nation’s regional crime squads; at least two dozen chief superintendents; a dozen superintendents; and more than a score from the lower ranks.

One of the few officers in the lodge who did take Sir Kenneth’s advice is Tony Speed, who is now the Assistant Commissioner for Central London. He said last week that he had followed his father and grandfather into the Craft, joining his first lodge when he was 21. “There was no furore about it in those days and I have to say that in something like 20 years as a mason I never came across anything that made me feel ashamed or that I felt was wrong. But then about ten years ago, the public perception began to change and we were advised that we should reconsider our position and so, simply because of this problem of perception, I resigned.”

Most of his colleagues in the lodge did not see it that way. Malcolm Campbell is still serving as a commander and has not resigned from the lodge but says that he no longer attends its functions. Many of the others in the picture are now retired although sources who know the Manor of St James say they have been joined by a steady stream of serving officers.

Martin Short, author of the most detailed account of modern British freemasonry, Inside The Brotherhood, estimates that 20% of London officers belong to Masonic lodges. He says there is cause for concern about this and in December, he gave evidence to the Select Committee inquiry of a case he had researched recently in Lancashire which, he told them, “demonstrates just how badly the administration of justice can go wrong when police, Crown Prosecution solicitors and private citizens are all in the same Masonic lodge.”

This story began one night in 1988 when two Leicester businessmen were taking a late-night drink in a hotel in Blackburn. A group of burly strangers in dinner jackets ordered them out of the bar. The Leicester men declined to go. The strangers then announced that they were policemen and proceeded to beat them up. They then called other police who arrested the two Leicester men and charged them with assaulting police officers. When the Leicester men were released on bail the next morning, they found that the hotel manager had seized their belongings until they agreed to pay for damage caused by the fight and that someone had let all the air out of their car tyres and removed their hub caps.

The Blackburn police and Crown prosecutors pursued the case to court, where the two Leicester men faced substantial jail sentences for allegedly assaulting policemen. But the case fell apart. The jury rejected all of the police evidence and found that the Leicester businessmen were not guilty of any offence at all. The judge signalled his own view by taking the unusual step of ordering that the defendants’ costs should be paid out of the public purse. The two men then sued for assault, wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, conspiracy to injure and libel. In an out-of-court settlement, they were awarded £170,000, most of which was paid on behalf of the policemen by the Lancashire force.

Martin Short told the Select Committee that freemasonry was at the heart of this case. The two Leicester men had stumbled into the tail-end of a Masonic event, a dinner organised by the Victory lodge of Blackburn. This lodge, said Short, is dominated by police officers: the policemen who were involved in the original fight, the officer who subsequently investigated the incident, a senior official in the Crown Prosecution office which handled the case, and the manager of the hotel where the dinner took place were all members of the Victory lodge.

No-one is suggesting that all Masonic officers are corrupt or even liable to become corrupt. However, in the past, there have been occasions when Masonic lodges have acted as nests of corruption, where detectives have rubbed shoulders with professional criminals in an atmosphere of friendship and loyalty with disastrous results. When Scotland Yard’s Obscene Publications Squad was destroyed by scandal in the late 1960s, twelve officers were jailed for taking bribes from pornographers. All of them were masons, including the head of the squad, Detective Chief Superintendent Bill Moody, who had even helped one of the pornographers he was supposed to be arresting to become a member of his own lodge.

On the other side of the argument, there have been high-profile examples of Masonic officers fighting corruption. During the Operation Countryman inquiry in the 1980s, it was a Masonic detective chief superintendent, John Simmons, who secretly tape-recorded his brother mason, Detective Chief Inspector Phil Cuthbert, boasting of his villainy and of the involvement of other senior officers in taking bribes and setting up armed robberies. However, Simmons was later ostracised by his lodge, while Cuthbert continued to be welcomed, even after he had been convicted and jailed for three years.

Some of the most angry critics of freemasonry are police officers who do not belong to the lodges. They fear that masons may promote brother officers and conceal each other’s wrong doing and that, on occasion, they might abuse their internal powers to discipline troublesome non-masonic officers. One serving Metropolitan Police detective said: “This is a secret society at the heart of Scotland Yard. I have no doubt that some masons use the lodges to get their way and this is not acceptable for the public or for the police service as a whole.” The Police Complaints Authority says that some officers have approached them privately to voice their concerns about some masonic colleagues.

One non-masonic officer says he reported to his commander that colleagues had invented a fictitious informer so that they could claim reward money for crimes which they solved and then share it among themselves. He claims that he was moved sideways while his colleagues were allowed to carry on and that he subsequently discovered that the corrupt officers and the commander were all “on the square”. Another claims to have heard a superintendent boasting that he was recruiting a new officer to his squad and that he was shortlisting only masons.

The Police Complaints Authority has run into problems with masonic officers. On one occasion a man complained that he had been charged as the result of a masonic conspiracy. He then discovered that the superintendent who was investigating his complaint was himself a mason. The superintendent resigned and was replaced by a second officer who also turned out to be a mason. On another occasion, a provincial Chief Constable simply refused to ask whether one of his officers, who was looking into allegations about masons, was himself a member of a lodge.

Masons played a prominent part in the demise of John Stalker, the former Deputy Chief Constable of Manchester who tried to unravel a cover-up of political shootings in Northern Ireland and in the case of the Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Brian Woolard, who found evidence that his career had been blighted by senior masons after he attempted to uncover the role of civilian masons in a fraud. Masonic officers argue that policemen who want to be corrupt can make bad friendships through golf clubs or Round Table dinners, and that the lodges have no special influence.

When Sir Kenneth Newman produced his advice in 1985, his office considered all of the available evidence. The booklet which he produced acknowledged that the lodges offered friendship, a chance to mix with “some of the most distinguished people in the land” and an invitation to self-improvement. It noted that many of the allegations that were made against them were unsupported or plain wrong. Yet it concluded that some of the allegations were reliable and that the exclusivity of the lodges, the oddness of their rituals and their collection of coded signals amounted to a significant problem. “They militate against the acceptance, by colleagues and citizens alike, of an officer who is a freemason as a man on whose fairness it is possibly to rely always and unquestionably… A freemason’s oath holds inevitably the implication that loyalty to fellow freemasons may supersede any other loyalty.” The worshipful brothers of the Manor of St James disagree.

The two sides of the story came face to face late last year when the current Metropolitan Commissioner, Sir Paul Condon, appeared in front of the Select Committee which is investigating freemasonry in law enforcement. The Commissioner had reassured the committee that all was well but, as he prepared to leave, he was confronted by Chris Mullin, the ebullient Labour MP for Sunderland South, who had acquired his own copy of our photograph. Mullin pulled out the picture and told the Commissioner: “I thought you might like to have a look at your alternative command structure.”


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i could keep going.....
 
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