POLICE AUTHORITY REJECTS GAY COMPLAINT

28-06-2008

West Midlands Police Authority have been accused of failing in their duty after refusing to take action against the officer responsible for the Green Lane mosque fiasco. Once again allegations of homophobia have been raised against the Force.

As we revealed recently, Philip Rolle from Redditch complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission about West Midlands Police for failing to prosecute the preachers filmed by an undercover Channel 4 crew.

In his view, they were inciting anti-gay hatred (see link here).

Instead, the Police tried taking action against the production crew – a decision which cost them £100,000 in libel costs (see link here).

Rolle’s letter to the IPCC cited Assistant Chief Constable Anil Patani, who has the brief of promoting “cohesion” – a role which The Stirrer opined he took rather more seriously in this case than enforcing the law (http://tinyurl.com/3lsrj2).

The IPCC then referred the issue the Police Authority whose job is to monitor the Force - but we’ve now discovered that the Authority is refusing to record the complaint.

They say Patani’s actions don’t relate to his “conduct”, but the direction and control of the Force; and they point out that prosecutions are determined by the CPS.

"So there we have it," comments Rolle.  "An officer lands the Force in the High Court to pay damages and make a grovelling apology, and the Police Authority considers that he has immunity from the complaints process. That cannot be right.

"This complaint, and the others made recently, are of course consistent with the view expressed by a serving gay officer that some force officers, particularly senior officers, are homophobic. If a serving officer thinks that, how can the gay community be expected not to harbour the same suspicion?

"The point that the Police Authority make about the CPS is fine as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. We need to know whether the submission made to the CPS by Patani was complete and accurate.

"If, for example, the submission expressed false views as to the film's reliability, then might it not be supposed that West Midlands Police misdirected the CPS? That is a perfectly legitimate enquiry.

"In short, this whole matter needs to be reexamined and resubmitted to the CPS, possibly by an external police force."

Rolle has now appealed to the IPCC.