Showing posts sorted by relevance for query p> Officers. Sort by date Show all posts

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Hundreds of police in England and Wales accused of sexual abuse | UK news

7:01 AM Bilal Muazin No comments

Hundreds of police officers are being accused of sexually abusing victims and suspects in what a senior police watchdog has called â€œthe most serious corruption issue facing the serviceâ€.

Forces across England and Wales received 436 allegations of abuse of power for sexual gain against 306 police officers, 20 police community support officers and eight staff in the two years to March but inspectors believe the problem is even more prevalent than the numbers suggest.

Despite the large numbers, there is evidence that only 40 officers or staff have been dismissed for abusing authority for sexual gain in a similar period.

Vulnerable individuals, including domestic abuse victims, alcohol and drug addicts, sex workers and arrested suspects were among those targeted by officers and staff, Her Majestyâ€™s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said.

Victim groups have said the findings are â€œdeeply concerningâ€ and involved some of the most vulnerable people in society.

Mike Cunningham, inspector of constabulary and former chief constable of Staffordshire police, said: â€œThis is the most serious corruption issue facing the service. What can be worse than a guardian abusing the trust and confidence of an abused person? There can be no greater violation of public trust.â€

â€œIt is probably more likely the problem is more serious than the numbers reported back to us,â€ he added.

â€œIn many cases the victims are vulnerable people. They are victims of domestic abuse, theyâ€™re victims who might have been arrested and they have drug or alcohol dependency. It is an exploitation of power where the guardian becomes the abuser.â€

One of the most high-profile cases of police officers abusing their power in recent history was that of Stephen Mitchell, who was jailed for life in 2011 for raping and sexually assaulting vulnerable women he had arrested.

Mitchell, who was a constable with Northumbria police, abused heroin addicts, shoplifters and a disabled teenager by offering them help while in custody, then demanding sexual favours afterwards.

Earlier this year, DS Robert Dawson, a Metropolitan police officer who had sex with a vulnerable alleged rape victim, was formally dismissed from the force. A tribunal heard that in 2010, while investigating an allegation of serious sexual assault, Dawson engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with the victim.

PC Simon Salway, who had sex with vulnerable witnesses and victims of crime, and fathered a child with one of the women he exploited, was found guilty of six charges of misconduct in a public office at Luton crown court last year.

HMIC found that more than a third (39%) of the allegations of abuse of authority for sexual gain involved victims of domestic abuse. As part of its research the inspectorate carried out an online survey of domestic abuse practitioners between July and August. Sixty-eight practitioners (16%) of the 414 who took part said victims of domestic abuse had disclosed that an officer or member of police staff had abused their authority to exploit them or develop an inappropriate relationship with them.

The chief executive of the domestic violence charity Refuge, Sandra Horley, said: â€œWidespread reports of police officers exploiting women for sexual gain â€¦ are horrific â€" but unsurprising.

â€œRefuge is glad HMICâ€™s report has shone a light on this issue, following a consultation with domestic violence practitioners including our frontline staff. The police are meant to protect the public from harm; how can women be expected to report their abuse, if they fear the police will abuse them all over again? Women have the right to safety and protection.

â€œRefuge commends the work HMIC has already done in improving the police response to domestic violence; we hope this report will mean an end to what is an appalling abuse of power.â€

Mark Castle, chief executive of the independent charity Victim Support, said: â€œThese allegations are deeply concerning. The victims involved are some of the most vulnerable people in our society, who have been exploited by the people they should be able to trust the most, the police.

â€œIn order to maintain public confidence in the police itâ€™s critical that forces recognise this behaviour as the serious corruption that it is and report all cases to the IPCC to ensure that they are thoroughly and robustly investigated.â€

The HMIC findings formed part of a broader inspection of police legitimacy, which concluded victimsâ€™ satisfaction with the way they were treated by police remained high. The investigation was ordered by the then home secretary, Theresa May.

But the inspectorate said forces still needed to become more proactive in rooting out officers and staff abusing power for sexual gain. This could involve profiling officers to single out those who might be likely to commit such abuse.

Cunningham said one of the reasons the inspectorate believed the figures belied a greater problem was that forces in England and Wales did not have a consistent and coherent approach to tackling the problem.

Not all forces class the abuse of authority for sexual gain as a serious corruption issue, which HMIC says they should. This would mean any allegation would be automatically referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) for investigation.

HMIC was only able to find 40 cases on the national disapproved register in which officers or staff were dismissed for abusing power for sexual gain during the period in which more than 400 allegations were received.

â€œWhatâ€™s less clear is whatâ€™s happening with those allegations, how those allegations are being pursued, how they translate into gross misconduct hearings and sackings,â€ Cunningham said.

HMIC said the problem remained despite recommendations in a 2012 IPCC report on the issue, which appear to have not been acted on.

In her speech to the Police Federation conference earlier this year, May said: â€œWe know of officers who develop inappropriate relationships with victims of domestic abuse. They have ignored their professional duty and their moral responsibility, and instead abused their position of power to exploit victims. We do not know the true scale of this, but everyone in this room will know it goes on far more than we might care to admit.â€

Thank You So Much for Visiting this Blog

Hundreds of police in England and Wales accused of sexual abuse | UK news

1:57 AM Bilal Muazin No comments

Hundreds of police officers are being accused of sexually abusing victims and suspects in what a senior police watchdog has called â€œthe most serious corruption issue facing the serviceâ€.

Despite the large numbers, there is evidence that only 40 officers or staff have been dismissed for abusing authority for sexual gain in a similar period.

Victim groups have said the findings are â€œdeeply concerningâ€ and involved some of the most vulnerable people in society.

â€œIt is probably more likely the problem is more serious than the numbers reported back to us,â€ he added.

Mitchell, who was a constable with Northumbria police, abused heroin addicts, shoplifters and a disabled teenager by offering them help while in custody, then demanding sexual favours afterwards.

â€œRefuge commends the work HMIC has already done in improving the police response to domestic violence; we hope this report will mean an end to what is an appalling abuse of power.â€

HMIC said the problem remained despite recommendations in a 2012 IPCC report on the issue, which appear to have not been acted on.

Thank Very Much for Read this Blog

Migrant Sex Attacks Increased 133 Per Cent This Year

6:00 AM Bilal Muazin No comments

Rachel Megawhat/Breitbart London

by Chris Tomlinson8 Dec 20160

8 Dec, 20168 Dec, 2016

The number of sex attacks by migrants has rapidly risen in Austria over the last year with statistics showing an increase of 133 per cent, an inquiry has revealed.

The anti-mass migration Freedom Party of Austria (FPÃ–) brought the statistics of migrant sex attacks to light in the Austrian parliament after making an inquiry to the Interior Ministry. According to the Interior Ministry report, â€œfrom January 1 to September 30, 2016, 91 asylum seekers were investigated as suspectsâ€ in rape cases â€" a 133 per cent increase from 2015,Â Kronen Zeitung reports.

The total number of rape allegations in Austria has gone down since 2015 fromÂ 688 suspects to 594 suspects. TheÂ number of incidents has also decreased in general from 826 to 674. But despite asylum seekers being a small fraction of the population in Austria, the statistics show that more than one in ten instances of rape, closer to one-fifth, are carried out by migrants.

The report also states that the vast majority of the migrants who are suspected of rape are of an Afghani origin with the number of Afghan suspects rising from 16 to 47. The number of Syrian rape suspects has also risen from three to 11.

Austrian Peopleâ€™s Party (Ã–VP) Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka noted that the figures were too raw to make any real policy conclusions and said that they did not stand up to a scientific review because they were only quarterly or semi-annualÂ statistics.

FPÃ– deputy David Lasar, who made the initial inquiry, asked the interior minister what steps were being done to secure the safety of Austrians â€œdue to the multitude of sexual assaults on womenâ€. Sobotka replied to theÂ FPÃ– politician saying that policeÂ hadÂ been increased in certain urban hotspots as well as the deployment of plain clothes officers.

The number of migrants who have applied for asylum in Austria,Â by the Interior Ministry official statistics, has dropped to 34,657 from the nearly 89,000 who applied in 2015.

Some, like theÂ FPÃ–, have disputed the claim that less than the 37,000 migrant limit have come into the country. Earlier this year the party revealed that over 120,000 migrants had entered Austriaâ€™sÂ borders, though many may have only passed through on their way to Germany and elsewhere.

Several of the rapes alleged to have been committed by migrants have made headlines in Austria over the last year. One of the most high-profile cases was the rape of a young boy at a swimming facility. The migrant responsible had his conviction for the crime overturned after a court said he likely didnâ€™t know the boy was saying â€œnoâ€ at the time. He is set to be retried in the new year for the crime.

In another prominent case, a gang of nine migrants raped a German woman in the Austrian capital of Vienna. The men, aged 21 to 47, are said to have taken advantage of the girl on New Yearâ€™s Eve as she was severelyÂ intoxicated at the time.

Thank You So Much for Visiting this Article

Substitute teacher accused of having sex with Kimball High student who called her 'wifey' | Crime

2:30 AM Bilal Muazin No comments

A Dallas substitute teacher has been arrested after being accused ofÂ having sex with a student at Kimball High school, according to WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

Fallon Hunt, 28, has been charged with improper relationship between educator and student. She was booked Tuesday into the Dallas County Jail, where she remains in lieu of $20,000 bail.

According to an arrest warrant obtained by Channel 8, a parent called Dallas ISD police in October after finding inappropriate messages between her son and Hunt.

Officers found pictures of a second high school student on that phone, Channel 8 reported. This student told police in an interview that there may be two other victims who had been involved in relationships with Hunt. He provided names and links to their Instagram accounts.

While searching through Hunt's phone, police discovered text messages between Hunt and one student who graduated in May 2015 but was still in school at the time.Â

The student called Hunt "wifey" and she called the student "my baby," according to the warrant.

After speaking with that student, police said he admitted he had had sex with Hunt on multiple occasions between April and May of 2015.

There were 222 reports of inappropriate relationships between Texas educators and students in fiscal year 2016, shattering last year's record total of 188 cases.

Among the educators making headlines were a special ed teacher who made child porn at a Mansfield school, a Duncanville teacher who is serving a 10-year sentence for having sex with a student with Asperger's syndrome, and a Plano PE teacher accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a student.

So far this fiscal year, the Texas Education Agency has investigated 56 such reports, including 21 last month alone.

Thank You So Much for Visit this News

Metropolitan police to investigate sexual abuse claims at London clubs | Football

3:30 PM Bilal Muazin No comments

The Metropolitan police has launched an investigation into historical sexual abuse claims involving London football clubs, becoming the 21st force across the country to have begun similar inquiries into teams in their areas.

Britainâ€™s largest police force said specialist officers would look into allegations of â€œnon-recentâ€ crimes, but refused to say which clubs it was investigating.

â€œWe take all the allegations we receive very seriously and they will be dealt with sensitively,â€ said DCS Ivan Balhatchet of the Metâ€™s sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command. â€œAnyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, whatever the circumstances, or has any relevant information should contact their local police or the NSPCC.â€

Football sex abuse scandal: how the story unfolded

According to police, more than 350 potential victims have come forward since the former Crewe defender Andy Woodward waived his right to anonymity to reveal in an interview with the Guardian that he had been a Âvictim of sexual abuse

Gary Johnson, the former player who was paid Â£50,000 by Chelsea not to go public with allegations that he was abused by their former chief scout Eddie Heath, has said that a personal apology from the clubâ€™s board, delivered in person on Wednesday, was â€œtoo little, too lateâ€.

Johnson was a member of Chelseaâ€™s first team from 1978 to 1981 after joining the club as an 11-year-old in 1970. The 57-year-old spoke out recently to say he was groomed from the age of 13 by Heath, who was chief scout from 1968 to 1979 and is now dead. Chelseaâ€™s insurers paid Â£50,000 in compensation, without liability, in return for a confidentiality clause.

Johnson told the BBC that the Â£50,000 he received was â€œnot enough for the pain and suffering Iâ€™ve hadâ€, adding: â€œIt [the abuse] took away my childhood â€" I can never get that back.â€

In Holyrood, Nicola Sturgeon resisted calls for the inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in Scotland to be widened to include football clubs, after the Scottish Labour leader, Kezia ÂDugdale, pressed her during first ministerâ€™s Âquestions about revelations of abuse in Scottish clubs.

The first minister said: â€œMy view is we should allow that inquiry to get on with its job and we should allow the police to get on with their job of investigating allegations of abuse in football.â€

Earlier, a former chief Âexecutive of the Scottish Football Association called for a separate inquiry as the revelÂations across the UK continued to mount. Gordon Smith told BBC Radioâ€™s Good Morning Scotland that an investigation into how clubs and national bodies had responded to allegations was needed.

â€œThere should be an inquiry, an inquiry into anybody who knew anything about this sort of thing,â€ he said. â€œIf this was happening at a club, what action did they take? Weâ€™re now finding out some of the cases down in England where the club tried to hush the situation, even paid a player money to not say anything about it.â€

The SFA has said it is part of a task force set up to coordinate complaints and information relating to child sexual abuse within football and that it is passing on all information it receives to Police Scotland.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Premiership club Patrick Thistle have admitted firing one of their employees in 1992 over abuse claims. The club disclosed that a former physiotherapist, named as John Hart, who died in 1995, was dismissed after the allegations came to light more than 20 years ago.

In a statement, the club denied any cover-up, stating: â€œThe current board and management knew nothing of this until an internal investigation uncovered it in the last few days. As a result, the club informed the SFA and Police Scotland.â€

This follows revelations concerning a former youth coach for Celtic, Hibernian and Falkirk football clubs, who was on Wednesday charged with a child sex offence and has been remanded in custody.

Jim McCafferty, who worked in football across the central belt of Scotland and in Ireland from the 1980s, was arrested in Belfast on Tuesday after presenting himself at a police station. He was charged with engaging in sexual activity with a child aged 13-16 between December 2011 and December 2014.

Thank Very Very Much for Visit this Article

Football sex abuse: Met Police launches investigation

5:00 AM Bilal Muazin No comments

Image copyright Thinkstock

The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into allegations of historical sexual abuse in football at clubs in London.

A dedicated team of officers from the Met's sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command will work alongside Operation Hydrant.

Hundreds of people have reported abuse to UK police so far, the National Police Chief's Council said.

The Met is not discussing the number of allegations or the clubs involved.

Det Ch Supt Ivan Balhatchet from the Met said the force takes allegations seriously and they "will be dealt with sensitively".

"Anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, whatever the circumstances, or has any relevant information, should contact their local police or the NSPCC," he added.

Football clubs across the UK have been implicated in a growing number of child sex abuse allegations.

Child sex abuse claims - story so far

The Met's announcement comes as the Football Association has been criticised for "dismissing" concerns about sexual abuse in football when they emerged in the 1990s.

A dedicated football abuse hotline set up by the NSPCC received more than 860 calls since it was set up about two weeks ago.

The phone line is available 24 hours a day on 0800 023 2642.

Police forces investigating allegations:

North Wales
North Yorkshire
Dorset
Staffordshire
Greater Manchester
Cambridgeshire
Hampshire
Cheshire
Northumbria
Metropolitan
Police Scotland
Avon and Somerset
Essex
Norfolk
Derbyshire
Warwickshire
Devon and Cornwall
South Wales
Dyfed-Powys
PSNI

Thank So Much for Read this Article

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )