PCSO Unlawful Bullying

The request was refused by West Yorkshire Police.

Dear West Yorkshire Police,

Under the freedom of information act 2000 could you please provide me with the following information.

On the 29/1/2012 in Bramley, Leeds, PCSO 6298 made a threat that she had the power to confiscate the camera that a member of the public was using to record the officers actions. She then continued to insist that the member of public stop filming her.

As this officer has no such power to make such a confiscation, nor demand that she not be filmed, this can be regarded as an unlawful attempt by one of your PCSOs to needlessly harass and bully a member of the public into compliance. One of numerous instances that occur daily in the UK.

The entire event can be seen on Youtube here:-

www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=e...

My question to you, is could you please tell me if PCSO 6298 and or any of the officers who assisted her unlawful threats have been disciplined in regards to this incident.

Although the police would accept such a video as evidence to be submitted against a member of public for prosecution, the IPCC claim that members of the public cannot use the same type of video evidence to complain about the police.

Therefore as I am precluded from complaining to your Professional Standards Department about the actions of this officer, I am obligated to use Freedom of Information to 'enquire' instead.

Yours faithfully,

Rob Willis

Rob Willis left an annotation ()

PCSOs have been given license to prowl the streets collecting revenue for the courts with the most rudimentary understanding of legislation and even less understanding on how to engage lawful members of the public.

The issue here is that if we as citizens act unlawfully and are captured on CCTV the police can prosecute us directly. However, if we capture the police acting unlawfully on our own citizens CCTV (mobile video cameras) the IPCC claims that only the person who recorded it can make the complaint.

This is of course an unlawful and unfair bias and I believe the IPCC should be challenged directly with every clear instance of police abuse that appears on any video clip on any streaming site on the internet and forced to investigate.

West Yorkshire Police

1 Attachment

Please see the attached letter(s) in relation to your request.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Brian Thackray
Freedom of Information Team
West Yorkshire Police
FreedomofInformationRequestAccepted-144115188076147691.pdf
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REPORT MINOR CRIME ONLINE: Report a West Yorkshire crime online, request a callback or report lost property, all via our website http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/

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Jean James left an annotation ()

I would think that nobody is precluded from making a complaint. However, I have found that complaints made to the Professional Standards Branch may not be recorded or addressed.

The best bet is to complain about police directly to the IPCC. They MUST issue you a file number and follow up. West Yorkshire might sweep your complaint under the carpet otherwise.

The email address is CustomerContactCentre@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk

West Yorkshire Police

1 Attachment

Please see the attached letter(s) in relation to your request.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Julia Jones
Freedom of Information Team
West Yorkshire Police
Response 1-262760.pdf
_________________________________________________

REPORT MINOR CRIME ONLINE: Report a West Yorkshire crime online, request a callback or report lost property, all via our website http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/

This email carries a disclaimer, a copy of which may be read at
http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/email...