Police showed 'Poor judgement' not misconduct

THOSE of us who want to retain our confidence in the British police despite all the evidence to the contrary can now fall back on the claim by the three Police Federation officers that they merely 'showed poor judgement in speaking to the media after meeting Mr Mitchell (the conservative minister who had to resign in the Plebgate case).'  After hearing their evidence before the Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday the committee chair Keith Vaz said that their evidence had been 'most unsatisfactory'.

Chief inspector Jerry Reakes-Williams, who wrote the initial report on the conduct of the three Police Federation officers, told the committee that Mr Mitchell deserved an apology. "Whatever the rights and wrongs of this case, you have to take in consideration the impact on Mr Mitchell and his family," he told the MPs.  But Mr Reakes-Williams added:  'I do not consider, on the balance of probabilities that the officers have lied, but misled... I do not think it was a deliberate attempt to mislead the public, but I do think the public was misled.'

So there you have it British policemen do not tell ordinary lies like the rest of us, they simply mislead folk.  The IPCC (Indendent Police Complaints Commission) chair Deborah Glass is less convinced and said she was 'absolutely astonished' that the officers had not been found guilty of gross misconduct.