Met officers accused of waterboarding suspects

[TriWooOx]

Quote:Torture allegations against six officers in the Metropolitan police were so serious that Scotland Yard used the word "waterboarding" to describe the claimed mistreatment of five suspects arrested in a drugs raid.

Despite attempts to play down the seriousness of the allegations against six officers in north London – with sources describing it as more Life on Mars than Guantánamo Bay – it emerged today that it was the Met itself which used the word waterboarding in a document to describe the alleged actions of its officers.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating claims that the five supects arrested at addresses in north London in November were subjected to torture techniques used by US agents in Guantánamo Bay.

All the suspects are said to have been traumatised by their experience. One was charged with assaulting a police constable after his arrest.

The allegations, made by a fellow officer, led to an investigation by the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) – its internal investigators – into alleged widespread corruption, evidence fabrication and the stealing of suspects' property by officers from Enfield borough's CID department.

This wider inquiry is continuing and eight officers, including the six alleged to have been involved in waterboarding, have been suspended. A further two have been placed on restricted duties and a new borough commander is to be appointed.

The whistleblower claimed that his colleagues had held the suspects' heads in water to try to get them to reveal where a drugs stash was held, it is understood.

The Met said today: "Whilst the investigation is ongoing it is not appropriate to make assumptions. That said, these are serious allegations that do raise real concern. The Met does not tolerate conduct that falls below the standards that the public and the many outstanding Met officers and staff expect. Any allegations of such behaviour are treated very seriously, as this case illustrates."

The London mayor, Boris Johnson, said: "Clearly these allegations are extremely serious and need to be thoroughly investigated." He said he was certain the Met commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, would take "the strongest possible action to deal with any allegations of misconduct to ensure the public can have confidence in the Metropolitan police".

The DPS investigation into the Enfield officers began after drug raids on two addresses, one in Tottenham and one in Edmonton, on 4 November last year. Four men and a woman were arrested and charged with the importation of cannabis.

The five were due to stand trial at Wood Green crown court on 12 March. The Crown Prosecution Service, in an application behind closed doors, dropped the drugs charges because the torture allegations would have come out during the hearings.

A CPS spokesman said: "If we had continued [with the trial] we would have compromised a wide-ranging criminal investigation into the activities of a number of officers."

The DPS inquiry is understood to have uncovered widespread corruption, including claims that suspects had had property stolen by officers and that items such as televisions and iPods had disappeared from police stores.

Ten officers were suspended in February, and in April the Met referred allegations involving six to the IPCC, in which it was stated they had allegedly been involved in waterboarding.

The IPCC said today it was independently investigating the actions of six officers during the execution of two drugs warrants of 4 November. Its investigators were carrying out house-to-house inquiries, and had taken a number of statements. The IPCC is appealing for witnesses to come forward.

"This is an ongoing criminal investigation and as such all six officers will be criminally interviewed under caution," an IPCC spokeswoman said.

Stephenson has promised to come down hard on senior officers who fail to supervise their teams. During the G20 protests it emerged that discipline over frontline officers was an issue, and the commissioner said a failure of supervisors to manage their teams and crack down on indiscipline was something he wanted tackled.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/ju...rboarding-claim

[Shinobi]

Totally sick ! .. the pigs are just doing what the f*ck they like and getting away with it
that was so uncalled for, over some bloody cannabis wtf! wow so wrong.
You know what annoys me Tri, them slimey bastards will walk away smiling
because nothing will happen to them.
People in the uk are getting sick of this shit, time to police the police!
fuck the IPCC, lets have something that is nothing to do with the police policing themselves.
They allow people to be jury, so why not allow people from society to police these barbaric morons.
We really will have vigilantes more and more on the street and it will be entirely to stop
crazy f*ckers like that from abusing their powers.. watch and see!

[TriWooOx]

Quote:You know what annoys me Tri, them slimey bastards will walk away smiling
because nothing will happen to them.
People in the uk are getting sick of this shit, time to police the police!
fuck the IPCC, lets have something that is nothing to do with the police policing themselves.

i totally agree with you there.. I had the IPCC round last week about the G20 protest, I doubt anything will come of it.. fucking PIGS

IPCC = Independent Police Coverup Commission
IPCC = Independent Police Corrupt Commission