Systematic bullying in Surrey police

[TonyGosling]

Force that sacked policewoman for cowardice had 'too difficult' tray for complicated cases

By Caroline Grant
Last updated at 5:20 PM on 05th August 2009

Fired: Alison Wheeler, pictured arriving at her employment tribunal, was sacked for cowardice, dishonesty and incompetence

A former detective has claimed a force that sacked an opera singing policewoman for cowardice and incompetence would dump complicated cases in a tray marked 'too difficult'.

Bernard Cambi also said there was a culture of bullying and victimisation at Surrey Police and there was an 'uneasy and fearful atmosphere'.

The police officer was giving evidence at an employment tribunal today where 39-year-old Alison Wheeler claimed she was bullied because she was 'too posh' to be in the police.

Mr Cambi, who served with the Met Police for 35 years, said that while he was working as a civilian investigator in Surrey he found case papers 'gathering dust' for up to a year because staff deemed them too complicated to deal with.

Miss Wheeler, a former opera singer, was dismissed by Surrey Police after allegedly failing to help a colleague when he was attacked by yobs.

The force sacked Miss Wheeler for cowardice, dishonesty and incompetence.

However, Mr Cambi claims that senior officers at Epsom and Esher police stations were not capable of running their teams and bullied staff members into 'submission'.

'There have been incidences of bullying of staff at Epsom, made worse by the expectation that colleagues would inform on each other, which caused a very uneasy and fearful atmosphere in the offices,' he said.

Speaking about the discarded files, the 63-year-old said: 'I discovered cases not investigated by CID officers at Epsom and Esher police stations who had obviously found them too difficult to deal with and who plainly could not be bothered to do anything but left the papers lying in a drawer gathering dust.'

He spoke about two cases in particular and explained that he found them 'lying a tray marked "too difficult" at Epsom police station'.

In support of Miss Wheeler, he gave two examples where he claims her colleagues bullied her.

On one occasion Mr Cambi said she was reprimanded by DC Rebecca Humber after going against orders on an arrest.

On the case in question he claimed they were sent to arrest a man whose wife had told police he had firearms and ammunition without a licence.

Mr Cambi said they were given no backup or issued with any protective clothing and were put at 'unnecessary risk'.

In another incident he claims Detective Inspector Jackie Elkins deliberately blocked his attempts to file a good arrest report for Miss Wheeler.

'I believe DI Elkins has deliberately victimised PC Wheeler in this matter,' he told the tribunal in Croydon, south London.

Describing his time at the force, he said: 'During my service with Surrey Police there was not one team leader who had any experience of personnel management and none of them knew how to treat their team members properly.

'There is not one team leader who in my opinion merits promotion, but all desperately require training in the field of how to run a team.'

He added: 'The team members were not allowed to think for themselves, but bullied into submission.'

Miss Wheeler is claiming £350,000 in compensation from Surrey Police. She insists her dismissal was sexist and ageist and that she was bullied throughout her time at the force.

She was sacked just one month before her two-year probation period was up.

Surrey Police say the former public schoolgirl stood by and watched colleague PC Rory Channon get punched and kicked outside Walton police station in October 2007. They claim she made no attempt to radio for back-up and did not use her CS spray.

PC Channon said previously that he had seen Miss Wheeler standing nearby in her uniform.

He continued: 'She was shaking her CS gas, but was not moving. When she did come, she kept to the other side of the barrier, where I was struggling with the male and made no attempt to keep the other male away.

'She did not use her CS spray and did not use her radio to contact anyone.'

However, Miss Wheeler says CCTV footage of the attacks shows her intervening and that her former employers withheld these images from her when she asked to see them.

She believes that she was pushed out of the force because she had been an opera singer and owned a grand piano, which she took a day off to get installed at her home.

Miss Wheeler, who is now a singing teacher, gained a diploma from London's Trinity College of Music and worked as a mezzo soprano for 10 years.

She appeared in operas including The Magic Flute and Eugene and Onegin before she joined Surrey Police in January 2006.

Miss Wheeler's superiors claim that she showed a 'lack of courage and failed to take appropriate action to support a colleague' - a charge which she disputes.

They also insist that she had no prospect of completing her probationary NVQ in the allotted time.

The tribunal continues.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204542/Force-sacked-policewom an-cowardice-difficult-tray-complicated-cases.html#

[Disco_Destroyer]

see the Medway Photo event, not Surrey I know but near enough