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Met Commissioner Breaks Faith with Lambeth From www.lambeth4paddick.org/ 9th Oct 2002 According to BBC online, the Metropolitan Police Service have announced tonight that Commander Brian Paddick is to be reassigned to a permanent post within Scotland Yard and not to be returned to Lambeth This announcement preempts the response from the Crown Prosecution Service to investigations into the allegations against Brian Paddick, and also preempts the Metropolitan Police Authority�s Disciplinary Standards panel. Such is the eagerness of the Met to follow the Daily Mail�s agenda, that due process has been stood on it�s head. lambeth4paddick.org made the following statement: The Metropolitan Police Force has not kept its word to the Lambeth community. Brian Paddick is a respected police officer who has been the victim of contrived allegations. Commissioner Sir John Stevens said in April that, if these charges did not stick, Brian Paddick would return to his duties. Apparently, he has not kept his promise. Following the announcement that Commander Brian Paddick was to be moved to a job in police intelligence, the Support Brian Paddick Campaign (lambeth4paddick) issued this statement: Many members of this community don�t trust the police further than they can throw them. What are those of us who feel that it is worth working with the police to tell them now? Ever since the Scarman report, members of this community have been working to achieve real communication between community and police. Lambeth has been the origin of many initiatives, such as lay visiting of police stations, that have since been copied nationwide. The first time we got a senior police officer who seemed to share our commitment to that process, he was attacked by a right-wing newspaper with a clear political agenda. We respected the police�s duty to investigate those allegations. Now it appears there are no charges to answer and Brian Paddick should return to Lambeth. But Sir John Stevens is not keeping his word. This may seem an easy fudge in New Scotland Yard. But for us it is about more than whether the police get a bad press from Associated Newspapers. It is about whether our streets are over-run by crack-dealers and whether our community goes up in flames as a result of bad policing, as has happened too many times before. With Stop and Search ( the cause of the original Brixton riots) about to be scaled up, the police appear to be showing no respect whatsoever for those in the Brixton community who have been trying to work for harmonious relations between police and community. We expect Commander Paddick to be returned to his duties in Lambeth. In April this year, 5000 people signed a petition calling for Brian Paddick's reinstatement. A packed public meeting in the Town Hall gave Commander Paddick a standing ovation and called for his immediate reinstatement. Since then, hundreds of residents have pledged their support at www.lambeth4paddick.org/. WHAT CAN YOU DO? REGISTER YOUR DISGUST;. USE THESE LINKS TO: Email the Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority; Email the Commissioner of the Met; Fax your MP on this website (it's easy - you only need to know your postcode, the rest is done for you); Express your support on www.lambeth4paddick.org or discuss the issues onthe busy urban75 bulleton boards.

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