Letter by email to the Police Authority Clerk and Monitoring Officer about the Chief Constable’s use of offensive WEB-LOGS
From Old Colwyn East Residents' Association
Dear Mr Dent,
Complaint about the Chief Constable's weblog comments about Colwyn
I have copied for you the newspaper story from the Mail on Sunday on September 17th 2006. I have also copied the story from the North Wales Weekly News on September 14th 2006. They are pasted below. Both letters contain matter written from the Chief Constables' Blog of September 11th 2006. The Chief Constable has written statements in his blog which are on the Police website and widely read.
Some of these statements are untrue.
He has publicly said that some residents of the Bay of Colwyn are nasty and intolerant of intravenous drug abusers, led or orchestrated by local representatives.
He goes further than that by saying that what he calls nimbyism (not in my back yard) has resulted in pressure amounting almost to blackmail on the local chemists causing them to withdraw from a scheme of exchanging needles for drug abusers. As our Association letter resulted in the closure of the last needle exchange, he is referring to us directly.
I do not accept your assertion that because the needle exchange was closed after our letter was written to them, that this in some way justifies the Chief Constable's comments in his blog.
People in positions of responsibility, such as Mr Brunstrom, should make sure of their facts before writing abusive letters.
There has not been a chemist in Colwyn area offering a needle exchange since 2003, until Boots the Chemist revealed recently that they are operating a needle exchange.
In June 2003, Old Colwyn was subject to the open sale of drugs on the main street; literally crowds of people would wait by a telephone box for a delivery, then they would run along the road to the pusher's car for a supply. People were seen injecting themselves in the street on some occasions.
At the inaugural meeting of the Old Colwyn East Residents Association on 11th June 2003, it is minuted that the local police officer stated that our main problems were associated with an influx of drug dependants to the area, perceived to be related to the needle exchange at Rowlands Chemist in Old Colwyn, by then the only needle exchange between Llandudno and Rhyl.
We decided quite justifiably in our opinion that it was intolerable that all the chemists other than Old Colwyn had closed their needle exchanges, putting extreme pressure on our village in this way. Our village had become a magnet for many drug addicts to come to live, due to the accessibility of needles.
Our Association wrote to Mr Goronwy Bennett-Williams, the pharmacy coordinator for North Wales, (I copied the letter to you for reference). We explained the situation that I have outlined and stated a view that either all chemists should operate a needle exchange or none. Not what I would call a blackmail letter.
We supported the mobile needle exchange idea in principle but after consultation refused to offer for it to come to Old Colwyn unless it was organised in a County wide program.
People who are drug dependant are members of society and needle exchanges are necessary not only for them but to safeguard the rest of the population from harm.
It is not acceptable for people to be pushed from pillar to post searching for a supply of clean needles, supply should be available in their own community together with support and advice. Having said that though, it should be a multilateral change with exchanges opening in all areas.
The alternative is a movement of people following the easy supply of needles. This puts an intolerable strain on an individual area, Old Colwyn can give evidence of that.
I do not think that Mr Brunstrom's abusive views are welcome or helpful. If a community group seeks to lawfully express a view about an issue concerning its' area, it should be allowed to do so without a Chief Constable grandstanding on the issue.
Now that Mr Brunstrom has started to use weblogging as a way of grabbing headlines at other people's expense, he should be disciplined about the way that he speaks about members of the community, trying to do a good job, lawfully.
You will recall that Mr Brunstrom publicly humiliated Mr William Shaw a respectable member of the community, on television and in the press, in an unprecedented public attack and criminalised him for daring to question police evidence on a speeding charge.
He was reported by Mr Shaw to the Police Authority Professional Standards Committee for his actions.
After the meeting, you were reported as saying that “The committee carefully considered Mr. Shaw’s full and detailed submission and at Mr. Shaw’s request viewed the full unedited video of the press conference. The committee decided this was not a matter which warranted a formal investigation.” Mr. Dent added: “However, the committee had concerns about the principle of convening a press conference in this instance and decided to discuss with the Chief Constable a protocol to cover the convening of press conferences or public meetings in relation to named individuals in future.”
Well in this case, Mr Brunstrom has written a vicious attack on Colwyn in order to highlight the drugs issue once again. We are told that he is passionate about the problems of society. You seek to justify his words as "typically robust comments on the lack of a needle exchange".
We do not accept that justification of his comments, as we are known to have written the letter to the last needle exchange chemist to protest about its effect on our area. His words nasty, vicious and intolerant are directed at us. He has accused us of creating pressure amounting almost to blackmail on the local chemists causing them to withdraw from the scheme. Those comments are recognisable as being directed at us by local people as he makes a statement in the blog that "There is a nasty streak of intolerance in the area, much of it led or orchestrated by a handful of local representatives.
The problem that we suffered in 2003 was highlighted by the police as being because of the needle exchange; we wrote letters which were reasonable and very tolerant in my opinion, highlighting the problem. If the police cannot protect society directly, then society has a right to self protection by reasonable means.
Over three years, we have maintained pressure which has finally rid us of the excess of addicts, caused by the cessation of all the other needle exchanges between Rhyl and Llandudno.
We still have drugs abusers and addicts in Old Colwyn but they are not as prominent and antisocial as we were experiencing in 2003.
We understand that as a society we have to accept that addicts are members of society. One thing that is often missed in all this argument is that they are not the only members of society. Other people have rights too.
I repeat that we would wish to see this matter taken before the Professional Standards Committee, to lay down a line for guidance of the ACPO team on the manner in which they speak about the public in publicly accessible documents such as blogs. Such unjustified abuse of the public, is misuse of a police website and of the Chief Constable's authority and we believe that it is very much a matter for the Professional Standards Committee.
Yours sincerely
David Curtis
Secretary
REPLY FROM THE POLICE AUTHORITY
From: KELVIN DENT, CLERK AND MONITORING OFFICER TO THE POLICE AUTHORITY
To: DAVID CURTIS- SECRETARY OF OLD COLWYN EAST RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 4:35 PM
Subject: Needle Exchange
Dear Mr Curtis
Further to my e-mail of 24 October I confirm that your correspondence was drawn to the attention of the Professional Standards Committee earlier today. I submitted a report on your representations in response to the Chief Constable's entry on his web log of 11 September in relation to his reference to residents of Old Colwyn and their representatives.
There was an extremely long and full debate and the Committee resolved as follows:-
(1) Not to take any further action on the grounds that the matter would not give rise to criminal or disciplinary proceedings, even if proven
(2) That the Chair of the Professional Standards Committee should discuss with the Chief Constable the choice of words which the Chief Constable uses in his web logs
(3) That the Chair of the Authority should discuss with the Chief Constable the issues and implications arising from the use of web log sites by the Force
Thank you for drawing this matter to the attention of the Police Authority.
Kelvin Dent
Clerc/Clerk
Awdurdod Heddlu Gogledd Cymru/North Wales Police Authority
01492 511903
