£60k paid to suspended police officers
Published 12 Apr 2012 05:59
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MORE than £60,000 has been spent to keep two Fife police officers on full pay after they were suspended over wrongdoing on the job.
The eye-watering figures, obtained under Freedom of Information, showed wages were paid for two constables to just to stay at home while criminal investigations are carried out.
One of the constables has earned £5282 since being suspended for assault in February this year.
The other has been suspended since June 2010 for contravening the Data Protection Act and has pocketed a total of £54898 to date.
The second officer was also one of four who were suspended as of January 2011; of the other three, one subsequently returned to work, while two resigned.
The figures came on the back of the revelation that taypayers have footed a bill of almost £2.5million since 2009 to keep 65 officers from Scotland's forces on 'gardening leave'.
The officers have been accused of drink-driving, fraud, shoplifting and assault - and some are kept suspended for years without being sacked.
Further FoI information on Fife police's website revealed that a total of 14 officers were suspended from duty between 2006 and 2011.
Of that number, 10 were constables and the other four were ranked 'sergeant and above'. All but one of the officers were male.
The constables were suspended over various allegations including corrupt practice, theft, assault, racially aggravated breach of the peace, and conduct likely to bring discredit to the force.
Two were suspended for contravening the Data Protection Act.
Allegations were made against three of the sergeants, one of whom was female, for attempting to pervert the course of justice, and the fourth was accused of breach of the peace.
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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lydiapot1
118 posts
Apr 12, 20:03
Report commentMaybe this is a good time to mention some of the scum bag practices and lies that some officers are good at. They will know who I mean.
Not to mention some procedures that are awash with error. It makes good reading and would be hilarious if it not for the most vulnerable in our society being discriminated against because of this.
In the public interest? Most definately. We all pay our tax.
FOI, what a wonderful tool! More to come.
Recommend?
Yes 28
No 21
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pitcorthiemiss
10 posts
Apr 14, 17:13
Report commentlydia spot
You've posted several time before, slagging off the police.
Tell us, why exactly do you have such a negative view of this organisation? Personal experience, rumour, hearsay??
Mmmmmmmmm
Recommend? Yes 19
No 24
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lydiapot1
118 posts
Apr 14, 20:46
Report commentIt's a demoracy we live in. We have freedom of speech. As I stated, and if you are really interesetd, as I assume you are as you made a point of asking, you just require to read some of their proecuderes, and if you are of even a little intelect, you will realise how little some of the staff know about the structure of the English language. As said, this can be hilarious reading if it were, for example, not leading to potential discrimiation of the most vulnerable in our society who may not have the ability to protect themselves.
Change happens.
Recommend? Yes 21
No 17
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kaka30
310 posts
Apr 15, 08:55
Report commentOn the whole, our Police Force does a great job, especially with all the paper work & procedures they have to contend with.
There has allways been a small number of serving officers who abuse their position & they have to be weeded out & brought to justice.
You would think that they could speed up the investigations into any wrong doing & so save the tax payers money.
Recommend? Yes 19
No 17
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B2theB
145 posts
Apr 16, 13:14
Report commentLydia, I note your use of the words "and if you are of even a little intelect".
Perhaps, before you try to belittle another poster, and cast lightly veiled insults, especially when questioning the police force's knowledge of the English languange structure, you could use your intelect [sic] to learn to spell words like "intellect", "interested", "discrimination", and "definitely".
You may have a point in your intentions, but please dismount from your high horse.
Let's play a game, construct a sentence using the following words.
people, glass houses, throw stones....................
Recommend? Yes 20
No 17
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TheDEXExpress
109 posts
Apr 16, 14:05
Report commentI agree with kaka30. Due process has to be respected and if there are ongoing criminal investigations, it follows that neither of these officers has been convicted of anything as yet. They should therefore continue to receive their salary unless and until they are convicted or dismissed. If, by contrast, they are acquitted or a decision is made not to proceed with criminal proceedings, they should return to work asap.
It's reasonable for the individual accused of assault only in February to be still on gardening leave. Two months is not a long time to go through the necessary processes. It is less easy to see why the case of the individual suspended for allegedly contravening the Data Protection Act has not been brought to a conclusion after almost 2 years. Perhaps The Press could ask Fife Constabulary to explain why this is so. There may well be a perfectly reasonable explanation, but on the face of it, it does not look like they are treating the matter as a high priority.
Recommend? Yes 18
No 18
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jollymolly
93 posts
Apr 16, 14:37
Report comment -
pitcorthiemiss
10 posts
Apr 18, 14:40
Report comment -
jollymolly
93 posts
Apr 18, 23:29
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Geedoc
23 posts
Apr 19, 13:25
Report commentHey lydia has stopped replying...tinkle tinkle
Recommend? Yes 0
No 13
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