Scots Police face epidemic of secrets leaked to suspects & criminals : Tayside Police Officer admits she leaked secret information to her lover

Hardly a week goes by where it seems there is a new case of a Police Officer leaking or sharing sensitive or secret information with lovers, suspects, criminals and even, members of the legal profession.

In the latest incident, a married female Police Officer has pled guilty to leaking sensitive Police information to “her lover”, who then passed the information onto a suspect in a counterfeiting probe ... reports the Daily Record newspaper :

Love-triangle police constable: I leaked secret cop info to my lover

Feb 5 2011 Kurt Bayer

A MARRIED woman cop pled guilty yesterday to leaking sensitive police information to her lover.

Constable Karen Howie, whose husband is a policeman, started an affair with a tradesman who did up her bathroom and began feeding him secrets from the police computer.

And her lover, Neil Hand, 44, passed the information to a suspect in a counterfeiting probe.

The court heard Howie's crime had brought her 18-year police career "crashing down around her". She has now resigned from the Tayside force.

Howie, 34, made several phone calls to Hand over two days in August 2009 after trawling the police computer for information on the suspect.

In one call, she gave her lover details of a plan to search the man's home.

When police questioned the suspect over alleged counterfeit money in Arbroath, Angus, he repaid Howie by giving the cops her name. The court heard he tried to use her as "leverage" to help himself.

Investigators then checked the police computer and confirmed that Howie had looked at information on the man "on several occasions".

Quizzed by her colleagues, Howie, who was based at Kirriemuir, at first denied leaking information.

But she later admitted she began seeing Hand after he worked at her home in May 2009.

She said her marriage was in trouble and she was lonely and depressed.

Prosecutor Catriona Dalrymple said: "Howie indicated she felt some pressure to provide information to Neil Hand."

Howie, of Carnoustie, Angus, appeared with Hand at Dundee Sheriff Court to admit two charges of perverting the course of justice and one of breaching the Data Protection Act.

Hand, also of Carnoustie, admitted one Data Protection Act charge of receiving information from Howie and passing it on.

The court heard that Howie also falsified records after police pulled Hand over in July 2009, to suggest that he had valid car insurance.

Howie's lawyer, Gavin Anderson, said his client was suffering from stress and was on medication.

He added: "Her parents are in court today and are supportive of her.

"She has explained to me that her world has fallen apart over this. In a matter of months, her career came crashing down around her."

Sheriff Elizabeth Munro deferred sentence for reports.

Tayside Police said they would "vigorously investigate" all cases where their staff "betrayed public trust" by revealing confidential information.

A spokeswoman said of Howie: "We will await details of her sentencing with interest."

Law & Order : Police to keep share of seized loot from criminal gangs

With all the money being seized from criminals across the country, it has been decided that Police forces will be allowed to keep ‘a share’ of the seized money under proposals soon to be revealed by Government. (Hope there’s some oversight on all those millions flowing between gangs – Ed)

The Scotsman reports :

Crime does pay as police get to keep money seized from gangs

Published Date: 22 April 2009
By Michael Howie
Home affairs correspondent

POLICE will be allowed to keep a share of the money seized from organised crime gangs under a scheme set to be unveiled within weeks.

The Scotsman has learned that forces will be given a major cash incentive to seize more money and assets from drug dealers and other crime barons.

The move has already been given the green light from justice secretary Kenny Mac-Askill and final discussions are taking place with an announcement unveiling the scheme expected within weeks.

Chief constables in Scotland have been pressing the Scottish Government to introduce the "incentivisation" scheme, which officers say will allow them to plough money back into the fight against organised crime.

In England and Wales, about 20 per cent of seized cash is ploughed back into police budgets. For example, the Metropolitan Police were allowed to keep £4 million in 2007-8 under the Home Office's Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme.

But since the introduction of the Proceeds of Crime Act in Scotland in 2003, more than £25 million has gone straight to Holyrood.

Mr MacAskill yesterday told The Scotsman he was "committed to the principle" of a similar incentivisation scheme for police in Scotland.

"I have confirmed that to Acpos (the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland). It is just the detail that has to be worked out.

"Officials are working with police representatives to discuss that."

The main issues to be ironed out are the percentage of money and assets seized that will be handed to the police and the rules governing which authority will be entitled to what.

"If a car in transit is stopped by the SCDEA (Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency) in Dumfries and Galloway, but the drugs are destined for Glasgow, we have to decide who should be allowed to keep the money – the SCDEA, Dumfries and Galloway or Strathclyde," added Mr MacAskill.

He said it would be up to police how they spend the money.

"In the world in which we live, we don't simply want to arrest the drug dealer. We want to get the Rolex watches, the BMW with darkened windows. We want to encourage the police to strip the dealers of all their assets," added Mr MacAskill.

Gordon Meldrum, director general of the SCDEA, said he was "all for" police being allowed to reinvest a share of the proceeds of crime.

"It will allow us to pump-prime the process. We will have the money to invest in the financial investigators and other experts we need to pursue the people behind organised crime. That will enable us to seize more assets and bring in more money."

He said police should be seeking to seize the assets of neighbourhood drug dealers "with the same aggression that the agency goes after criminals".

Senior officers will be keen to ensure the extra revenue raised from the scheme will not be used simply to soften the blow of feared budget cuts in future years, as public spending tightens during the recession.

Since the SNP was elected two years ago, proceeds from crime totalling several million pounds have been used to fund an array of youth projects covering sport, arts and culture under the Scottish Government's CashBack for Communities scheme.

RULED OUT

KENNY MacAskill yesterday confirmed the Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a single national police force.

The justice secretary made the statement during an address at the conference in Peebles of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents the country's 16,000 rank-and-file officers.

Mr MacAskill told officers there would be no changes to the current eight force structure in Scotland.

He said: "Let me take this opportunity to make it clear that our vision for the future does not involve a single police force."

SPF chairman Norrie Flowers told the conference performance reports suggested no failures in the current system. Their comments follow a recent call for a single police force from Paddy Tomkins, who retired as chief inspector of constabulary last week.

Scotland must lift ban on Class Action litigation as European Parliament supports proposals on competition law

As the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Richard Keen QC recently said himself, its time for the ban on Class Action lawsuits in Scotland to be lifted.

Although the Dean himself seemed to be more interested in taking on the banks, the long standing peculiarly Scottish prohibition of consumers banding together to take on big business and companies that breach their rights or provide sharp practice in consumer services, should now be at an end.

Over to Justice Secretary MacAskill & Holyrood for some quick legislation to bring Scots consumer protection in line with most other countries … (not ! – Ed)

Out-Law.com reports :

MEPs back consumer class actions in competition cases

OUT-LAW News, 26/03/2008

The European Parliament has backed European Commission proposals that would allow consumers to band together to take action against companies that breach competition law.

The proposals echo some of the attributes of class action law suits, cases permitted in the US in which many people affected by a company's behaviour act together against that company and share the proceeds of a payout.

The Commission's proposals specifically say that they are not intended to create a litigation culture, but say that some action is necessary to allow consumers legal protection against companies which breach competition law.

"[Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes] shares Parliament's view that collective redress mechanisms are necessary to give consumers and small businesses a realistic and efficient possibility to obtain compensation in cases of scattered damage, and that these mechanisms must include appropriate safeguards against excessive or abusive litigation," said a Commission statement after the Parliament vote.

Parliament had received a report on the Commission's recommendations and backed them by 498 votes to 11, with 17 abstentions.

The Commission's White Paper addresses the problem that competition law breaches often harm massive numbers of people in relatively small ways. The Commission is seeking to punish those breaches without many very small cases having to be brought.

"The European Parliament confirms the Commission’s findings that many victims harmed by EC competition law infringements are currently prevented from obtaining the compensation they are entitled to under the Treaty," said a Commission statement. "The European Parliament stresses that collective redress – with appropriate safeguards – is necessary, and that proposals to help victims gain compensation must not be delayed."

"I am delighted that the European Parliament shares the Commission’s view that something needs to be done to ensure that the victims of competition breaches finally get the compensation they are entitled to," said Kroes. "I am particularly pleased that today's resolution is based on a wide consensus across most political groups."

The Commission said that victims of competition law infringements forego billions of euros a year in compensation payouts because of the ineffectiveness of the law.

The Commission published its plans in its White Paper a year ago, saying that in most EU countries there were barriers to consumers receiving compensation for competition law breaches, such as the abuse of dominant market positions.

"The recommendations balance rights and obligations of both the claimant and the defendant and include safeguards against excesses and abuses of litigation," the Commission said.

“Consumers who are victims of illegal activities, such as overcharging, misleading advertising or outright scams, have a right to compensation," said Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva when the Commission consulted on the proposals last year. "Currently, particularly where there are small scattered claims, this right is often theoretical because of the obstacles to exercising it in practice."

"There is a justice gap, a welfare gap and there are black holes in our redress system that is leaving consumers with nowhere to go. The present situation is clearly unsatisfactory. We must find a way to make the basic right to consumer redress a reality for more people," she said.

The Commission's research had found that privately brought antitrust claims for damages were extremely rare, meaning that companies that had broken the law were not being punished.

It said that it believed collective redress would encourage more cases to be brought.

It is now up to the Commission to decide what steps should be taken next to implement its plans.

Holyrood calls for Chief Police Officer’s body to be held accountable

MSPs from the Scottish Parliament have called for ACPOS, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland body to be subject to closer scrutiny, as in its current form it is virtually unaccountable.

The Herald reports :

MSPs call for police body to be held to account

MSPs call for police body to be held to account
STEWART PATERSON January 30 2009

An influential committee of MSPs has criticised Scotland's top police officers association, warning it is unaccountable and should be subjected to closer scrutiny.

The Scottish Parliament's public audit committee has called on the government to investigate measures to bring the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) under effective inspection.

Previously, the auditor general, the Justice Committee and Scotland's inspector of police forces have raised similar concerns over lack of transparency and accountability.

In considering an Audit Scotland report into policing the committee, it was argued only individual chief constables are accountable to their own police board, leaving Acpos, as an organisation, answerable to no-one.

Hugh Henry, public audit committee convenor, said: "The committee is aware that Acpos plays a leading part in developing policing policy and practice in Scotland.

"However, it is difficult to see how Acpos is currently held to account for this role.

"The committee believes that the Scottish Government should consider how the work Acpos undertakes can be made more transparent and how Acpos could be more effectively scrutinised."

The committee of MSPs also recommended that there should be a single non-emergency telephone number for police across Scotland.

This was prompted by concerns that 0845 numbers were costing callers money and that the country lacks a national strategy for handling non-emergency calls