Corruption alleged in Hackney (1)
01 January 1991
Corruption alleged in Hackney
artdoc April=1992
Eight Metropolitan police officers based at Stoke Newington
police station, North London, have been moved to new duties
elsewhere following allegations of drug dealing and corruption.
The allegations, which have been known for some time, are being
investigated by the anti-corruption squad at Scotland Yard as
part of Operation Jackpot. They relate to the reselling of drugs
seized by police on the street, the fabrication of evidence and
the beating of suspects.
A ninth policeman has already been suspended from duty and is
under investigation after allegations that he had made up to
Ã2,000 a week selling drugs. A tenth officer, Police sergeant
Gerrard Carroll, a former custody officer at Stoke Newington
police station, who had already been transferred to Barkingside,
committed suicide by shooting himself in a cell at the station.
Carroll was one of a number of police officers from Stoke
Newington and Hackney who have been named by the Hackney
Community Defence Association (HCDA) in a press release calling
for a judicial enquiry into police malpractice in Hackney. The
HCDA `is calling for the internal police investigation to be
replaced by an independent and public investigation, a judicial
enquiry, into Hackney, City Road, Stoke Newington and the old
Dalston police stations.'
They continue: `The disclosure that police officers are
officially suspected of fabricating evidence against suspects
gives rise to serious concerns that the criminal justice system
has been undermined. All convictions involving evidence from the
suspected officers, where defendants protested their innocence.
must now be considered unsafe.'
The HCDA have issued a report, A Crime is a crime is a crime
which details 143 cases of alleged police malpractice in the area
over the past three years, and names 30 officers. It is available
from the HCDA, 50 Rectory Road, London N16 7QY
Statewatch Vol 2 No 2 March/April 1992