Feature writer. I mostly cover public health, drugs, criminal justice + organised crime.
Jan 27 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
In England, police can put a marker on a central database to say you're suspected of benefiting from crime with ZERO evidence to support this false claim + the banks will close your accounts, leaving you bank-less.
I've no criminal charges/convictions, but now no banking access.
Just like for an arrest, the threshold for this marker is "reasonable suspicion".
A police officer's "reasonable suspicion" can get you de-banked for life, with no need for a judge, magistrate or independent person to review + approve this. 🤷♀️
Jun 25, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
🧵Ever wondered how @MetPoliceUK officers feel about Baroness Casey's review into misogyny, racism + homophobia in policing?
Fortunately, many serving cops shared their opinions via the force's intranet.
Here's a thread of their comments.🍎
(1/10)
Cliff's heard it all before + he ain't buying the bullshit.
Like a drug dealer caught shottin' weed, he's feeling victimised by how the Met blames people for their "wrongdoing".
I guess some folk call it a blame culture, but others call it taking responsibility for your actions
Nov 4, 2022 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
There's a series of interlinked Discord groups for Britain's cops. You must show policing ID – such as a warrant card – to gain entry.
These groups are packed full of misogyny, racism + homophobia that – quite frankly – makes the recent WhatsApp revelations look tame.🍎
Over the next week or so, I'm going to share excerpts from these groups, which – collectively – have a membership of many hundreds of police officers. And of course, we can be certain they're emergency services workers as they all foolishly flashed their ID to join the group.🍏
Sep 13, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
THREAD: The retired railway cop, Norman Brennan, is often inaccurately described on TV as a knife + gun crime “expert", as well as a homocide “specialist” + "former Metropolitan Police officer".
It’s really disappointing, as Brennan is none of these things.
He has almost no operational – or professional research – experience of homocide nor knife + gun crime. And he’s never been a Metropolitan Police officer.
There’s also the inescapable fact that he’s not worked in policing for 13 years.
Jan 23, 2022 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
A mother just told me her son has been on remand – in prison – for almost a year after being supected of couriering an ounce of a class B drug.
The prosecution submitted a truly ludicrous valuation of this substance to the court – and they've provided no evidence to substantiate this price whatsoever, despite repeated requests from the defence.