Officer cleared of ‘cherry picking’ police call outs
A police officer accused of cherry picking call outs to boost his arrest count and avoid dealing with a mentally ill man has been cleared of all wrongdoing.
PC Ben Foskett was exonerated by a misconduct panel at Kent Police’s headquarters on Monday.
The hearing followed an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation into the death of 999 caller and Eccles resident Anthony Underdown in April 2015.
No police officers were sent to help the 49-year-old and chronic drinker, who had not sought help after falling and injuring his chest and pelvis at his Bull Lane flat three days earlier.
Despite an investigation finding earlier police attendance could not have prevented the death, the hearing was told Mr Underdown did not get help sooner partly because his name was wrongly recorded by the force’s control room.
PC Foskett had been work- ing at Snodland Police Station when the call came in at 5.30pm. The 33-year-old, described by colleges as “hard working, diligent and motivated”, was alleged to have checked the record of the situation on the force’s Computeraided dispatch (CAD) system three times but not let the force control room known his availability until he was already at a suspected drink-driving incident in Aylesford.
Simon Walsh, representing the force, said PC Foskett, who has the highest number of arrests in his unit, was monitoring the CAD for “easy” jobs.
He said: “The suggestion is not that you were trying to do no work – far from it. The sug- gestion is you were looking for work, you were watching for a CAD that was likely to generate an arrest.”
Defending, Edward Gritt said records showed PC Foskett signalled his availability while en route to Aylesford.
No evidence was produced to back up claims six other jobs would make “easy” arrests.
There was also nothing on the record initially to suggest Mr Underdown’s mental health.
Giving evidence, PC Foskett said it was normal for officers to view and self deploy to calls. He said was possible radio problems meant he had not notified the control room of his availability earlier. Given the information available, the drink-driving incident appeared to be the most serious and he was not trying to avoid attending Mr Underdown.
After a short deliberation William Hansen, hearing chairman, dismissed the charges as entirely baseless and based on a partial internal report. There were, he said critical errors in the evidence based on facts which were “demonstrably wrong”. Police have arrested two men from an anti-paedophile vigilante gang as concern about such groups intensifies.
Officers arrested a 34-yearold from Maidstone, and a man, 43, from Blackheath, on Friday on suspicion of impersonating a policeman and false imprisonment.
The older man was also held on suspicion of possessing cannabis with intent to supply. Both were bailed.
Last week a senior officer warned against the activities of paedophile hunting gangs after an incident at Bluewater on Easter Sunday where an alleged sex offender was caught in a sting streamed live on Facebook by the Hunted One. Two men have been charged with assault while a third is accused of online grooming of a child.
Police say the latest arrests are not linked to this case.
Chief Superintendent Thomas Richards strongly advised against people getting involved in entrapping those suspected of offences, saying it could significantly hinder police work and could lead to innocent people being wrongly associated with grooming.
Mirza Mispa Beg, 29, was charged with grooming following Easter Sunday’s incident and will appear at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday, May 16.