Comments that simply cannot be ignored
of crime and disorder go up across the whole country and this is coming on one of your busiest days of the year.
“The crucial question is are they increasing the number of officers they have on that day to take account of the game.”
Recorded crime in Scotland is at its lowest levels since 1974 but Mr Mauger shares the view of many in the police community that these figures may bear little relation to reality.
Significantly, though, he is the first ever to say so publicly.
And he’s also the first to explicitly say that the force under Sir Stephen had a culture of targets for arrests for relatively minor offences such as drivers using a mobile phone while at traffic lights. Mr Mauger said: “There is no doubt there were targets.
“This idea we have the lowest recorded crime is absolute drivel in the real world of policing and what the public see.
“The number of allegations of crimes, the number of calls, have rocketed – so why have crimes plummeted?
“There all sorts of ruses now to try and manage these figures.”
Mr Mauger slammed Sir Stephen, former chief constable of the old Strathclyde force.
He said: “When they appointed JOHN MAUGER’S police career ended in controversy after his arrest for allegedly shoplifting from his local Tesco.
So you may think when you read his claims today that he has an axe to grind and makes these allegations with malice.
However, he did spend 33 years in the police, held a senior firearms qualification and had experience of the infamous Broadwater Farm riots.
He also echoes the fears of many others – both inside and outside the force – regarding modern policing and the oft-criticised creation of Police Scotland.
Whether you trust his opinion is up to you.
But what is without question is that some of the issues he talks of – such as armed officers being deployed to routine calls without the public ever having a say on it – were badly handled by force chiefs.
And decisions such as allowing the Old Firm match to go ahead on Hogmanay are of genuine and legitimate concern to many people.
Whether John Mauger is guilty of shoplifting or innocent of it, the fact remains that Police Scotland has work to do if it is to build confidence among the public it serves. House he had a one-model mentality – Strathclydisation – and boy did he wield the power.
“What you saw in the early days of Police Scotland was no grip of the financial management.
“I could see this [financial] black hole was emerging, and what you were seeing throughout was House boxing off so many people who didn’t agree with him, or didn’t do what he wanted, that you could not have a proper discussion about it.”
The force reported an £8.8m overspend last year but Audit Scotland has warned the funding gap could reach almost £85m by 2018/19.
On the highly emotive issue of armed policing, Mr Mauger said
Then, in March this year, Mr Mauger was charged with shoplifting from his local Tesco in Colchester, Essex.
But he says he simply forgot to pay for the items at a time when he was under extreme stress.
And he insists CCTV evidence will show he didn’t leave the shop.
“It is a complete and utter nonsense,” he said. “I was at an alltime low. My mental state was so fragile after six years of handling all this. “I am going to clear my name.” Sir Stephen declined to comment on Mr Mauger’s claims. Police Scotland passed our request for comment to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).
The SPA said: “Mr Mauger retired from the office of assistant chief constable on August 31, following a lengthy legal case, as he does not fulfil the vetting requirements applicable to all senior officers, and would not be permitted to carry out any of the functions of a chief officer of that rank.
“The SPA does not comment on individual complaint cases. We are content that we have robust complaint procedures. Once cases are concluded, anyone dissatisfied can ask the PIRC (Police Investigations & Review Commisioner) to review how their complaint was handled.”
I was at an all-time low. My mental state was so fragile