Metropolitan Police Commander Ali Dizaei, 47, has long been a star in the London force. The highest ranking most senior Asian officer and former head of the Metropolitan Black Police Association, Dizaei’s career came to an end this week after being sentenced to four years in jail for assaulting and falsely arresting a man in a dispute over £600.
The dispute was over services rendered by Waad Al-Baghdadi to help design Dizaei’s website, alidizaei.com.
Mr Al-Baghdadi, 24, says that he encountered Dizaei in July 2008 in a Persian restaurant where the latter was drinking heavily and dancing. When he demanded payment, he says Dizaei pulled out handcuffs and arrested him. Later a doctor reported that he viewed injuries claimed by Dizaei to be probably self-inflicted.
Dizaei was accused of earlier abuses of office but never convicted, including a multi-million dollar corruption and fraud conspiracy and spending public funds on lavish clothes and goods while on travel.
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TomDArch,
Not at all, that’s why they call it well water. Do you want top shelf or well water? Just think if he had had top shelf. They might have had to wait a least 8 hours before the breath blow, unless the other officer was sober enough to blow for him.
Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis is big on PR events where he states, “The code of silence must end!” He’s talking about the silence that police investigators face when dealing with crime in low-income communities in the city. Of course, most Chicagoans hear that and think about how police protect each other with a “code of silence.” (Highlight: in several incidents of fatal car crashes where it appears that Chicago police officers were driving drunk, the officers were not given breathalizer tests for hours after the crashes. In one case, there was video of the officer downing shots at a bar an hour before a crash. The bartender serving the shots later claimed that he was serving up shot glasses full of water to the officer. I’m sure that no one “influenced” that bartender in the slightest…)
Aramis.
With respect, one of the problems over here, having conversed with experienced officers is the fact that so many new recruits do come into the force straight from college. Or to be more precise, they come in because they know that they will be fast tracked for promotion. I suspect that Darziae Rascal may be one of these.
While I am all for above average intelligence Police Officers, I am sure that you will agree that there should also be systems in place that prevent Officers from rising through the ranks more quickly than is good for both the force and the public. Too many of our bright young rising stars seem to have had little experience of policing with older and more experienced Officers.
Blouise,
Outstanding points! I served in the military, was a volunteer firefighter, and I’ve worked in law enforcement, so I completely understand what you’re talking about. Psych testing is essential at all levels of the force, and should be an integral part of maintaining good order and discipline.
That being said, I would submit that good compensation is a matter of opinion, and having a larger pool of college graduates willing to step into law enforcement as a career option would only help in finding better quality officers. If you’re suggesting that $30,000 is good compensation for what is definitely one of the highest stress jobs you can find, I would disagree completely. Some places pay much better of course, but cost of living expenses vary widely.
Anyway, I accept your point, but stand by what I said. There has to be something more attractive than just carrying a gun to get good people into law enforcement.
aramis,
I’m sorry for being a smart mouth (key-stroker) … your point is a worthy one and deserved a more thoughtful response on my part.
I have served as a Civil Service Commissioner and have direct experience in formulating hiring criteria for entry level police officers and promotions up the line including Chief. In my State fire fighters/paramedics are way ahead of police in getting their union to lobby for very favorable conditions, but, never-the-less, the LEO’s in our City are well compensated.
I believe that more money should be spent on psychological testing and reviews during the entry level process and then continued beyond the initial hiring and promotional time frames. Police Departments, more so than other city departments, tend to develop a very closed minded, self-protective, culture within the workplace and are suspicious (understanding that they are trained to be suspicious anyway) of new suggestions and change.
As a paramilitary force, the leadership at the top is far more influential on the rank and file than management in other city departments and for this reason I believe that on-going psychological reviews of officers, including the Chief, is vital to the overall health of the department. If more money is to be spent, that is the area which, in the end, would best serve the public whose tax dollars are paying the freight and whose safety is paramount.
Thus I, respectfully, disagree with you that better pay for the officers is all or even part of the answer and I, respectfully, agree with you that training, as long as continued psychological review is part of said training, is the answer.
In the days of the Knapp Commission on police corruption in NYC (early 70’s/Serpico, etc.) one of my co-workers was a young woman married to a police officer. She told me that all of cops had to take, whether they wanted to or not. Because if you didn’t, the other cops wouldn’t trust you.
There was an article on Frank Serpico in the NY Times recently. He said he still hears from cops. “An honest cop still can’t find a place to go and complain without fear of recrimination. The blue wall will always be there because the system supports it.”
The St Louis starting salary for police is 35K and some. For the County it’s more but very difficult to find on line. This is the starting wage, if you are half-way competent it only goes up. I don’t think it’s the money or benefits- the benefits are good. It’s the person being hired and the failure to get rid of bad cops at every level of the command structure. IMO. You don’t get to be a bad police commander or chief without practice at a lower level of command/employment.
Blouise
Of course not. It would provide a larger pool of candidates, and hopefully some better ones. A well paid cop is not going to be as easy to bribe, or at least more expensive, and he’ll want to keep his job. There will always be corruption to some degree, but with strict policy enforcement, and better pay and training, it could be minimized. My thoughts anyway.
Pay more money to get better cops? Does that mean bad cops won’t apply because they’d be paid too much?
Sadly enough we received similar news on this side of the lake last night. The Base Commander of CFB Trenton ( Ontario ) was arrested on 2 counts of murder ( 1 of which included a woman who was missing for the past 2 weeks )and 4 counts of sexual assault. Indded corruption is everywhere!
This happens with the CIA, FBI, Government witnesses that are expected to testify against the government. Is someone in England getting a conscience?
Police brutality of any kind cannot be tolerated in a free society. Any accusation of undue force, or even detainment without probable cause, should be vigorously investigated and punished. That being said, our police forces need much better funding (for officer pay) and training. If we can recruit people into law enforcement who are there for more than the gun, then we could potentially avoid some of these abuses. A thug in a uniform, with backing of the law, is worse than any thug on the street.
Our police are too busy arresting those dangerous, terroristic, snowball-throwing thugs to take the time to give anyone lessons in anything. OTOH these guys are probably lucky they weren’t tazed to death:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0209101snow1.html
“Felony Snowball Tossing Charges Lodged”
“Cops: Virginia college students pelted city plow, unmarked police car”
“FEBRUARY 9–Felony snowball throwing charges have been leveled against two Virginia college students for allegedly pelting a city plow and an undercover police car during Saturday’s blizzard. Charles Gill and Ryan Knight, both 21, were nabbed by cops in Harrisonburg, where they attend James Madison University. … If convicted of the felonious snowball tossing, the men each face between one and five years in prison, and a maximum $2,500 fine.”
Time for the London boyz to come over and see how the people over here get away with things like that.
Especially when the victim has Baghdad included in the last name.