POLICE SHOULD NOT HAVE ACTED ON DAMIAN GREEN - PADDICK (Eastleigh Liberal Democrats)

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POLICE SHOULD NOT HAVE ACTED ON DAMIAN GREEN - PADDICK

December 11, 2008 10:20 AM

Chris Huhne and Brian Paddick at Eastleigh College The police should not have agreed to investigate civil service leaks that led to the arrest of Tory MP Damian Green, according to the former senior Metropolitan police officer Brian Paddick.

Mr Paddick, pictured here with Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne, was speaking at the Christmas dinner of the Eastleigh Liberal Democrats at Eastleigh College. He argued that the police need to protect their non-political role by saying no to ministers in political cases such as that of Mr Green.

Mr Paddick said that leaks that involved national security could and should be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act, but that other leaks should be treated as a matter of employment contract between employer and employee. This could lead to dismissal, but not criminal sanctions.

The former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police in London said that the alarm bells should have been ringing in the Met when the only criminal offence was misconduct in a public office, which goes back to the eighteenth century and has rarely led to successful convictions in recent years.

"Under the Human Rights Act, the police need to act in a necessary and proportionate way, and in this case the arrest of Damian Green is clearly neither necessary nor proportionate.

"The police have to be independent not just in conducting an investigation but in deciding when to open an investigation, and the Damian Green case simply does not merit police time. However, it is what you can expect when the Home Secretary makes a complaint and is also responsible for appointing the most senior officers in the force" said Mr Paddick.

"The Met in London should be brought into line with other police forces around the country where the decision to appoint senior officers rests with the police authority, not the Home Office", said Mr Paddick.

The Christmas dinner was attended by Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne, who is also the Lib Dems' Home Affairs spokesman, and by Lord David Chidgey, the former Eastleigh MP.