Humberside Police: Mysterious Encounter

Humberside Police: Mysterious Encounter

• – an “In My View” article by NIGEL WARD, reporting on the curious case of an unspecified offence, at an unspecified location – and two mysteriously disappearing bobbies.

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A retired Hull Daily Mail journalist, author and CAB operative has been the victim of a curious intervention by two purported (but unidentifiable) members of the Humberside Police.

Mid-afternoon on 5th February 2023, Mr Steve ANDERSON was visited at his home by two uniformed females giving the appearance of being a Police Constable and a Support Officer, or CPSO. Interviewing Mr ANDERSON (72), the two ‘officers’ questioned him in connection with an alleged incident which had apparently taken place during the afternoon of 20th January 2023 and been reported by ‘a schoolboy’.

Allegedly, a man answering Mr ANDERSON’s description had been seen “flailing his arms about and looking through the window of a house” in the approximate vicinity of the pharmacy/surgery in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.

The ‘officers’ claimed that video-footage had been recovered from a door-bell camera. But, when pressed, the ‘officers’ said they had (a) not seen the video, (b) spoken to any person filing a complaint, or (c) spoken to anyone else with any knowledge of  the ‘incident’.

They were also unable to identify (d) the nature of the alleged offence, or (e) the precise location of the alleged incident. They did not know much. But they did say the “suspect” had “possibly” been standing in “someone’s” garden.

Mr ANDERSON told the Enquirer:

“I told them the claims were ridiculous and that, although I had been near the pharmacy that day, it was before lunch and I had been talking to a friend outside while waiting for my wife to collect a prescription. As for ‘flailing my arms around’, it was still frosty and I would certainly have been animated in an effort to get warm. And no…I was not in anyone’s garden at any time.”

Mr ANDERSON said neither of the ‘officers’ offered ID – not even a business card – but one did promise to telephone him with any updates. When no progress report was forthcoming, Mr ANDERSON complained to the Professional Standards Department of the Humberside Police.

The Police Act 1996 states, at s.90:

90 Impersonation, etc.

(1) Any person who with intent to deceive impersonates a member of a police force or special constable, or makes any statement or does any act calculated falsely to suggest that he is such a member or constable, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.

The response, from one Inspector Dave DOSDALE, who seems remarkably unperturbed at the prospect of ‘bogus’ Humberside Police Officers encroaching on private property and harassing residents, is really quite astonishing:

“The Senior Officer who apologised to me in writing was at a loss to explain what had happened. But that’s hardly sufficient when police (or someone) effectively accused me of doing something wrong without a shred of evidence to back up their allegations. I can prove that I was nowhere near the place where and when the supposed offence was committed. I co-operated fully with the ‘police’, whom I have worked with for many decades, yet this is how I have been treated.”