“What Are You Complaining About?”

A Letter to the Editor of the North Yorks Enquirer by Nigel RUSH of Tadcaster, in response to Neil WILBY’s recent article “The Old Pals Act, 2016”, in which recently promoted Detective Chief Inspector Steve FINCHAM appeared in a less than professional light.

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Dear Editor,

I read with great interest the ‘Old Pals Act, 2016’ article on the NYE and, in particular, the antics of a police officer with whom I have previously interacted.

Some 12 months ago, I had the unfortunate experience of conversing with DCI Fincham of Professional Standards NYP.

This was as a result of having two earlier quite pleasant conversations with Inspector Willey of the Chief Constable’s office and then with Maria Taylor, Head of Professional Standards.

I was not making any complaint. However, what I was doing was raising my issues with regard to serious misconduct in West Yorkshire Police after wrongful arrests involving NYP, in whose territory I live.

Due to the fact that I live within the NYP area, I simply wanted to clarify a situation that West Yorkshire Police Legal Services had sent both myself and my solicitors a letter that stated they were not responsible for any arrest as it was North Yorkshire Police who were responsible; it was they who had wrongfully arrested me.

Together with that fact, I also wished to point out that a NYP officer, PC Holland, had been misquoted and his evidence changed by West Yorkshire Police, and (as I knew from other police officers locally) PC Holland was ill with terminal cancer, I felt that he should not bear this allegation, given his life circumstances.

I attempted to deal with such a sensitive matter for PC Holland not to be incriminated quietly and professionally, in order that he was given no stress because, as far as I was concerned, he did his job based on what WYP asked him to do and his own words were, “I know nothing about this and have just been instructed to deliver this harassment warning”.

Unfortunately, PC Holland has since passed away.

Inspector Willey was accommodating and listened but unfortunately went on sick leave and was not further contactable. Maria Taylor picked up my file from Tadcaster police station and I had two quite long conversations with her. Having read the contents, she did not give me any further time nor return my calls.

I asked for my file back as apparently it had been handed down to DCI Fincham to read and evaluate. It was soon to become obvious he did no such thing.

I was simply astonished with what happened next; having a message left on my mobile by DCI Fincham, asking to call a number back.

Never in my life have I encountered someone so fond of himself and his mannerisms were frightening as he proceeded to rattle off his CV to me as if I should be in fear of him. Some of those excerpts were “You obviously don’t know who I am”, then “I was the person that started and created the ‘Dob in a Dealer’ campaign in WYP”.

“What are you complaining about?”. I confirmed, “I am not actually complaining”. He barked loudly, “So what do you expect me to do, then, if you are not complaining? You are either complaining or you are not”.

I had at least a full 5 minutes on the phone with this complete egotistical moron who had no idea why I had called because he was too busy telling me how great he was.

Then I asked him, “Is this the normal approach you take toward members of the public as I am sure no-one will take time out of our day to listen to your magnificent achievements?”.

“What do you want then?” Fincham was very aggressive with his failing listening skills.

It was of course futile to continue to even attempt a civil conversation with such a boastful megalomaniac and I would not even recommend him to be employed on a Tesco checkout, let alone in a senior police officer position.

Having told him that, the phone was slammed down on me and I would find it futile to ever hold any conversation with such a rude example of a human being.

To imagine he is a police officer is shudderingly frightening.

Yours sincerely

Nigel Rush

Nigel RUSH, Tadcaster. 29th August 2016.