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.”
Mr ANDERSON has now asked Humberside Police & Crime Commissioner Jonathan EVISON (pictured above) to investigate his complaints as a matter of urgency, particularly because of the impact on his and his wife’s sense of security in their own home, following this inexplicableand highly suspect incident. He told the Enquirer:
“I want to know why no record of this Police interview has been found or, indeed, who the ‘Officers’ were who made such bogus allegations,” he said. “If there’s no log, what action will be taken against those involved – or am I now supposed to wonder if these were genuine Officers in the first place?
Why haven’t major enquiries been instigated to catch such people impersonating the Police?
“And when, as Inspector Dosdale asks me, did it become a suspect’s job to provide the name of the person who made the report or the specific address where the alleged incident took place? You couldn’t make it up.
“I’ve told the Commissioner that, if the Police won’t look into this properly, I will conduct my own investigations and then expect them to take whatever action is appropriate against those who have lied to and about me and put my life on hold for more than 10 weeks.”
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