A Kent Police officer is due in court to face an allegation he sent inappropriate text messages to a witness.
Police constable Jake Sales, 29, based at Margate, will attend Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 6 September, charged with misconduct in public office for sending inappropriate text messages from his work phone to a witness he met during the course of his duties.
He has also been charged with forgery for allegedly drafting an inaccurate witness statement and falsifying an electronic signature in relation to a statement he drafted on behalf of another witness.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct. began an investigation in March 2021 after it received a conduct referral from Kent Police. In December 2021 the IOPC completed the investigation and sent a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, which authorised the charges.
If my recent experience with the Kent Police is anything to go by, nothing will happen, but I am surprised its the so called Independent Office for Police Conduct is involved, because in my case they are not independent. In fact because Kent Police failed to investigate my complaint, as did the IoPC, who failed to comply with their own 12 articles to make a complaint, I have no faith in the police whatsoever!
I referred my complaint to the Parliamentary Home Affairs committee, who gave me the email address of Chris Philp MP, the minister for police, who has ignored all my emails. My complaint is that Kent Police failed to enforce the law, and I provided all the evidence, including that by the Kent Police Chief Constable’s Chief of Staff! The problem is nationally, police are not publicly accountable, they are only accountable to themselves!
Have you tried the relevant PCC (Police and Crime Commissioner)?
Yup! He kicked my complaint into the long grass Paul!
Yeah the police shouldn’t be investigating themselves. They are so corrupt and dont do any work . Even less since lockdown. We should not be funding them through council tax as they are not even accountable anymore
Good to know you can always trust the police and they are such upstanding citizens in our communities. The police need a complete overhaul, they have no respect from the public because they don’t respect the public and the laws they are meant to enforce. They think they are above to law.
A few days ago a police officer was killed on a level crossing. He was struck by a train whilst responding to a distressed member of the public.
Exactly Phyllis. Some people’s attitude towards police officers morally equates to racism.
I didn’t realize police officers were of a different race.You learn something new,every day.
They’re not. Read it again!
Doris – Can you read?
So you would equate the justified mistrust of the Police Force in general with racism?…I can only assume that you have never been a victim of racism or indeed Police corruption. What a ridiculous and insulting comparison! Of course there are good people in the Police Force just as there are good people everywhere, but unfortunately they are very much in the minority. I can’t speak for other Forces although their record, particularly the Metropolitan Police speaks for itself, and it’s not good, but my experience of Kent Police, like so many has been less than satisfactory. When I reported a clear case of harassment, I was patronised, spoken to by a Junior Officer with borderline insolence and dismissed as wasting their time, however they found time to take seriously the person harassing me who had falsely accused me of a crime..maybe there was more kudos in teying to get a conviction there. I have zero faith in the Police Force and would go so far as to say they are 98% corrupt and incompetent. Does that make me a racist?
But how do people know for a fact that the police “are 98% corrupt and incompetent”?
They might not be that corrupt , but their track record over the last few years fills none of us with very much confidence.
“Some people’s attitude towards police officers morally equates to racism.”
What histrionic dogsh!t is this!
What that got to do with ,a corrupt officer
Phyllis, what has that got to do with this and the way the majority of the police conduct themselves. They generally think they are above the law and everyone else.
You seem like you would try and start an argument with yourself.
I was putting an alternative point of view, not starting an argument.
Was the policeman on the level crossing given the Darwin Award?
“Katmanndu”s comment is really unpleasant, to put it mildly.
Nick, nick!
Well said Phyllis. The angry mob only read the bad press about the police whereas the reality is that the overwhelming majority are decent people doing a difficult job. The police have a thankless job, they arrest the scum and the courts let them off, time again.
I know several police officers and they are all decent hard working people and they are treated like scum by the criminals and the feral minority, the same minority who are often the ones they are arresting or the families of the criminals.
For every rogue policeman there are thousands of excellent professional dedicated people who often have to lay their lives on the line for members of the public.
It’s time to sop the witch-hunt and perhaps start recognising the hard work these people actually perform.
“The angry mob only read the bad press about the police whereas the reality is that the overwhelming majority are decent people doing a difficult job”
One bad apple rots the whole barrel.
“The police have a thankless job, they arrest the scum and the courts let them off, time again.”
The England prison population has doubled in the last 30 years.
Also, judges have to work to sentencing guidelines not just their whim of the day.
Ranting feels good but if we want to demand improvements from politicians it’s better to stick with facts and make an informed view on where things are going wrong.
One place it is going wrong, is the 40% of cuts to MoJ budget, loads of the court estate being closed and sold off, and now huge hearing backlogs, even before the pandemic.
“For every rogue policeman there are thousands of excellent professional dedicated people”
Unfortunately it has transpired that there are far too many rogue policeman doing unpleasant things or simply corrupt, and the numerous high profile big cases have made this pretty evident for most people to see.
So whilst you are personally supportive of the police and would like to think it is only one or two bad apples, the rest of us can see what a mess the police forces are in. Big changes are needed, minimising the dire state of things just let’s them carry on as is.
Investigate Inspector Moat from Kent as he has multiple allegations against him for violence against women and sexual allegations.
No one “knows for a fact” that the Police are 98% corrupt and incompetent any more than they “know for a fact” that whatever percentage is hardworking, trustworthy and diligent. Whilst I concede that figure may be an exaggeration, we can only go by the percentage of bad reports as compared to the percentage of good reports, and of course personal experience, again rightly or wrongly, at least as far as Kent Police go I have come across far more instances of negligence and arrogance than I have of competence and empathy. Those praising the Police Force in general seem to have the attitide, well they’ve never done anything to me, therefore I will not concede that any bad reports are credible.
The news tends only to report “bad” stories.
What would be the draw of reading, on a daily basis, that ” Today 98% of police officers carried out their duties in an efficient and effective way”?
In the same way, we don’t get headlines in this paper (or any other) saying “no crimes committed today”.
“What would be the draw of reading, on a daily basis, that ” Today 98% of police officers carried out their duties in an efficient and effective way”
Other than the fact they can’t carry out their duties in an efficient and effective way thanks to Leaky Sue the national security risk in the home office. See reddit.com/r/policeuk for lots of stories about how monumentally SCREWED policing and the wider justice system is currently, thanks to thirteen years of Tory mismanagement and malfeasance.
You have a valid point Phyllis, and I concede I may be biased due to my negative dealings with Kent Police, but then we all speak as we find don’t we? However the fact remains that the Metrpopolitan Police at least have a deserved bad reputation, a report found that “The Metropolitan Police is riddled with Institutional Racism, misogyny and Homophobia. Note the use of the word “Institutional”.
Spend a week investigating someone that you know is 100% guilty without doubt’ yet through a technicality the CPS say NO – How frustrating that must be, I’m sure we would all try our best to change that and some just take it that little but too far’ it’s natural human mentality – must take a really good professional police officer not to get sucked in personally.
Your dealing with some of the most slippery crims on the planet that can bend it any way they like yet they have to tread that line – The blame is on the criminals not the police.
Everywhere in society there are bad apples. Police officers who commit crimes, teachers who abuse children, doctors and nurses who harm and even kill their patients.
Fortunately, in all cases they are a small minority. The vast majority of police officers, teachers and medical staff do a fantastic job but that doesn’t make the headlines in the same way.
One bad apple spoils the whole barrel.
In an unrelated case I spent 7 hours in a police cell once before the arresting officers twigged they had arrested the victim, a frail elderly man, and not drug dealers who had made up a story against me, because I was trying to get them evicted from my road! Still, I did get a micro waved vegetarian curry for my trouble, and after a further 8 months investigation the druggies did get evicted!