Policing under New Labour - £200,000 wasted.

Recently I covered slush fund fiddler, sorry policy forum maker Labour MP Peter Hain(seen here being supported by the police in his early days), who called for higher taxes to cover the costs of policing. Dubious South African robber Hain calls for more money to fund piss poor policing.

I made the argument that if the police stopped getting the wrong people arrested, having to pay out lots in compensation as a result and cut back on the worthless PCSO's they would have lots of money.

And now we have this gem, that shows more wise spending by the higher up officers in the police farce, sorry force. £200,000 investigating officers who drank Vimto found on a railway

Police chiefs have been accused of over-reacting after launching a £200,000 investigation into two officers who shared five bottles of Vimto they found by a railway line.

Rob Mitchell, 40, and Kris Catterall, 38, were hauled before bosses and suspended on full pay for 18 months.

Eventually they were allowed to return to work after being fined £400 each for a minor breach of police rules and warned not to do it again.
Last night campaigners attacked the force for wasting taxpayers' money.

A senior police source said: 'The lives and careers of these officers have been put on hold for such a long time.

'It is absolutely ridiculous. Surely an infringement of the rules on this scale should be dealt with quickly and efficiently. It is quite obvious to anyone thatno malice or serious corruption has taken place and the whole affair reeks of an over-reaction.'

The officers, who work for British Transport Police in Greater Manchester, found the cordial in a box beside a railway line.

Police rules state they should have recorded the find as lost or stolen property but instead they shared it with colleagues.

Plenty of money there, they just need to cut back on waste.

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