MP to submit full complaint about ‘shambolic’ police

THE amount of time and taxpayers’ money wasted on a ‘shambolic’ and ‘nonsensical’ Sussex Police investigation is to be raised in Parliament.
East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim LoughtonEast Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton
East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton

East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton has also decided to submit a full complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

He said he would be raising the issue in Parliament, and the chairman of the home affairs select committee had expressed an interest in investigating, too.

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Mr Loughton said he had been grateful to receive a full apology from temporary chief constable Giles York but, nevertheless, many questions remained about how Sussex Police allowed the situation to get out of hand.

“I am also angry that so much police time and taxpayers’ money has been wasted on this shambolic and clearly nonsensical investigation, which has caused great damage to confidence in the priorities of the senior management team at Sussex Police,” he added.

The complaint centres on the issuing of a Police Information Notice (PIN) to Mr Loughton and four others, believed to be Adur district councillors, following a dispute with a constituent.

Mr Loughton said: “I have received many letters from people across the country who have also been the victims of inappropriate use of PINs, including former police officers, and clearly this is an area that needs to be urgently addressed, along with the way police follow their own guidance.”

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Mr York said it had been a long-running local dispute and Sussex Police had ‘always acted in good faith’.

The police had always sought to treat all parties fairly, he added, and all the PIN notices involved had been withdrawn.

“This is a complex area and, as such, I have set up a review of Sussex Police’s use of PIN notices,” Mr York said.

This would be used to formulate improved policy in this area and Sussex Police would ‘embrace any learning for the future from this review’.