READERS of Socialist Action know about the Colin Roach case, where the inquest jury into his death at Stoke Newington police station called for a police investigation into the treatment of the death.
One notorious case of such an investigation may be of interest.
Five years ago Mr and Mrs White, elderly black couple were charged with police assault and later acquitted. In May last the end of a long legal battle, Whites were awarded £51,000 Mr Justice Mars-Jones said the officers involved in the raid on the White's home were guilty of 'monstrous, wicked Photo: GM COOKSON shameful conduct'.
Also, 'the most favourable view of the conduct of these officers is that they over-reacted and subjected Mr White to excessive, unreasonable and unnecessarv force.
'Taking a less charitable view they assaulted this defenceless man in his own home and beat him up in a brutal, inand wicked' human way with the object of inflicting pain and injury on him' As a result of the case Scotland Yard's Com Investigation Bureau looked into the in cident.
compiled hefty files of material afte! a year of delving into the action of the 17 police officers involved.
The chief officer in charge complaints against Hackney officers, Chiet Superintendent Alan Burgess, was thought that the investigation should be done by an outside body.
Thorough He refused to answer, saying it was a political decision. But, defending complaints oresenl procedure, he said:
"The investigation of any complaint is So exhaustive that I cannot see any outside body doing it better The result of the White investigation that : the Director of Public Prosecutions decided that there was less than a 50 per cent chance of - prosecution wicked and Shameful' 17!