ADAM SIMMONDS PCC NORTHAMPTONSHIRE SAID IT SO THAT SETTLES IT!!!! (NOT)

OUTCOME OF COMPLAINT AGAINST ADAM SIMMONDS PCC NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

"Complaint against the Police & Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire 

I am writing to advise you that the Northamptonshire Police & Crime Panel’s Complaints 
Sub Committee has completed its consideration of your complaint concerning the conduct 
of Mr Adam Simmonds, the Police & Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire. 

Your complaint contended that Mr Simmonds had used his position as Police & Crime 
Commissioner to get Google to remove posts from your blog that were critical of the Trinity 
Life Church in Leicester, of which Mr Simmonds is a director and trustee. 

The Sub Committee considered the information that you provided to it in support of the 
complaint and information received from Mr Simmonds in response to it. The information 
received from Mr Simmonds indicated to the satisfaction of the Sub Committee that he had 
complained to Google in a private capacity and had made no reference to his public role 
when doing so. The Sub Committee was also satisfied that Mr Simmonds made the 
complaint to Google outside of working hours using personal, not official, IT equipment. 
The Sub Committee therefore resolved that it needed to take no further action in relation to 
this complaint. 

In accordance with the Panel’s Informal Resolution Protocol you have the opportunity now 
to comment, if you wish to do so, on the proposed publication of the record of this 
complaint. Please could I ask that any comments that you wish to make on this matter are 
returned to me as soon as possible. 

Yours sincerely, 

James Edmunds 
Democratic Services Assistant Manager 
Secretariat to the Northamptonshire Police & Crime Panel"

MY RESPONSE:

29/06/2014

"Dear James Edmunds

Frankly I do not believe Adam Simmonds denial.

All Simmonds had to do was deny it! Do you suppose that this settles the matter? No.... it certainly does not and I shall be publishing much more on this subject.

No effort was made by the Northamptonshire Police & Crime Panel Complaints Sub Committee to prove this matter either way. Why weren't the communications of Adam Simmonds considered? I must say that I have no confidence in the PCP to investigate the PCC since they obviously are not prepared to ascertain the facts. This is a very serious allegation of a potentially illegal action by Simmonds and it has not been dealt with adequately. I feel that I have been dealt with very shabbily and that I am dealing with the old boys network! All that was considered by the PCP was:

'The Sub Committee will consider your original complaint and the supplementary information you also provided; the response to your complaint from the Police & Crime Commissioner; and some further information clarifying points made in the Commissioner’s response that the Sub Committee requested from him.'

When a crime is committed is this the way it is usually investigated? Aren't the law enforcers supposed to unearth all the facts in order to get to the truth, or are the PCP impotent as law enforcers?

My FOI request concerning the emails will hopefully show up something. I am also waiting for Google to provide information and I shall be pressing them again for this information.

It really is very odd isn't it that Google are quite reluctant to remove posts usually! I myself tried to have something removed some time ago when someone was writing offensive things about me, but I was unsuccessful in having it removed. Perhaps that is because I do not have weighty title of PCC!

I have to also point out that the time frame is quite astounding. Google say that they like to thoroughly consider complaints before making any decision to remove a blog or a post. The complaint was made by Simmonds on the 16th of February and the posts were immediately removed!!!

Google:

'We strongly believe in freedom of expression, even if a blog contains unappealing or distasteful content or presents unpopular viewpoints. We realize this may be frustrating, and we regret any inconvenience this may cause you. In cases where contact information for the author is listed on the page, we recommend that you work directly with this person to have the content in question removed or changed.

Here are some examples of content we will not remove unless provided with a court order:

Parody or satire of individuals.

Distasteful imagery or language.

Political or social commentary.'

https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/76315?hl=en

'Please note that Blogger does not remove blogs for containing insults or negative commentary. While blogs that contain such content can be distasteful, Blogger is not in a position to arbitrate such disputes.'

https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/82111?id=&url=

I am very very unhappy about all of this - I expected much more.

Regards
Treena Gisborn"

Further email sent to James Edmunds 30/06/2014:  

"..... and a further comment from a friend of mine:

Is Simmonds prepared to provide documentary evidence that he had my posts removed under his own name and in his own time? In the absence of such evidence there is still doubt in minds..."

Further email sent to James Edmunds 02/07/2014:

"Another question: Can I ask who sat on the Northamptonshire Police & Crime Panel Complaints Sub Committee? With such criticism going around about Simmonds cronyism, it would be nice to know."

UPDATE: http://standfirminthelord.wordpress.com/2014/11/28/the-trouble-with-adam-simmonds-pcc-northamptonshire/