EXCLUSIVE: More than 60 'police corruption probes' underway at West Midlands Police
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Q&A: West Midlands head of professional standards chief supt Chris Todd (Chris Todd/Twitter)
WEST Midlands Police is investigating 65 potential cases of police corruption following intelligence received in the first four months of the year. Chief supt Chris Todd, the force's head of professional standards, revealed the figure during a live Q&A session on Twitter. Mr Todd, who heads the department which investigates complaints against police officers and investigates suspected corruption, took the bold move of hosting the "Line of Duty: fact or Fiction?" public questions in response to the popularity of popular BBC police corruption drama Line of Duty, which is currently in its fifth season.
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REALITY TV? Chris Todd's homage to Line of Duty on Twitter (Chris Todd/Twitter)
Mr Todd, whose Twitter page features a header picture of the cop drama, was asked by this website how many of West Midland Police's officers were "currently suspected of corruption in connection with organised crime" and how many were being monitored? We also asked if levels of suspected police corruption in the force had decreased or increased over the last 20 years. Mr Todd answered: "This calendar year so far our counter corruption team received 73 pieces of intel. "We’re still looking at 65 and have filed the others."
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BRAVE MOVE: A tweet from Chris Todd during the Q&A (Chris Todd/Twitter)
He down played the level of suspected corruption involved, however, meaning it is unlikely to involve leaking information to organised crooks, which is one of the biggest threats to police forces. He added: "The range of allegations are broad. "Thankfully most are minor and often negated." He also said that since Christmas seven allegations had been found not proven cases, but there had been seven dismissals, two final written warnings, two written warnings, plus two officers jailed and one given a driving ban."
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INFAMOUS: Chris Todd was asked if there is a West Midlands Police 'Operation Tiberius' (Met Police)
We also asked him if West Midlands Police had ever carried out an extensive corruption probe into links between officer and organised crime like the confidential Met Police 2002 Operation Tiberius report which named more than 40 then serving or former detectives who were suspected of aiding crime syndicates. He replied: "As regards our understanding we have just completed our strategic threat assessment which analyses this and feeds into regional and national documents."