UK Police Investigate Alleged Phorm Lunch With Officer

twoheadedboy writes "City of London Police are looking into claims one of its officers was given hospitality by Phorm months before the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided to not take the company or BT, which was using the software, to court. BT was trialling Phorm, which uses uses cookies to build a profile of users' habits and interests based on websites they visit, in 2006 and 2007, attracting the scorn of privacy campaigners. After much back and forth, the CPS dropped the case in April 2011. Now, privacy campaigner Alex Hanff, who discovered a document appearing to show an officer had been taken to lunch by Phorm in 2010, wants the case to be reopened."

Comments

You're nicked, son

[Anonymous Coward]

He's got Phorm.

Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Lunch is hardly reasonable as evidence of corruption.

Re:Really?

[hawkinspeter]

There's no such thing as a free lunch

Re:Really?

[Roger W Moore]

Especially when the CPS makes the decision whether to prosecute or not, not the police.

Re:Really?

[Bert64]

A decision they make based primarily on information provided to them by the police...

Re:Really?

[mrclisdue]

I'm curious as to whether the next day, Phorm took the officer to the cleaners.

cheers,

Re:Really?

[hey!]

My wife is a public employee, so let me explain how this works. Every so often politicians get caught taking something from some special interest. Their response is to pass a tough new ethics bill. The catch is that it doesn't apply to *them*, it applies to public employees. So things get a little ridiculous.

When we bought our house, the realtor tried to buy us lunch and my wife had to refuse, because under state law for practical purposes she's not allowed to take gifts from anyone she's not related to.

It's *stupid*, but there you go. But let me tell you why this police case is important. What adherence to these stupid rules does is separate the scrupulously honest and conscientious employees from everyone else. When you are dealing with a question of public trust vs. private gain, if you don't understand you have to be above reproach, you don't understand enough to be responsible for that question.

Now working in private industry, I've often taken clients out for dinner or drinks. However I don't accept things (other than conference swag) from vendors. It's not that I think it's wrong, but I want to send the right message in each case. When I take a client out, the message is, "I'll take care of you." When I refuse to be taken out, the message is, "deliver the goods; I don't care about anything else."

TANSTAAFL!

[Maxmin]

Seems this is pattern and practice within Met, or rather was.

One could suppose this luncheon happened prior to Operation Elveden having had effect upon allegedly corrupt officers' behavior.

Not the Met

[Kupfernigk]

This was the City of London police, who are traditionally less prone to corruption than the Met*. Because they investigate sensitive fraud cases and the like, and because many of the criminals in the City have vast resources, the expected standard of police behaviour is much higher. If this officer did not file a proper report on the lunch, he should have done. (I don't know whether he did or not, so I have no opinion on that aspect of the matter.)

*To understand the Metropolitan Police, read the history of the Praetorian Guard in Rome. Boris Johnson knows his classics, and I suspect that is one reason why he fired the head of the Met soon after taking office.

Re:Not the Met

[M1FCJ]

I guess what you mean is they're more careful than the Met and don't get caught since their advisers and bribers are way more clever than the Met's? There's never a case of "no corruption at the Police force", there'always a "not caught yet-corruption case".

Non-native speaker here

[kikito]

The article uses local expressions every time it mentions the *bad thing that happened*.

If I'm reading it correctly, it seems the problem is that they "took a policeman to lunch". Does this mean that they literally invited him to eat in a restaurant? Am I understanding it right?

If that's the case, why is it newsworthy? Is it not legal to have lunch with people? And even if it's not legal - How much does a single meal cost in the UK? Are we arguing about 30 pounds?

Re:Non-native speaker here

[Dr_Barnowl]

There are rules about public servants accepting hospitality. In my department, we're not even allowed to let someone buy us a few sandwiches for a stand-up buffet.

It sounds rather strict, but it's proven that it skews your judgement - it's human nature to feel obligated to someone who does something nice for you, something that pharmaceutical reps understand only too well, with their habits of feeding doctors well and providing them with plenty of (branded) free geegaws like laser pointers, pens, etc.

Re:Non-native speaker here

[oldredlion]

If that's the case, why is it newsworthy?

From the article

According to Hanff, the officer taken out by Phorm in 2010 was overseeing the initial probe and was asked by the force to investigate the company after the CPS requested it take another look at the case.

How many times does a police officer, during an investigation, go out to dinner with the subject of that investigation?

I could be showing my naivete but I don't think it happens that often. Is it a common thing?

Re:Non-native speaker here

[Captain Hook]

If a police officer is biased because of a lunch, then we're really fucked.

If I were being investigated for some street scam defrauding tourist out of cash, could I offer to buy the guy investigating me a flight to a beach resort that I'm staying at and put him up in accommodation costing me a couple of £1,000 while I explain my side of the story?

That would clearly call the investigating officers integrity into question. Even if it didn't effect his decisions in any way, it just doesn't look good.

A meal in some 5-Star restaurants inside the City of London could easily come to a similar £ value, especially if you have more than 2 people at the table. So how is the meal any different to the 'investigation trip' when it comes to how it looks?

Is it simply about the cost of the hospitality? Would a meal that cost £100s rather than £1000s be acceptable? and if it was, could a gift of say jewelery valued at the same be given without the air of corruption?

It's far simpler to just not take anything from the people you have a formal relationship with, the alternative is a huge gray area waiting to be exploited.

I work for a medium size technology company, we aren't even allowed to accept a box of chocolates from our suppliers or customers, that in a relationship where both organizations standard to benefit from a cooperative relationship and not an adversarial relationship as in a company being investigated by the police.