Police admit action against Guardian 'not appropriate'

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/sep/21/met-officer-force-guardian-sources
<snip>

The deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police has admitted that invoking the Official Secrets Act in attempts to make the Guardian reveal its confidential sources for stories relating to the phone-hacking scandal was "not appropriate".

Speaking a day after the Met announced an abrupt climbdown in its bid to make Guardian reporters disclose their sources for articles relating to the phone hacking of the murder victim Milly Dowler, Mark Simmons, head of professionalism issues at Scotland Yard, defended the police's duty to investigate "robustly" leaks of information to the media.

The picture painted by Met insiders is that a relatively junior officer took the decision to take on the Guardian without consulting his superiors, setting off a calamitous chain of events that saw the Met condemned for an attempted assault on press freedom.

The senior source said: "There were not a lot of happy people at our place over the weekend because it was a decision made by the SIO . There was no referral upwards, and you would have thought on something as sensitive as this there would have been."

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This stinks!

[Itchinjim]

1. Me thinks the "relatively junior officer",

might have some skin in this game.

[malaise]

5. or may be on the payroll

:evilgrin:

[EFerrari]

2. I sort of don't believe this account.

I don't believe some junior officer is going to go off on his own and do something like this, just as I don't believe that the spokesman for the San Francisco rapid transit system came up with the idea to shut off our cell phones and put it into action on his own.

:shrug:

[Fumesucker]

3. It sure doesn't pass the smell test for me either..

That's such a common bureaucratic buck-passing move anyone who buys it is terminally naive.

[Supersedeas]

4. another one of those 'nothing to see here' pieces--an admission to make it go away

[GliderGuider]

6. A "junior officer" unilaterally invoked the Official Secrets Act???

Don't bogart that joint, my friend - I want some of what they're smoking. :rofl:

[malaise]

7. MPs summon Met police to explain bid to force Guardian to reveal sources

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/sep/21/met-officer-force-guardian-sources
<snip>
The Commons home affairs committee has decided to summon the Metropolitan police to explain its actions, after its bid – and subsequent climbdown – to make Guardian reporters disclose their sources for articles relating to the phone hacking of the murder victim Milly Dowler.

The deputy assistant commissioner, Mark Simmons, will be called before the committee to answer questions this Friday – the same day his officers had intended to take the Guardian to court.

The briefing will be held in private, it has emerged, although the committee may issue a statement later.

Keith Vaz MP, chair of the home affairs committee said: "I have asked the Metropolitan police to give the committee a full explanation of why they took this action and to provide us with a timeline as to exactly who was consulted.