Martin Brookes was arrested yesterday. Why?
He'd put three documents in a Council noticeboard outside Victoria Hall. These were:
1. a piece of hate mail offering whomever assaulted Martin £25.00 for doing so.
2. another piece of hate mail saying Martin was 'Unwanted.'
3. Two offensive pictures of bare men's rear ends - in raw graphic detail - one
with a carrot stuck up it. This was published using my identity and purporting
to be me. It was not. I asked the police to furnish me with the IP Address,
they presumably deemed the offensive material sufficiently inoffensive not to
investigate.
We had both complained to the police separately about these documents which we had not published ourselves. I felt the photographs were offensive but there was nothing I could do, bar ask for information of the Council under the Freedom of Information Act to try to get to the bottom of who had published these photographs in my name.
Illogically, having failed to investigate or prosecute the police arrested Martin yesterday for placing the very same information they had refused to act on in a Council noticeboard, saying the material was now offensive.
Go figure.
Martin was taken to Keyham police station, fingerprinted, his DNA taken and bailed to appear on 3 June 2010.
Sorry folks you can't say the material is inoffensive and refuse to investigate who the perpetrators are and then say it is offensive and arrest Martin for putting the very same material in a Council noticeboard.
I think that's called having your cake and eating it.
This is what has been reported online in the Rutland and Stamford Mercury. I sincerely hope that they are able to publish an pology next week. I trust the police will also issue an apology:
Date: 07 May 2010
A MAN has been bailed by police after he was arrested in Oakham on suspicion of causing criminal damage and displaying offensive images in a public place.
Police were notified that the lock on the noticeboard outside the town hall in High Street had been broken and pornographic images had been placed inside yesterday.
A man was arrested at the scene.
Rutland police commander Johnny Monks said: "It's not nice if people use a public noticeboard to display offensive picture and I won't tolerate it.
"We have laws to be preserved."
The man has been bailed pending further inquiries
http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/Arrest-over-pornographic-images-outside.6280787.jp
FACTS
1. I reported the so called offensive material personally to Johnny Monks - he was not so outraged as to pursue my complaint. It was posted in my name by someone purporting to be me. The so called offensive material was tolerated by Inspector Monks when it was online and sent to Martin Brookes. Why the double standards?
2. So far as I know no criminal damage was caused to the public noticeboard. The man was a local Councillor fed up with the bullying and victimisation he has faced at the hands of Council members. He regularly posts Council notices in the noticeboard in the same way he posted this so called offensive material.
Yes I found the material offensive but the police clearly did not until yesterday. I had delivered the material to the police twice and received no further communication from them nor any assurance that my complaint would be given serious consideration. I then let Council members have a copy so as to give them some evidence of why I was asking for all references to me on Council computers.
This is an outrageous dissemination of half truths on behalf of both the police and their press mouthpiece, whom I suspect is that troublemaker and bored housewife – could it be Cllr J L?
Showing posts with label Freedom of Information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freedom of Information. Show all posts
Friday, 7 May 2010
Thursday, 6 May 2010
After the council meeting on 5th May 2010
AFTER THE COUNCIL MEETING ON 5TH MAY 2010. - WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
Some very offensive material using my private name, which for very good reasons of self-protection, having taught some dangerous prisoners at one stage in my life, I do not use on the internet, had been published in my name.
The published material contained a gratuitously insulting text and then two photographs of the rear of a man’s behind with the cheeks pulled apart, one with a carrot stuck up it in glorious technicolour.
The then Rutland Chat Forum, which seemed to have at the very least one or two Councillors, or close friends of Councillors, contributing some rather offensive material about Martin Brookes and others, had continued to publish tasteless material without let or hindrance. I went to see Richard White the Town Clerk after I’d seen the very offensive material published in my private name.
Richard White claimed that whatever Councillors did in their private time was purely private and nothing to do with their duties as public servants. The Town Clerk admitted he was aware of the material. Feeling that something more might be known by the Town Clerk about the material, I extracted two hairs from my head and left them on his desk, saying: ‘If you want to split hairs, knock yourself out.’
Last night I copied the offensive material in order to show the substance of my complaint and delivered a copy to some Councillors. There are I believe some Councillors, with a modicum of morality, who would find the material offensive rather than funny. On the back of the photocopy I wrote:
‘This offensive material, purporting to be from me to Martin Brookes, was posted on the internet.
Under the Freedom of Information Act I require all references (in hard copy) made about me on Council Computers to be furnished to me within 21 days.’
The offensive material was published on Flick’r under the URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigmamacass/ The Flick’r account was set up a full month before the pictures were published. Martin only ever published pictures in the public interest and in good taste. Yet Councillors and Council Officers were able to close his Flick’r Accounts. To my knowledge no efforts were made to close the ‘bigmamacass’ account, but perhaps a search of the Council computers will tell me something different.
I very much hope that this material and other references to me are searched for on all Council computers, both new and old, before the Town Clerk returns to work.
But perhaps it is too much to hope for a little justice and transparency and some interesting times ahead. After witnessing some of what was said last night the mood of the Council appears to be to protect employees at the cost of democracy, public accountability and to protect the privacy of Councillors no matter what they do, rather than arrest and prosecute the constant victimisation of Martin Brookes.
The next council meeting will be held in the Victoria Hall on Wednesday 12th May at 6pm. This is a general meeting and there will be ample room for the public to attend.
Some very offensive material using my private name, which for very good reasons of self-protection, having taught some dangerous prisoners at one stage in my life, I do not use on the internet, had been published in my name.
The published material contained a gratuitously insulting text and then two photographs of the rear of a man’s behind with the cheeks pulled apart, one with a carrot stuck up it in glorious technicolour.
The then Rutland Chat Forum, which seemed to have at the very least one or two Councillors, or close friends of Councillors, contributing some rather offensive material about Martin Brookes and others, had continued to publish tasteless material without let or hindrance. I went to see Richard White the Town Clerk after I’d seen the very offensive material published in my private name.
Richard White claimed that whatever Councillors did in their private time was purely private and nothing to do with their duties as public servants. The Town Clerk admitted he was aware of the material. Feeling that something more might be known by the Town Clerk about the material, I extracted two hairs from my head and left them on his desk, saying: ‘If you want to split hairs, knock yourself out.’
Last night I copied the offensive material in order to show the substance of my complaint and delivered a copy to some Councillors. There are I believe some Councillors, with a modicum of morality, who would find the material offensive rather than funny. On the back of the photocopy I wrote:
‘This offensive material, purporting to be from me to Martin Brookes, was posted on the internet.
Under the Freedom of Information Act I require all references (in hard copy) made about me on Council Computers to be furnished to me within 21 days.’
The offensive material was published on Flick’r under the URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigmamacass/ The Flick’r account was set up a full month before the pictures were published. Martin only ever published pictures in the public interest and in good taste. Yet Councillors and Council Officers were able to close his Flick’r Accounts. To my knowledge no efforts were made to close the ‘bigmamacass’ account, but perhaps a search of the Council computers will tell me something different.
I very much hope that this material and other references to me are searched for on all Council computers, both new and old, before the Town Clerk returns to work.
But perhaps it is too much to hope for a little justice and transparency and some interesting times ahead. After witnessing some of what was said last night the mood of the Council appears to be to protect employees at the cost of democracy, public accountability and to protect the privacy of Councillors no matter what they do, rather than arrest and prosecute the constant victimisation of Martin Brookes.
The next council meeting will be held in the Victoria Hall on Wednesday 12th May at 6pm. This is a general meeting and there will be ample room for the public to attend.
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