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A further letter to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Having heard noting from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, but being in possession of Mr Law's letter (21st January 1999) the following has been sent:

M J Mitchell
Overseas Territories Department
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
2 King Charles Street
London

13^th February 1999

Dear Mrs Mitchell

 Re: Bermuda Formal complaint - Oppressive Conduct etc.

I refer to my letter of January 24^th in respect of which I have not received a reply.

Following receipt of your letter in which, after liaison with the Bermuda Authorities, you directed me to Mr law of the Ministry of Labour, Home Affairs & Public Safety (Bermuda), I wrote to the gentleman.

The following reply was received:

Ref: CSS/PL26/2

21 January 1999

Dear Mr Swift

I acknowledge receipt of your complaint package which I received on 14th January 1999.   It appears that you contacted me in my capacity as Secretary to the Police Complaints Authority.  Unfortunately you may have been misled as to the functions of the Authority.

The purpose of the Authority is to hear and act upon complaints made by members of the public against the conduct of Police Officers.  It is quite clear in your case that the complaint is an internal one relating to events when you were an officer in the Bermuda Police Service.  Consequently your complaint is outside the scope of the Authority.  I have copied your complaint to the Commissioner of Police and Deputy Governor.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Law

Co-ordinator of Security Services

ML/ag

cc. Deputy Governor

     Commissioner of Police

(Philip Smith - U.K. - Complaint)

You will appreciate I am far from pleased that I have been ‘misled’ by you. My time has been wasted and costs incurred.

It appears my complaint rests with the Foreign Office; it is your officials who acquiesced to my dismissal and now appear intent on misdirecting me now.

I trust I will receive a reply to my previous letter in the near future. My displeasure now extends to the manner in which you are handling this matter, it appears the F.C.O. is intent on frustrating my attempts to have my complaint addressed rather than addressing it.

I have written to Mr Law again as I believe the content of his letter may be incorrect, the result of a superficial approach.

I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Yours faithfully

 It remains to be seen if a reply will be forthcoming.

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