TNAG-0736-FCO40-940-Local-Intelligence-Committee-assessment-of-political-situati-1978 — Page 40

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THE SELF-APPOINTED PREPARATORY COMMITTEE OF THE JUNIOR POLICE

OFFICERS ASSOCIATION (JPOA) SPENT THE MONTH TRYING TO PROMOTE

THEIR IMAGE BOTH IN THE EYES OF THE RANK AND FILE AND OF THE

PUBLIC. IN THE EARLIER PART OF THE MONTH THEIR ACTIVITIES WERE

LARGELY CONFINED TO SEEKING PUBLICITY FOR ACTIONS DESIGNED TO

SHOW THAT THEY WERE CONCERNED ABOUT THE WELFARE OF ORDINARY

PEOPLE. IN THE LATTER PART OF THE MONTH THEY ATTEMPTED MORE

DRAMATIC TACTICS WHICH VERGED ON A CONFRONTATION WITH THE POLICE

LEADERSHIP,

DETAILS.

2. ON 23RD JANUARY THE DECISIONS OF THE POLICE DISCIPLINARY

HEARINGS INTO THE HUTCHISON HOUSE INCIDENT OF 28TH OCTOBER WERE

ANNOUNCED IN THE PRESS. OF THE FOURTEEN OFFICERS CHARGED, FOUR WERE ORDERED TO BE DISMISSED, SIX WERE FINED AND GIVEN SUSPENDED SENTENCES OF DISMISSAL AND THE REMAINING FOUR WERE ACQUITTED. THE PREPARATORY COMMITTEE HAD EARLIER EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT

THE DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS. PREDICTABLY, THEY CLAIMED THAT THE SENTENCES WERE TOO SEVERE AND SAID THEY WOULD BACK AN APPEAL.

WHILE EMOTION ON THE ISSUE WAS BUILDING UP THEY WERE TOLD THAT

ONE OF THEIR MEMBERS, SERGEANT SHUM, WHO HAD BEEN ACTING AS THEIR PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER, WOULD NOT BE ACCEPTED BY POLICE HEAD- QUARTERS AS A FUTURE, FULL-TIME, PAID STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE JPOA. THE COMMITTEE SEIZED ON THIS ISSUE AS AN EXAMPLE OF. INTERFERENCE

IN THE ASSOCIATION'S AFFAIRS. THEY COUPLED IT WITH THE

DISCIPLINARY DECISIONS IN THE HUTCHISON HOUSE CASE TO MUSTER

SUPPORT FROM THE RANK AND FILE.

3. ON 25TH JANUARY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE PREPARATORY COMMITTEE

ANNOUNCED OVER TELEVISION AND TO THE PRESS THAT ALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS EXCEPT HIMSELF HAD PESIGNED BECAUSE INTERFERENCE FROM POLICE HEADQUARTERS PREVENTED THEM FROM CARRYING OUT THEIR . DUTIES. AT A MEETING LATER IN THE DAY, HELD IN A TENSE AND EMOTIONAL ATMOSPHERE, ABOUT THREE HUNDRED RANK AND FILE, INCLUDING

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