A citizen’s journey to practical legal literacy

Notes from a talk from a retired police officer on gathering evidence

Back in January I attended a one-day seminar by Dave Eden, who after a long policing career has turned to private surveillance of criminals, as well as exposure of corruption in the police and social services. Even the BBC has nice things to say about him! The seminar was targeted at campaigners who are assembling evidence of official wrongdoing, in order to seek prosecutions. Many of us are quite casual about how we engage with authority, and are not doing it with a rigour needed to stand up in court.

I asked ChatGPT to summarise my notes, so you get the gist:

Dave Eden’s seminar outlines practical steps and considerations for addressing accountability crises, particularly in the context of law enforcement and public service accountability. The notes document discusses the importance of accreditation, common and statutory law, evidence collection, and the concept of private prosecutions. It emphasizes the need for personal accountability over institutional protection and suggests strategies for making the police prosecute, such as submitting crime reports, adhering to the Crown Prosecution Service criteria, and involving local police and crime commissioners.

The seminar touches on the use of social media for information dissemination but warns against spreading misinformation or disinformation. It mentions the role of public authorities and private companies in the context of governance and law enforcement. The text also delves into the specifics of dealing with the police, including how to submit evidence, navigate the legal system, and ensure personal and professional integrity during legal processes.

Additionally, the seminar explores broader societal issues, such as the importance of human rights, the challenges faced by destitute sections of society, and the long journey toward systemic exposure and accountability. It advises on maintaining personal integrity, managing oneself during traumatic legal battles, and the strategic approach to challenging the system.

Overall, the seminar notes offer a comprehensive guide to navigating the complexities of legal accountability, emphasising the importance of detailed evidence, personal responsibility, and strategic legal action.

Here is a detailed list of points being made. There were several speakers, so errors are my own:

• There is a crisis of accountability, and we need to take practical steps to address it.
• While common law is a valid solution in places, it is not necessarily fit for purpose.
• We must deal with the world as it is: statutory law — which gets repealed or rewritten, being a moving target.
• Due to the lack of agencies acting on official malfeasance, it is left to private entities — who lack funding.
• A critical tool is the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) s24 citizens arrest.
• Evidence is figural as it has to establish intent; merely having something gone wrong isn’t enough to prosecute.
• Mal/mis/nonfeasance crimes — each need permission to prosecute, with a low success rate.
• Conspiracy is hard to prove as you rarely have the direct evidence of the act of conspiring.
• There is no such thing as a “private prosecution” — just prosecution; anyone can bring charges.
• To the surprise of many, there are many prosecutions by non-state entities like the RSPCA (for animal cruelty) and Virgin Media (for intellectual property). Prosecutions are also undertaken by state entities like Trading Standards.
• White collar crimes are often hidden under layers of protection and plausible deniability.
• We have to make the police prosecute, and have personal accountability when they refuse; cannot hide behind the uniform.
• It is important to put crime reports in and submit evidence to get them on record.
• There are Crown Prosecution Service criteria for evidence, and the police have national crime recording standards — we have to meet those requirements.
• The police are duty bounds to investigate crime, and we can inform the local police and crime commissioner when they refuse.
• The Post Office scandal involved 9,000 criminal convictions on a false basis, resulting in many suicides due to press coverage. The scale of the problem we face is huge. It has taken an ITV documentary to makes it “real” in public consciousness. This is the power of the media.
• The Criminal Records Office (ACRO) helps collect fines and they go to central government under the Police Act 1996.
• Many people make false statements about each Chief Constable running their own private company as a paper exercise with no shareholders and fines going to the local authority. They are talking nonsense, so beware making statements about what you cannot prove; the least said, the better.
• Social media is easily misused to cause harm, or to spread misinformation and disinformation. While people may be sincere and have good intent, they can mislead others with unfortunate consequences.
• For instance, many public authorities are listed on Dun & Bradstreet, for interfacing with the banking system and credit check agencies. Just because they are listed doesn’t mean they are incorporated; they are run as government agencies for the benefit of the public.
• There are opportunities to engage positively (e.g. United Nations) even with institutions that have major corruption issues.
• People are desperate for justice, but this can make their efforts counter-productive when they lack due diligence.
• The best approach is Aikido: use “their” rules against “them” — authority and officialdom is all about adherence to procedure.
• The Criminal Law Act 1967 s3 lets you use reasonable force to prevent a crime.
• You need to get the exact charge right, else your case will be thrown out. Attention to detail is essential.
• File criminal cases before civil ones.
• Seek local resolution where possible.
• Keep daily logs of any investigation.
• A lot of errors are due to professionals rushing and not taking care, not corruption.
• The judiciary take the brunt of complaints, but rightly get compassion from regulators. There is a backlog and underfunding.
• We are often dealing with commercial law — lex mercatoria — and people don’t realise it.
• Where there is a human rights or professional integrity issue, you need to capture details of the breach, its effect, the evidence, and the location.
• There is a destitute section of society who find it hard to keep records (lacking technology or literacy, and suffering from trauma) who therefore find it hard to get justice.
• Don’t discredit yourself in public on social media; what you say can be used against you!
• Family law is full of manipulation of language; medical records are often wrong. Courts of protection steal assets. There is a lot of incompetence, as well as people of integrity.
• Correct errors immediately.
• Check, pause, send — don’t rush your communications out.
• Everything you say will be intentionally manipulated when you expose their errors, and they will become more persecutory and manipulative.
• Don’t sue an institution; always go after people in the individual roles.
• Be careful when you complain; they use the information you disclose to cover up crimes.
• Most important is to manage yourself, and the trauma you experience; challenging the system for years takes a toll.
• The problems we face individually are reflections of our whole society; we cannot take those onto our shoulders personally.
• Accountability requires us to cherry pick cases where there is strongest evidence, and a recurring problem with specific social workers and areas. It isn’t about individual cases of injustice, but pattern in the monetisation of wrongdoing.
• All evidence needs a full chain of custody; the only information that can go to a jury to establish truth (or probability of truth) about a fact.
• There is terminology you have to master: “material”, “witness”, “exhibit”.
• An MG11 is a form used in England and Wales for recording the evidence of a witness, which the witness signs to confirm the statement is true. This type of statement complies with Section 9 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967.
• The contents of a Section 9 statement can be admissible in court without the witness having to attend court to give oral evidence, provided certain conditions are met, such as the statement containing a perjury declaration and being served on other parties before the hearing​.
• Police will often pursue lesser charges where evidence is only circumstantial of the main crime. What you need is primary evidence to make the main charge stick.
• The body camera video is the Kalashnikov of the 21^st century.
• If you can discredit one part of the other side’s case, it renders it all unreliable.
• Record to a memory card, not to a device itself; that’s primary evidence, whereas the copy of the audio or video is not.
• Keep the evidence in a sealed property evidence bag with the date.
• ADVOKATE model of admissible evidence: Time, distance, visibility, obstructions, known, Any reason to remember, time lapse, error or discrepancy
• Know exact words to use before making any accusation; precision is everything
• Crown employees are hard to hold to account as we have to use 13th century common law.
• Misfeasance – harmful to individual; Malfeasance – crime from the outset;Nonfeasance – failure to perform act.
• English case law says that the phrase “fuck off” is not offensive.
• A new offence of corruption in public office is being considered.
• The relevant standard is what the “reasonable person” would consider true and right.
• Regarding public order summary offence you need to consider PACE s25 which deals with intimate searches, especially Code G that provides operational guidance to police officers on carrying out intimate searches. This was amended in 2010.
• There are many reasons to arrest someone, and it’s not the only option. You can arrest and give street bail; report for summons; schedule and interview; or arrest and take into custody. What drives the officer’s arrest record is when someone is handed over to custody.
• Much of our data is stored offshore (in America) including DNA and fingerprints.
• It can be assault when an arrest involves an instrument or excessive force; officers are not held to account.
• It is the cowards and the lazy that kill us in the end, not the psychopaths.
• Conspiracy, malfeasance, fraud — juries don’t understand the legislation, and barristers will confuse you.
• Less than 3% of fraud is solved, despite it being 50% of all crime.
• Prosecution of a public servant is always in public interest.
• We need to show the corruption is the same countrywide to get action.
• Open Source Intelligence needs to be paired with Open Source Prosecution.
• Activities like surveillance are specialist and need courses; are expensive and risky.