Fwd: Your Complaint Against Merseyside Police – 2007/006341
21 November 2007
03:18
Subject Fwd: Your Complaint Against Merseyside Police – 2007/006341
From Erik Ribsskog
To Joanne.Fitzgerald@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk
Sent 21 November 2007 03:07
Attachments
Hi,
I can’t see that I have recieved an answer to this e-mail yet, that’s why I’m sending it again.
Hope that this is alright!
Yours sincerely,
Erik Ribsskog
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Erik Ribsskog
Date: Nov 10, 2007 7:38 AM
Subject: Re: Your Complaint Against Merseyside Police – 2007/006341
To: Joanne Fitzgerald
Hi,
I’m writing to you, to inform you, (like I’ve already informed the Norwegian Embassy), that I haven’t
got that much confidence left regarding how the Merseyside Police, are dealing with the complaint/appeal.
I was at Walton Lane Police Station, regarding a meeting with Sgt. Smythe, the day before yesterday.
I was harassed in the reception there.
Yesterday, I sent an e-mail to Sgt. Smythe and his assistant Rachel, about some enclosures, that
we had agreed on the meeting Thursday, that I would e-mail them.
I was also asking them, how I should go forward with reporting the harassment, but when they answered
to my e-mail, they didn’t tell me how I should go forward regarding this.
In the meeting on Thursday, Rachel, Sgt. Smyth’s assistant, told me that the e-mail address to the
Liverpool North Standards Unit, was civil.litigation.e@merseyside.police.uk. (She wrote it on a note).
While I was sending the files, as agreed yesterday, I had a look at the lastest letter I had recieved, from
the Liverpool North Standards Unit, and there it says that their e-mail address is: civil.litigation.e.@merseyside.police.uk .
(So on their letters, the email address, has got an extra ‘.’).
When I wrote the last e-mail to Sgt. Smyth/Rachel yesterday, after finishing e-mailing all the files, I
asked them to please confirm that they had recieved the documents, due to this problem with the
e-mail address.
Then Rachel, Mr. Smyth’s assistant, informed me that it was the e-mail address that she wrote on
the note, that was the right address, and not the e-mail address on their letters.
I think that this means that eighter Mr. Smyths assistant isn’t telling the thruth, or that the Liverpool
North Standards Unit are so unproffesional, that they are writing letters, to members of the public,
with the wrong e-mail addresses on the letters.
And also, since I think I was harrassed, at the Police Station on Thursday, and also since the
Liverpool North Standards Unit, weren’t answering me about my questions surrounding the harassment
incident, even if I the e-mail containing these questions, also was forwarded with the e-mail they
sent me an answer to yesterday.
(So they had two oppertunities, to get to read my quesions regarding how to go forward with reporting
the harassment incident, and still they didn’t answer me on this).
And I also think that regarding the problem with the e-mail address, that eighter the PC must have
been lying, or the Police Force and the Standards Unit, are run so unproffesional (printing the wrong
e-mail address on their letters, that there has to be something wrong with the Police-force.
I don’t think that they can have two different e-mail addresses, and claim both to be the right e-mail
address, that doesn’t really make any sense.
So I havent got any confidence left in the Merseyside Police’s ability to deal with this case/comlaint and
appeal, so I think I’m going to have to withdraw from the complaint-process, if not a thustworhty autorothy
from outside of the Merseyside Police, are drawn directly into this.
(I’m enclosing a copy of the mentioned note, and letter, and I’m also going to forward you three e-mails
containing the e-mail correspondence I was refering to from yesterday).
I hope that this is alright!
Yours sincerely,
Erik Ribsskog
On 8/26/07, Erik Ribsskog
Hi,
here is the appeal against the decision not to formally record my complaint:
Please give the name of the police force your complaint was about:
Merseyside Police
If you recieved a letter from the police telling you that they will not be recording your complaint,
please give the date of that letter:
10/7/07
Mr. Erik Ribsskog
Flat 3
5 Leather Lane
L2 2AE
Liverpool
01512363298/07758349954
eribsskog@gmail.com
Date you made your complaint:
3/5/07
Who did you make your complaint to:
To the IPCC.
How did you make your complaint:
By e-mail.
Please provide brief details about the complaint that you made:
I had been reporting about some problems that seems clear to me to involve organised
crime at the place which I worked to the police on several occations from November
last year.
I had been having some problems with the police being supposed to call me back regarding
this, but they didn’t call back, even if contacted the police-station to inform them about this.
So, when I was at the CAB regarding advice on when one needed a criminal solicitors.
(Since the solicitor that I had met in a duty solicitors meeting at the CAB had informed me
that Morecrofts couldn’t help me if I needed a criminal solicitor. But it wasn’t clear to me
when one would need a criminal solicitor, so I contacted the CAB again, and was told that
this was if one were being accused of doing something wrong.
The Morecrofts solicitor had said that the case was both an employment-case, and a
criminal-case, so I asked the advisor at the CAB, on how I should go forward with the
criminal part of the case.
And I was ansered that I should bring this up in liasons with the police.
I had been trying to do this from before, but I had been having some problems involving the
police not calling me back when they said they would.
So I asked the advisor what I should do if I had problems with the liasons with the police.
And the advisor said that I should bring it up with the CPS or the Law-society.
I asked about this as a precaution, so that I knew what to do if the police still didn’t contact
me after the new meeting there.
So, some weeks later, when they still hadn’t contacted me, then I contacted the CPS about
the problems with the liasons with the police.
The CPS answered that they didn’t have the powers to investiagte a case, and told me to
contact the IPCC.
Which I did on 3/5, I sent the IPCC a complaint regarding the problems I’ve been having with the
liasons with the police. (Or ‘the contact with the police’, like I wrote in the e-mail I sent you on 3/5).
In the complaint, I had listed up 18 individual complaints about thing I though were dealt with wrongly
by the police in relation to my contact with them.
I’ll try to specify how I thought the police conducted wrongly:
1. The police-constable wouldn’t let me report a crime.
2. The police adviced me to go back to work, even if I had told them that the company was
infiltradet/taken over by a criminal organisation. I think that this was irresponsible by the police.
3. On 16/1/07 Sergant Camel told me to take the case to the CAB, even if he knew I was
unemployed, and couldn’t afford to pay a solicitor £140/hour to deal with the case.
I though that this was irresponsible by the Sergant. (The police should have investigated the
case themselves).
(Also, I remember from the meeting on 16/1, that Sgt. Camel wanted me to take the case to
the CAB, and then to a solicitor and the Crowns Court.
I haven’t been living in Britain that long, so I wasn’t sure what the CAB was. But I remember
I asked the Sergant if the CAB were government. And the sergant said ‘yes’.
Later (maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago), I have been browsing the CAB website looking for some
information there, and I’ve seen on the CAB website, that CAB is actually a charity.
So, it’s now clear to me that Sgt. Camel actually lied to me about this in the meeting
at the policestation on 16/1.
If he had told me that the CAB was a charity, then I would have objected much stronger
on brining the case to them, I would have insisting stronger on the right department of
the police to deal with it.
But that the Sergant told me that the CAB were government, and that the solicitor I would
get to speak with there, would send the case back to the police if they thought it was
a matter for the police, confused me, and since I hadn’t been living that long in Britain,
and I’m not so used to dealing with the police, and I wasn’t sure if I as a Norwegian,
could demand what the police should do, so thats why I after contacting the police
a number of more times trying to get them to deal with the case, (but they still
insited on me going to the CAB with it), thats why I ended up at the CAB with it,
beliving the CAB was a government organisation.
4. The police didn’t want to investigate the case, even if I told them I had documents
that would show that it was a crime-case.
(And I also told the police on 16/1, that I was worried about my collegues that were
still working in the complany, that they were under control by the criminals).
5. The police didn’t want to look at the evidence/documents on my laptop on 22/1,
saying it was a breach of the data protection act. Even if I think it must be obvious that
since I myself let them look at the documents, then this couldn’t have been a data
protection issue.
6. That constable Keith Holmes didn’t call me back, even if constable Victoria Steele
told me on 22/1 that she would ask Holmes to call me back.
This happened a lot of times, that the police said they would call me back, but they
didn’t. It’s difficult for me to say what happened in this situation. If Holmes got the
message or not. There could be some problems with the routines at the police-station,
or it could have been a mistake from eighter Steele or Holmes.
7. The constable who was in the ‘reception’ on 24/1 and 25/1 didn’t wear collar-number-
tags. I think police should be expected to wear their tag-numbers, because I know
there are rules about things like this, even eg. shop-assistants are instructed to
wear their name-tags, so I think the police, having an important funciton in society,
also should wear some kind of indification, so that it’s possible for members of the
public to identify the serviceman/woman they have been talking with. (In case
something wrong is being said or done by the constable/officer).
8. The constable that didn’t wear number-tags on 24/1 and 25/1, promised me that
she would get Victoria Steele to call me back regarding the case.
But Steele didn’t call. This is a similar problem I think to complaint 6, and this happened
a lot of times, I was promised maybe 10 times by different officers/constables that the
police would call me back, but I wasn’t called back by the police a single time in 2007.
I was only called back once in November 2006.
(And I was promised to be called back about ten times or more in 2007, and they didn’t
call a single time).
9. I went to the police in January, and gave them copies of the documents in which I
thought that it would be possible to find evidence about the problem with a criminal
organisation of some kind having infiltrated/taking over the company I had worked in.
I gave the documents (many hundred sheets) to Steele, who gave it to Holmes.
When I spoke with Holmes two or three weeks later, he said he had only read a bit
on the top of the pile, a bit in the middle, and a bit on the bottom of the pile.
And he still said it was an employment-case, and that I should go to the CAB.
By then I had ‘argued’ so much with the police about this, that I didn’t know if it
would be right for me as a Norwegian to continue arguing with the British police about
this.
But, I remebered Sgt. Camel had said earlier that the CAB would send it back to the
police if they thought it was right.
And thought that maybe it was because I was from another country that they wouldn’t
listen to me at the police-station, and maybe they weren’t used to dealing that much
with documents for all that I knew.
So I thought that it would maybe be just as smart to have a lawyer at the CAB have a
look at it, and send it back, maybe this would convince the police to have a look at, and
investigate the case.
(It could be of couse, that the police investigated it, but didn’t tell me about this. I had
been at the police-station several times in November and later explaining about the case.
I’m not an expert in police-methods, but I guessed that it could be that the police investigated
without telling me, for some reason, I wasn’t sure, but I reackoned that this could be the case,
since I would have thought that the British Police would deal with a matter like this in a
responsible way.)
But in the complaint about the liasons with the police, I could only relate to what I knew for
sure, and I knew for sure that Constable Holmes didn’t look properly through the documents
I delivered to the police-station for him to give to an investigator.
So I thought that it was irresponsible by constable Holmes to not read throught the documents
proberly, and to not give them to an investigator.
10. The police sent me a letter on 16/2, where they called me ‘Miss Erik Ribsskog’. I think, like
the British representative on the Norwegian Consulate in the India Building said, that it should
be obvious to Brits that Erik and Eric is the same name, and it therefore must be someone
making jokes and not taking their job serious.
Like I had explained in meetings at the police-station, it seemed to me that some of my collegues
in the complany, probably must have been under control by criminals. So I thought this was an important
case, and then to start making jokes like this in an important case. I think thats irresponsible and
it seems like a joke that small kids could have made. So this makes me worried that things could be
out of control at the police-station.
11. In the meeting on 1/2, Sergant O’Brian told me to move from the chair I sat down with at the
table, (even if I sat in the same chair in the meeting there with Sgt. Camel and the constable on
16/1).
So I had to move to another chair, at the other side of the table, I think that Sgt. O’Brian was acting
patronising towards me when he ‘ordered’ me to sit in the other chair.
12. In the meeting at the St. Ann’s police-station on 1/3, the ‘ginger’ police-constable, wouldn’t let
me present the issues about which I had contacted the police-station to the Sergant O’Brian, but
insisted on presenting the things I wanted to bring up in the meeting to the Sergant himself.
So this made me lose a bit control on how the issues were presented, and it seemed to me that
I was being patronised by the police-constable.
And this made it diffucult for me to present the things I wanted to bring up, in the way I intended
to present it, and also it made me more of a spectator than a participant in the meeting.
I guess it could be that it was O’Brian who should have told the constable to let me explain myself,
because I think they should have let me explain my concerns myself.
13. So in the meeting on 1/3, I was a bit confused if I was supposed to exlain about my concerns
to Sgt. O’Brian myself, or if this was the job of the constable.
So this made me a bit confused about how they meant the meeting to be conducted, and what they
wanted my role in the meeting to be.
14. In the meeting on 1/3, Sgt. O’Brian said that he thought the problem with the case not having any
progress with being dealt with by the police, was due to the case having being dealt with by a large
number of police servicemen.
So, he suggested, that to find out exactly what had been going on, they would ask constable Steele
to call me, and tell me what she had been doing with the documents after I gave them to her.
I think this was irresponsible by the Sergant. He must have understood that to find out what the police
had been doing, would be a job for the police.
So I think that he should have taken the job of finding out what the police had been doing, that he should
have taken the responsibility of finding this out himself.
And of course, investigate the case himself, instead of not doing anything, other that saying I had to find
out what the police had been doing so far.
So I thought this was very irresponsible by Sgt. O’Brian.
15. This is connected with point 14. That I think Sgt. O’Brian should have investigated himself:
1. What the police had done regarding the case so far. (And not telling me to find out about this.)
2. Investigate the case further.
Sgt. O’Brian didn’t do eighter of these actions, and I think that this was very irresponsible.
16. In the meeting on 1/3, Sgt. O’Brian was very un-calm, and this together with the patronising
I was subjected to (which is explained in point 11 and 12), made it difficult for me to bring up
the issues I wanted to bring up in the way I had intended.
So I think that (especially since I haven’t been living in Britain that long, and had to ‘compete’
with to British police-servicemen who were patronising me in the meeting), because of this,
I think that the Sergant should have tryed to remain calm in the meeting, since I think when
one have a job as a public serviceman, then it’s important that one are capable of comunicating
with the public.
And then to be so un-calm in the meeting, can make it difficult for the meeting and the comunication
to be conducted in a meaningful way, since the things the Sergant said had marks of not being
very thorowly considered. (Like he told me that I had to make sure that my former employer and
the job-agency got in touch about the letter I had brought there, even if it was obvious from that
letter that they already were in touch, and the Sergant was reading the letter explaining about
this).
So I think the Sergant must have been so un-calm that he didn’t get the meaning of the letter.
And I didn’t want to aggrivate or make the Sergant even more un-calm, so I just had to pretend
to agree with him.
I though that I would rather call the Sergant later, and explain about this later, when he was in
a calmer state.
An I think that when one as a member of the public, contacts the police, about important things
like this, then one should expect to be treated in professional way by the police.
So when the police are patronising you, and like I mention in this individual complaint, the police
Sergant in charge of the meeting, isn’t capable to keep control of himself and remain calm, in
a way that the meeting could be conducted in a professional and meaningful way.
I think that if the Sergant in charge of the meeting isn’t capable of doing this, then this is a reason
to complain. (Because I don’t think members of the public should be treated in an unprofessional
and unpolite way when they are contacting the police).
17. Sgt. O’Brian said in the meeting on 1/3, that they would get constable Steele to call me back
about what the police had been doing with the case so far.
Victoria Steele didn’t call, and I called back to the police-station several times, and was told that
she was on holiday.
I also called back several times after she should have been back, but she was never present.
The people I talked with at the police-station, told me several times that they would get Steele
to call, yet she never called.
This problem happened very often. (That I was promised someone from the police would call
me back, but that they didn’t call at all in 2007).
18. The same in this individual complaint.
When I tryed calling Steele, but didn’t suceed in getting in contact with her at all.
Then I tried to call Sgt. O’Brian on several phone-numbers I was given by the central, and
by St. Ann’s police-station.
I didn’t manage to get hold of Sgt. O’Brian eighter, and after trying to get in contact with
Constable Steele and Sergant O’Brian for weeks, without getting hold of them, and without
any of them returning my calls.
Then I went to the Norwegian Consulat in the India Building, asking The Consulate if they
had any advice for me, on how to get in contact with Constable Steele or Sgt. Obrian.
The Consulate-representative, Liz Hurley, went and called Sgt. O’Brian, while I was at
the Consulate on 19/3.
Liz Hurley said, that she had been talking with O’Brian, and that O’Brian had told her that
‘he remembered the case’.
Yet, Sgt. O’Brian still didn’t call me back, even after recieving this reminder by the Norwegian
Consulate representative.
Sgt. O’Brian still hadn’t called me back when I sent you the complaint on 3/5, and he still
haven’t called me back when I’m writing this appeal now on 26/8.
I think this is very unprofessional of the Sergant. On the meeting on 1/3, I showed the
constable and Sergant O’Brian the explanation I had written were I explain about
my concern about what was going on in the company, and I remember the Sergant
was reading the explanation, he got it from the constable.
And I had written that it was clear to me that some of my collages in the company was
under control by criminals.
(I had written it in capital letters, because I was a bit tired of the police not taking any
actions after I had gone to the police-station reporting about this several times in
November, then in the meeting with Sgt. Cambel in January, and then in the talks
with Constable Holmes also in January.
I wasn’t sure if the police was taking this as serious as they should, so I tryed to
write it in a document, why I think they should act. I even wrote some of it in capital
letters, so to show that I meant this seriously, and to maybe get them to wake up).
And it was this document that I remember O’Brian read, and still they didn’t even return
my calls, even after reading that document, and having seen how important I thought
the case was.
And in the meeting on 1/3, I also showed the Constable and the Sergant the letter from
the Solicitor from 27/2, where the Solicitor writes that:
‘As I explained, Morecrofts do not deal with criminal law and would not be able to advise you
on this aspect although some further perusal of your papers may reveal some information that
will assist the police.’
Even if I showed the Sergant this letter from the Solicitor, still the Sergant didn’t want to investigate/
look at the papers/documents I had. And even if he had read this letter and the the letter where
I explain that I’m worried about some of my collueges being under control by criminals in the
company I used to work, and also even if he got a call about this from the Norwegian Consulate,
still he didn’t even return my calls.
I think this was very irresponsible and unprofessional by the Sergant. And it was this behaviour from
the Sergant that I thought was the ‘final drop’, so to speak, and lead me to complain about the
police to the CPS.
And then, after recieving my complaint, the CPS adviced me to contact you, so thats why
I sent you the e-mail with the complaint on 3/5.
Please tell us why you would like to appeal about the way your complaint was handled:
The police force didn’t record my complaint.
Please explain why you want to appeal:
Well, like I exlained above, I think that the police force should deal with members of the
public in a professional and aproriate way.
All of the 18 individual complaint I have mentioned, are situations, where I think the police
have acted in a way which I think is below the standard you could expect from a responsible
police force.
And when I complain about the police not letting me report a crime (like in complaint 1), and
the police acting irresponsible with sending me back to work even if the complany was
controled by criminals (complaint 2), lying to me about the CAB being a government
organisation (even if I discovered the lying later, complaint 3), the police refusing to
investgate a serious criminal case, involiving people being held under control, seemingly
like slaves, by criminals (complaint 4), the police lying to me again, saying that
it would be a breach on the data protection act if they looked at some documents
on my laptop. (complaint 5), that the police acted irresponsible, on numerous occations,
when I was promised the police would call me back, but they didn’t. I would think that
this happened to many times to it being coincidental, I would think that some type of
misconduct is the reason for this way of treatment by the police (numerous complaints, eg.
complaint 6, 8, 17 and 18).
That the police constable didn’t give the documents I gave him regarding a serious crime-
case to an investigator (complaint 9), that the police insulted me, calling me ‘Miss Erik
Ribsskog’, in their letter from 16/2, when it should be obvious, as I have got confirmed by
a British representative working for the Norwegian Consulate, that it should be obvious
for Brits that Erik and Eric is the same name, and due to this, the police were inpolite
towards me, since they called me ‘Miss’, even if they should know that my name isn’t
a girls name.
That Sgt. O’Brian was, I would go as far as to say he was harassing me, and were
patronising towards me in the meeting on the police-station on 1/3, described in
complaint 11-18.
That Sgt. O’Brian was acting irresponsible in not investigating a serious crime-case,
even if the Solicitor had written in the letter that she thought this could be a matter
for the police, and even if he was called by the Norwegian Consulate, and still didn’t
return my calls.
And also that he left it to me, a member of the public, to find out how the police had
been dealing with the case, instead of dealing with it himself.
And also that he was ‘in a state’ in the meeting, not giving me a chance to explain
about the issues in the way I had intended, due to having to focus on not trying
to aggrivate the Sergant any more, that is to try to get him calm down, taking
the focus away from presenting the actual issues I had gone there to present.
I think the harassment, patronisment, unprofesionalism from the Sergant in the
meeting on 1/3 certainly qualifyes to problems with the liasons with the police, like
I initialy complained about, but also to beind misconduct like I see now that it has
to be, for the police to deal with the complaint.
Also the other issues I’ve mentioned under this section ‘Why you want to appeal’,
I think they also must be misconduct, like when the Constable didn’t want to let
me report a crime in complaint 1, and the refusal to investigate a serious crime-case
in complaint 2, the later discovered lying in complain 3 etc. (see section above).
So when I read in your e-mail from 14/8, that ‘I was informed by
Merseyside Police that they did not deem your complaint to be concerned
with allegations of misconduct against individual police officers and
therefore decided not to formally record your complaint under the Police
Reform Act 2002.’, then I can’t agree with the Merseyside Police that my
complaint isn’t being deemed as being concerd with allegations of
misconduct against individual police officers.
I can’t see that the lying, the harrasment, the insults, the not alowing a member
of the public to report a crime case, the refusal to investigate a serious crime-case,
and the other mentioned issues (see above).
I cant see that these things shouldn’t be considered as misconduct.
Thats my view, I’m not sure how police are expected to conduct themselves in this
country, but if I use my head and think by myself how I would have thought that
the police were meant to conduct themselves, and then think about the way the
police-officers have conducted themselves, which I have described in this complaint,
then I’d say that the police-officers have misconducted.
Also, while I’m dealing with this, I thought I’d mention some points from the complaint-
procedure:
The police called me a week before the meeting at Walton Lane police station on 22/6.
The police-woman that called on 15/6, didn’t tell me her name, even if I asked who I should
say that I had spoken with.
She just instructed me to report at Walton Lane police-station on 22/6 at a certain time,
and ask to speak with Sgt. Smithe.
I thought that they would probably ask me who had called me and told me to meet there,
so I asked her who I should tell them that I had been speaking with.
But she didn’t say her name, she just said that I should say that I had been called by
the police.
And she didn’t tell me at all what the meeting was about.
I used to live in Walton about a year ago, and I’d also been in contact with the police in
Walton (and also the St. Ann’s police-station), about some problems I had been having
org. criminals in Oslo and Liverpool.
And also when I lived in Walton, I rented a room in a shared house, and there were also
problems going on in the house which I have reported to the Walton Lane police.
And also when I was living in the shared house, due to reasons unknown to me, and I
hadn’t been living in Britain long enough then to understand about all the things
surounding Council-tax.
But for some reason, I don’t think any of the tenants revieved council-tax bills (or tv-licensing
bills), when they were living in the shared house in Mandeville St. in Walton.
So I wasn’t completly sure about why it was that the police had called me and instructed
me to meet at the Walton Lane police-station.
I thought, of course, that it could be to do with the complaint. But I wasn’t completly sure,
I thought it also could be with the cases I had reported about earlier regarding problems with
org. criminials in Oslo and Liverpool.
I also thought there could be a chance it was regarding the problem with the missing council
tax and tv-licensing bills from the Mandeville shared house. (Problems which I had intended
to bring up togheter with a lot of other problems, once I’d got set up a dialog with the police,
once I’d got a contact-person and a dialog at the police, and could start to focus on trying
to explain all details with the earlier reported problems in Norway and Liverpool).
And I wanted the police to deal with the things I had brought up seriously. And I was a bit
afraid to ‘make a fool of myself’, if I called the Walton Lane police-station, and asked to
speak with Sgt. Smithe, to ask what the meeting was about.
Because then I reackoned that I had to explain who had called me about the meeting, and
I couldn’t really be sure that the Sergant was working on Walton Lane police-station
permanently. He could be in a specialised police-department for all that I know, who dealt
with police complaint cases, and who was stationed somewhere else, maybe even out of
town, for all that I knew. And only was supposed to be at the Walton Lane police-station
for the meeting regarding the complaint-case.
So, since I didn’t want to make a bad impression, (makine a fool of myself), since I’m a
bit clumsy sometimes with my manners etc, since I haven’t been living in Britain that
long, due to this, I found it best to just show for the meeting, and not call to ask any
questions regarding the agenda.
I also guessed that if it was meant for me to contact them back regarding things surrounding
the meeting, then I would have got a contact-name there, like the police-woman calling
would have told me her name, and told me that if I had any questions, then I could contact
this and this person.
But since no such contact-name was given to me, then I guessed that I wasn’t meant to
know what the meeting was about, before the meeting.
So I didn’t know exactly how to prepare for the meeting.
And when the meeting started, I had to ask the Sergant if the meeting was about the complaint,
to be sure.
In the meeting, we didn’t discuss the issues regarding problems with the liasons with the
police at all.
Somehow, we ended up discussing the cases that I had complained about to the Walton
Lane police-station before. (The problems with org. criminals in Oslo and Liverpool).
I wrote some notes down when I got home from the meeting, here are some of the points.
– Core of case: Followed by mafia in Norway, and this has continued in England (Ppl. from
work etc).
(This is about some problems I had in Norway, and which I have reported about to the police
in Norway and England.
It was on my workplace in Oslo. I was working as an assistant shop-manager, while I was studying.
And then I got some problems with the my face being more or less distroyed (its a long story), and
I still went to work a few days (I didn’t think it was so serious, so I thought the problems with the
face-skin would pass), and then I overheard a couple of conversations about me behind my back so to
speak, eg. one conversation I overheard I heard it being said (they were talking about my face which
was more or less distroyed), and I head them say: ‘I’ve heard that he’s also followed by the mafia’.
And also I heard other customers say, about me, ‘he isn’t afraid (eg. he goes to work as normal
I think they must have meant) even if he’s being followed by the mafia’.
This was just some of what happened, I’ve tryed to explain about these things to the police in
Norway and Britain, but I haven’t been able to find someone who want’s to deal with and investigate
this, and let me explain all I know about this.
But I mentioned it to the Sergant in the meeting on 22/6.
But he writes in the answer-letter that ‘I have since had the oppertunity to examine the issues you
raised in terms of organised criminality and the Norwegian Mafia.’.
Well, I haven’t actually menioned anything about a ‘Norwegian Mafia’. I have never heard of, or
menioned a ‘Norwegian mafia’.
I always thought that the people I overheard at my old workplace in Oslo, was refering to the
Albanian mafia, since this was the only mafia I had heard that were being present in Oslo.
So, when the Sergant is writing about ‘the Norwegian Mafia’ in his letter, then I get a bit
concerned that maybe there have been some misunderstanings in the comunications,
since I’ve never used the term ‘Norwegian mafia’, and I’ve never heard of or refered to
any Norwegian Mafia, so I think we must have been speaking past eachother a bit
in the meeting.
We were also taling a bit of the Arvato company which I had reported the problems
with being infiltrated by org. criminals.
(I said I thought the problems with org. criminals in Liverpool probably had to be connected
with the problems in Oslo, since I found it unlikly that the lightening would strike at the
same place twice so to speak).
I can see in my notes that the Sergant thought that Arvato had a Swedish parent-company,
but I told him that it wasn’t Swedish, but German. (Bertelsman).
I also told him that I thought it would be very fine to have a contact person at the police,
since the police didn’t return my calls, and also since I had a lot of information regarding
the different cases which I still hadn’t got an oppertunity to report to the police, yet this
haven’t been addressed in the answering-letter.
Like I’ve explained above, the police have been suposed to call me on more than ten occations,
but they haven’t called me in 2007 at all.
So I think they should take this problem a bit more serious. They are ignoring this problem
in their answering-letter, and I can’t really say that I’m sure what to do if some incidents
happens now, for which I would have needed the assitance of the police. I’m not sure what
I should do if this happens, I don’t really want to call the police, just to be ignored even
more.
So I think they should have brought up this issue in their answering-letter.
In the meeting, the Sergant asked me what I wanted the police to do, and I answered that I
wanted the police to investigate the case with the problems with the Arvato-company
having problems with infiltration by org. criminals.
I explained to the Sergant that I had a lot of documents that helped showing this, and that
I think he should maybe have a look at these documents, in concetion with his investigation.
Yet, I wasn’t contacted back by the Sergant at all, before I got the letter that he couldn’t
find any evidence to substantiatie my claims.
So, I think that the Sergant should maybe have had a look at the documents then, like I
suggested to him in the meeting. Maybe this could have helped him. He says he haven’t
found any evidence to substantiate my claims. But when he didn’t even have a look at
the documents, which I explained about to him that I had in the meeting, then it’s seems
a bit to me that he didn’t really try that hard to find any evidence.
Because in the meeting I told him that he could just contact me if he wanted to have at
the documents I had from working in the company, but the Sergant didn’t contact me
back about this.
I’ve also been in contact with the Norwegian Embassy in London, regarding the problems
with org. crime in Oslo and in Arvato-company and elsewhere in Liverpool.
The Embassy, told me that if I wanted the British and Norwegian police to cooperate
on these issues, then I had to tell the Brisish and Norwegian police myself that I
wanted them to cooperate about this.
So, I aslo see this in my notes, I made sure to tell the Sergant that I wanted the British
police to cooperate with the Norwegian police about these issues. (I’ve also earlier told
the Norwegian police the same, that I want them, like the Embassy adviced, to cooperate
with the British police on this.)
I also gave the Sergant the name of the Norwegian police-officer who knew most about
the case in Norway. (Who was working in a similar Norwegian Department, that is the
department that investigates the regular police). This because Sgt. Smithe asked who
in Norway he could contact about this, and I didn’t really know who else that knew
enough about this.
Yet, in the answering letter, there is no mention about this, if the British police have
been in contact with the Norwegian police or not, so I would have to asume that
they haven’t been in contact then, even if I asked them to do this, on advice from
the Embassy, in the meeting.
I told the Sergant that I had even contacted the Norwegian Consulate, and that the
Consulate-representative contacted Sgt. O’Brian, reminding him that I had tryed to
get in contact with him regarding the case, but still, Sgt. O’Brian didn’t call me back.
And this is neigther addressed in the answering-letter.
I gave Sgt. Smithe some copies of explanations about the further problems with
criminals in Norway, that they tried to kill me on the farm belonging to the woman
my uncle lived with there, in the summer of 2005, and thats why I went away from
Norway again and settled in Liverpool.
And I gave the Sergant the log-number from when I reported about the problems
with criminals in Oslo and Liverpool to the Walton Lane police-station in the
Automn of 2005.
(I’ve also been in contact with the Merseyside police regarding these problems
several times before this, and also after this, in the spring and summer of 2006.
And then also again with the frequent contact about the problems in the Arvato
company from November 2006).
I told the Sergant that it seemed to me, and that this was supported by the
documents I had, that all the different departments on Arvato was involved in
this problem, with being taken over/infiltraded by org. criminals.
But the Sergant still didn’t contact me back to have a look at the documents.
I see from my notes that I told Sgt. Smithe that I had been in contact with
a Norwegian Police-officer, in the special department that investigates the
regular police, earlier the same week, about that had been surrounding this
in Oslo.e problems in Oslo.
Further from my notes, I see that I told the Sergant that it seemed to me that
the police were worried, when they called me in the night, around midnight,
in late Novemeber 2006, and asked me to contact higher management
at Arvato, regarding the problems I had been having with certain persons
working there. (It seemed to me that she was worried do to who these
people I had been having problems with were).
–
I’ll try to summarise the problems surrounding the complaint-process and the meeting on 22/6:
– The police didn’t tell me was calling when they called me on 15/6 instructing me
to met at Walton Lane police-station on 22/6.
– The police didn’t tell me the agenda for the meeting on 22/6, before the meeting.
– The police didn’t address the individual complaints from the complaint from 3/5, neighter
in the meeting on 22/6, or in their letter from 10/7.
– The police didn’t investigate the documents I told them I had, which I told them in the
meetin on 22/6, could help explain what went on at Arvato while I was working there.
– The police says in their letter from 10/7, that I have been raising issues in terms of
‘The Norwegian Mafia’. But I have never heard about or refered to the term ‘the Norwegian
mafia’, so the police must have been misunderstanding what I said in the meeting on 10/7.
– In their answering-letter, the police haven’t addressed the issue I brought up in the
meeting on 10/7, that I had been adviced by the Embassy to tell the British and Norwegian
police to cooperate on the case. But in the letter from 10/7, it isn’t mentioned at all,
if there has been any contact at all with the Norwegian police regarding this.
– In the meeting on 22/6, I mentioned to Sgt. Smite, that I had been having problems
with the Merseyside Police, on repeted occations, having promised to call me back,
but then not having called. I explained that this procedure made it difficult to me,
to report about what I knew about the cases, and to get any meaningful dialog.
I threfore expressed in the meeting, a request, if I please could get a contact-person,
in the Merseyside Police, which I could contact, and get a dialog with, and tell about
the things I knew regarding the different crime-cases that had been going on.
Yet, in the letter from the police from 10/7, this isn’t brought up at all, and I have
so far in 2007, not recieved a single call from the Merseyside Police about this, or
about anything else.
So these problems from the meeting/complaint process, together with the 18 individual complaints
from the complaint from 3/5, which I have exlained about above, and which haven’t been dealt
with at all in the Merseyside Police letter from 10/7, are the reasons for which I am appealing.
Also, my complaint from 3/5, is like I have explained above, regarding problems with the
liasons, or contact, with the police.
Like I’ve also explained earlier, I’m not an expert on police methods, and I’ve been a bit
confused about why the police seemingly don’t want to cooperate with me.
I’ve looked at it as certain, that maybe even if the Merseyside police haven’t seemed to want
to cooperate with me about the problems at Arvato etc., I’ve taken it as certain, that the
Merseyside police, like any responsilbe Police-unit, would investigate the things that have
been going on at Arvato, when I’ve been telling them when I’ve met up at the police-station
in Novemeber last year, on several occations telling them about my concerns about org. criminal
activity in the company.
When I’ve in the meetings with Sgt. Camel on 16/1, in the several talks with Constable Holmes,
and in the meeting with Sgt. O’Brian on 1/3.
When I’ve in these expressed my concern about what has been going on in the Arvato company, and
also explained to them that I’m worried about my former collegues that were still working there,
because it seemed to me that some of them must have been under control by criminals.
And when I also mention to the Merseyside Police that I have been in contact with the Embassy,
and later also the Consulate, and I give a larger number, several hundred, documents, that
helps show that there has been something goving on there.
And when I’ve also sent e-mails, on my last day working at Arvato, to a number of British and
Norwegian newspapers and tv-stations, and also to the parent-company, that it’s clear to me
that there is a problem with organised criminal activity in the company.
If the fact, that the police are still ignoring my plea to get a contact-person and a dialog
with the police, to get a chance to tell them everything I know about the problems at Arvato,
(and also about the other problems from Liverpool and Norway).
If the fact that they are still ignoring this request, means that they haven’t been investigating
the problems at Arvato at all, then I off course think that this is serious. And I guess, since
I haven’t been reading about the problems at Arvato in the newspapers or otherwere, and since
I see from the letter the Merseyside police sent me on 10/7, that the police doesn’t seem to be
interested in letting me tell them what I know about (since they haven’t commented on the problems
I have been having with the contact with the police at all).
Due to this I have to presume that nothing has been done about the problems at Arvato then.
Problems which to me seems like they are serious, and it seems to me that some of the people
that were working there, at the same time I was working there, was under control by criminals.
(This got clear to me at the end of the time I worked there, thats why I sent the e-mails to
the newspapers etc., and this is also why I went to the police and told them about this all
those times from November 2006.).
I’ve also explained about what it seems to me must have been going on at Arvato, to the Norwegian
Embassy, and the Norwegian Police, since there were many Norwegians and Scandinavians working
at the Arvato campaign which I was working on.
But if it even, after I’ve tryed to tell all of these about the problems, if there still hasn’t
been investigating what has been going on at Arvato (Which I find highly unlikly, since I think
any responsible police-force of course would have investigated serious cases like this. But
I mention this anyway, due to the ignorance from the police regarding my plea to tell the police
what I know about what has been going on).
Because then, since it also hasn’t been about this in the news, then I have to presume that the
problems at Arvato haven’t been investigated by the Merseyiside Police at all, or by anyone
else, so then I think the only responsible think would be to try get advice on how this problem,
with the semingly organised crime activity at the Arvato company, should addressed, when the
police are igonring the problem.
So if you at the IPCC have any idea on how to go forward then. I guess thats a complaint about
the Merseyside Police as a police-force, as well as a complaint against individual police-
officers, like it is in the complaints you are dealing with.
But I reackoned that I might as well ask you now then, how I should go forward, to get the police
to investigate the problems with the organised criminal activity at Arvato, which seeems clear
to me from working there, and which I also have documents that supports the occurance of.
Sorry if I’m repeating myself a bit at the end here, but I think that these problems should
be dealt with in a responsilbe way.
And it doesn’t seem to me that the complaint with the problems with the liasons is being dealt
with in a responsible way from the Merseyside Police.
And this makes a bit worried about if the problems with my former collegues from Arvoto which
it seemed to me must have been under control by criminal, also is being dealt with in an
irresponsible way.
Thats why I’m bringing this up now, even if I’m not sure if it’s the right time and place, but
I hope that maybe you could maybe give some advice on how to go forward with this problem as
well, with the org. criminal activity at Arvato, and the problems with the people working
there seeming to be under control by criminals.
Even if this complaint originaly only was regarding the problems with the contact with the
police, because I was sure that the police would deal with a case like that responsible,
no matter what they inform me about what they are doing.
But I must admit that the way the police have been dealing with my complaint from 3/5, with the
problems surrounding the meeting on 22/6, and the answering-letter from 10/7.
I think issues have been dealt with a bit unprofessional by the police, so the unprofessionalism
from them surrounding these issues, has made me a bit uncertain as to if they are dealing with
the problems at Arvato in a responsible way at all.
So thats why I thought I’d bring this up now, while I was dealing with the relating issues
in the appeal.
So I hope that this is alright, and that it’s possible for you have a look at the issues I’ve
brought up in this appeal.
Yours sincerely,
Erik Ribsskog
On 8/15/07, Joanne Fitzgerald
Dear Mr Ribsskog,
Thank you for contacting the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
The information we require, should you wish to appeal the police’s decision to not formally record your complaint, is set out in the Appeal Form that I have posted to you. I have also now attached the relevant appeal form with this email for your consideration – this electronic version can be printed out, completed and returned by post. You may complete an Appeal Form or provide the same required information in an email.
Please be aware that if you wish to submit an appeal we must receive your appeal within 28 days of the date of me informing you of your right to appeal.
I hope this information has assisted you.
Please contact me if you have any further questions,
Yours sincerely,
Joanne
Joanne Fitzgerald
Casework Manager
Independent Police Complaints Commission
90 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6BH
Tel: 020 7166 3182
Fax: 020 7166 3642
Email: joanne.fitzgerald@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk
From: Erik Ribsskog [mailto:eribsskog@gmail.com]
Sent: 15 August 2007 00:24
To: Joanne Fitzgerald
Subject: Re: Your Complaint Against Merseyside Police – 2007/006341
Hi,
thank you very much for your e-mail!
I will definatly appeal against the decision not to investigate the complaint.
I’m just a bit busy with work and other issues at the moment, but I’m going
to look up in the letter about how one should appeal formally, one of the next
days, and then I’ll send a more formal appeal if thats needed.
Or else, please tell me if you think this e-mail can be considered as a formal
appeal, if not, then I’ll send a new e-mail one of the next days.
Hope that this is alright!
Yours sincerely,
Erik Ribsskog
On 8/14/07, Joanne Fitzgerald
Dear Mr Ribsskog,
Thank you for contacting the Independent Police Complaints Commission
(IPCC).
I have contacted Merseyside Professional Standards Department to
establish the current status of your complaint. I was informed by
Merseyside Police that they did not deem your complaint to be concerned
with allegations of misconduct against individual police officers and
therefore decided not to formally record your complaint under the Police
Reform Act 2002.
If you disagree with the decision by Merseyside Police to not formally
record your complaint, then you have a right to appeal to the IPCC to
independently review the police’s decision. I have sent you the relevant
appeal form today in the post (Appealing Against a Complaint Not Being
Recorded) and this form is also available online at our website
(www.ipcc.gov.uk), should this assist you further. Please note, should
you wish to appeal, we must receive your appeal form within 28 days.
If you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to contact
me.
Yours sincerely,
Joanne
Joanne Fitzgerald
Casework Manager
Independent Police Complaints Commission
90 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6BH
Tel: 020 7166 3182
Fax: 020 7166 3642
Email: joanne.fitzgerald@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk
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please notify the sender and delete this email; any disclosure, copying or
distribution of this email is prohibited and may be unlawful. The content of
this email represents the views of the individual and not necessarily those
of IPCC. IPCC reserves the right to monitor the content of all emails in
accordance with lawful business practice.This e-mail has been swept for
computer viruses but IPCC does not accept any liability in respect of your
receipt of this email.
Independent Police Complaints Commission
90 High Holborn
London,
WC1V 6BH.
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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal purposes.