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forensicated · 3 months ago

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05x14 - Cock Up

TW: Racism and men being men of the 80's...!

Reg is dressed in a full referee kit whilst he practises his discipline in the mirror. He pretends to book Bryan Robson (at the time, Robson played for Manchester United and England.) He's the referee for the Inter School's five-a-side challenge which is being supported by Sun Hill as part of a Youth And Communities initiative of Brownlow's.

Bob is amused to find him threatening his reflection with a red card. Alec tells Bob that Reg was spouting off about the Police being society's referee in the canteen. Bob claims Reg is only the referee because he's the only one they know who had his own kit.

Brownlow, Yorkie, Tony and Taffy are also in attendance. Charles is dressed in full uniform for his speech and picture opportunity. Bob's youngest son, Danny, is playing for Medway Comprehensive. Brownlow tell the uniformed officers that it was good of them to volunteer to support the cause. Taffy scoffs as he walks off. "Volunteer? More like pressganged!" Alec can only stay for half an hour because he's promised his wife that he'll put up shelves for her. "You've got more shelves than anyone I know!" Bob laughs. Taffy playfully mocks him for being under the thumb. Alec wouldn't have it any other way. [Gif is Taffy's reaction to Brownlow's speech.]

Burnside is not happy about 'a bunch of louts kicking a bag of wind' meaning that the station has ground to a halt. Tosh claims it's all public relations but Burnside isn't appeased. He says there's a crime committed in London every 7 seconds and public relations will only improve when the police's record for catching criminals does.

At full time, Danny Cryer's team have lost and their supposed top scorer was off his form. As if it couldn't get any worse, Bob is left with the thought of Reg going off to the changing room to rub liniment into his calves. Bob and Reg overhear the Medway Comp boys having a row in the changing room and stop the boys fighting. Danny tells his dad that it was just an argument and not to worry about it but Bob won't let it drop as he heard Danny accuse the so called star player of being on drugs.

Bob takes 'the loud whisper' of information to Derek once he returns to the station. He admits Danny doesn't want to grass on his friend but if there's a chance that cannabis or worse is being dealt in the school then he can't let it drop. His main suspect, Colin Mellor, was clean last time he was raided by the Drug Squad. Derek invites Frank into the chat. Frank knows Mellor as a 'cocky scumbag who isn't known for keeping a low profile.' He agrees with Bob that it's likely he is supplying the drugs at Bob's son's school. He's angry that Mellor got off last time, claiming the Drug Squad cocked up and he had prior notice. Derek reminds them they need evidence. Frank says he'll put the shop under surveillance. Derek promises him he can use who he like from Uniform - just get Mellor and play it by the book.

Alistair sits outside the shop, hidden from view in one of those tents that workmen used to use on the streets. He's really not happy!

He documents Albert Johnson leaving Mellor's shop and meets Frank in a nearby café to update him. Alistair tells him that Johnson was nicked for dealing when he was at West End Central approx 18 months ago.

Reg reads the report of the football match out to the boys, oblivious to the fact they're laughing at him. He's genuinely proud and wants to send a copy of the article to his mother. He doesn't get what's funny.

Frank takes surveillance pictures to Reg for him to use his collator skills to locate the people in them. Reg recognises one as a pupil from Medway Comp who was cautioned a few months ago for possession of cannabis. He does however let himself down however by saying that 'could make a serious mistake with her!' She's 16, Reg! (oh the 80's!). Alistair reports that the girl frequently hangs around the shop during lunchtimes with different friends each time.

Frank arranges to arrest the girl as an inning to Mellor to avoid getting their fingers burnt again should he get wind of what they're planning. Frank and Derek lead a joint uniform and CID briefing to update everyone on Mellor. They're pinning their hopes on the girl having drugs on her - and also informing on Mellor.

Assorted officers get into place outside Mellor's shop and watch him unload a cash and carry delivery. Taffy sits in a lady's house observing Medway Comp's playground and Yorkie and June sit in a van ready to arrest the girl. This time it's Malcolm and Pete sat in the little tent (with Pete accusing Yorkie of brownnosing Bob)

The girls soon appear and Taffy follows them to the shops. June spots Johnson approaching the store too and Yorkie calls it through to Frank. The girls go inside the shop and are out within seconds, heading up the High Street. June spots a problem - a group of teenage boys from Medway School are approaching the girls and calling out to them. Yorkie tries to tell Frank that there's a problem, but Frank won't listen - he orders them to move in and arrest the girls.

With no choice they get out and identify themselves as police officers (but only verbally - no showing of warrant cards) and ask the girls to step into the van. The boys gallantly step in and tell them to let go of the girls, telling Yorkie and June to show them their Warrant Cards if they're really police. June says they don't have to show them to them. Frank orders Pete and Malcolm to go intervene. Pete literally ends up picking one young girl up to get her into the van as the boys fight against them to get them to let them go. One of the boys snaps 'Coconut' at Malcolm and tells him he's not a police officer. STILL none of the officers have shown any warrant cards to calm the situation down. "Aren't I?" Malcolm scoffs, grabbing him and pushing him into the van along with his friend who protests it. Honestly - they know the scene needs clearing quickly with minimal fuss. It could have been sorted a lot sooner and it shows some usually intelligent officers acting very stupidly!

Johnson is observed watching the van by Burnside who urges the officers to drive off. Thankfully they do but it's not enough, he's rattled and runs to tell Mellor. Bob reports they've been sussed so Frank yells at everyone to get in the shop before they lose potential evidence. The PC is ineffectual at breaking through the shop doors with a sledgehammer so Frank literally snatches it and starts slamming it into the doors himself.

At the station the four teenagers are brought in with the boys still kicking off. Pete pushes one of them into a wall and growls at him to behave. The other shouts at Tom that he'll have them for assault. The girls protest their innocence and claim they haven't got any drugs on them. Tom tells them that they're going to be strip searched and June drag the first girl - the main target - off. The second is obviously quieter and more nervous. She seems a little hesitant of her date of birth too when Tom asks for it.

Mellor is amused as Frank oversees the shop being searched. He claims he's going to see Frank walking the beat after messing up again. Frank snaps at him and sends Alistair out to check his car over.

Viv tells the younger and more nervous girl to 'put whatever she has on the side and just give them a statement'. She doesn't understand and insists she still hasn't got drugs on her. She digs into her pockets and brings out the contents - cigarettes. "We were buying fags, that's all, I swear!" Viv doesn't believe her and orders her to undress. The girls father reports to the front station and is shown through by Tony. He's obviously furious and asks Tom what the hell he thinks he's doing. Tom tells him why his daughter was arrested and that she's being strip searched. Her father is horrified and claims that they need his consent for that. Tom starts to say that his daughter is over the age of consent - but is interrupted. The girl is only 15.

In the FME's room the girl tearfully redresses. "I told you!" Viv snaps at her to be quiet because they know she had been buying dope from Mellor. She protests her innocence again. June knocks on the door and asks Viv if she's found anything - both girls are clean.

Mellor and Johnson continue to enjoy Frank's officers finding nothing in the search. Johnson tells Frank he's going to report him for breeching his civil liberties. "You try stirring things up for me sunshine, you step on the cracks in the pavement and I'll have you inside." Mellor gloats that he has a number of charges he can take up against Frank. Frank almost assaults him with Alistair stepping in and telling him to leave it.

June and Viv feels awful for what has happened to the young girls, telling Pete that the younger of the two lied abut her age because she thought she'd been arrested for buying cigarettes. Pete is unrepentant, telling June it'll teach her for lying. June worries that Brownlow is going to make an example of them because the head teacher has also been on as well as the girls father shouting blue murder. Viv admits that somewhere along the line they were all a bit out of order. "We were all acting under orders!" Pete reminds her.

"It's how you carry the orders out that counts, not who gives them." Yorkie glares at Pete who mocks him for being a suck up to the bosses.

"I was watching you, Ramsey! Don't forget that!"

In CID Frank is fuming about Mellor and claims that in 20 minutes of them leaving he'll be set back up again. He wants Tosh involved too and claims they'll watch him for as long as they need to. Alistair reminds him that there's no way the bosses will allow that. Tosh has to tell him that Derek wants to see him in his office - NOW!

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forensicated · 2 months ago

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05x15 - Repercussions

Part 2 from 05x14 - Cover Up

Brownlow arrives at the station, driving through a scrum of journalists who want him to comment on the happenings at Mellor's shop and with the underage schoolgirl who was strip-searched. He tasks Christine with getting rid of them. She in turn passes it to Alec to deal with. Alec calls on a PC!

Charles demands to know what happened from Derek, insisting the 'thorough legwork' CID put into their research wasn't 'thorough enough'. Derek assures him he'll be speaking to Frank ASAP. Charles warns Derek not to excuse Frank or his behaviour. Forever firm but fair, Derek suggests it was more bad luck than bad judgment. Charles wants to see Frank the moment Derek finishes with him.

Pete tells Viv and June it was simply an operation that backfired and he doesn't believe anyone can be singled out over anyone else. June and Viv aren't so sure. Pete accuses June of being scared of getting her wrist slapped. Viv points out that everyone involved made mistakes. "Speak for yourself, love!" Tom scoffs in passing, claiming he did everything by the book. "Course if there's one geezer who's going to wriggle his way out of it, there's your man..." Pete murmurs, nodding back at Frank.

Bob's son, Danny Cryer isn't best pleased when his dad tries to drop him inside the school grounds. Danny insists on his dad dropping him outside, claiming he'd get flack just for being seen with him.

Frank finally makes his way up to see Derek. Derek snaps that Frank has put public relations back 30 years in just one afternoon. Frank claims they were just too late to catch Mellor with 'the gear'. Derek doesn't believe it's that simple for a second - especially given the two 15-year-old girls arrested by plain-clothed officers who then brought them to the station for a strip search. Mellor has played the innocent, blaming Frank for harassment and smashing his shop up for no good reason. "We know he's dealing, sir." Derek points out they have no evidence or proof, claiming "there's a risk and a cock up - and you cocked this up!" He orders Frank to leave Mellor alone or he'll be out of the station. He dismisses him to talk to Brownlow - warning him to sort his story out before he does.

Bob tells Derek he had to book an hour off to take his son to school because his wife didn't want him to attend after being assaulted. Unfortunately, Danny is being blamed by a lot of the other boys involved because his father is a police officer. Danny doesn't have first-hand knowledge of dealing at the school.

Derek asks Bob about the two schoolgirls from the day before. Bob explains they put up a struggle, resisted arrest and refused to be searched. They lied about their ages and claimed to be 17 because they believed they were being arrested for having cigarettes. Josie, the girl who didn't have a record, had only just turned 15 recently. The other, Natasha, has a record for cannabis possession but Bob admits he was only checking for previous and didn't make a note of her date of birth, nor did he inform the custody Sgt of it. Derek sighs, claiming Frank and Bob could both have nipped it in the bud before it started. He's further upset to hear that Tom Penny was the Custody officer. Bob reminds him they were working under the belief that the girls were 17 as that's what they insisted they were.

Brownlow speaks to the Headmaster of the girls' school and explains he doesn't want the school to become a no-go area for the police. He admits that the operation was misjudged and wants to make amends. Brownlow says the story in the papers - that the staff, parents and pupils will all have read - is only a version of the truth and claims the press is all too quick to throw fuel on the fire. "You started the fire!" the headmaster snaps. Brownlow explains the operation happened because they were trying to protect the children and that they worked on good information against the shopkeeper. The headteacher tells him it won't wash with him. He accuses the officers of roughhousing the children, intimidation and racial abuse. Charles is horrified to hear that the officer who arrested Josie told her 'she was lucky she was not black'. "You don't need a degree in English to work out what he meant by that!" Charles calls the station to find out who the arresting officer was - Yorkie - and demands it's dealt with. Pete admits to Alec that he was with Yorkie throughout the arrests and asks if Yorkie's in trouble. Alec simply tells him he'll probably be the next called to see the Superintendent.

Frank tells Tosh he'll probably be called to see Derek. Tosh insists he had nothing to do with it and Frank claims that won't make any difference. "If only we'd found something we wouldn't have all this aggro..." Frank sighs. Tosh points out they were trying to protect the kids from a scumbag. He wouldn't want the police blamed if it was one of his children being targeted.

Yorkie goes to see Brownlow and genuinely has no idea what the problem could be. He admits being the officer who arrested Josie Taylor. Charles asks him to explain to him and Derek exactly what was said at the time of the arrest. Yorkie can't remember exactly but explains they noticed four friends approaching the girls as they were about to arrest them. He says 'it put them in a bit of a panic' because they had to get them in the van before they had chance to get rid of anything that they might have on them. Yorkie believes he might have been the first officer to speak to the girls and explains they moved them to the custody area as soon as they got them to the station. He admits Pete assisted him in the arrest and transfer to the station. Derek pauses for a moment then asks about Josie resisting arrest. Derek presses for the exact words, asking if Yorkie made racist remarks to her. "... She's white sir?" Yorkie frowns, before Derek tells him what was said and inferred by the officer. Yorkie is outraged and insists he never said anything like that to her. "Whose word am I most likely to take? An innocent school girl or an officer who behaves like that?" Derek asks. Yorkie insists he has nothing else to say about it because he did not say anything they are accusing him of doing. Brownlow dismisses him whilst he and Derek discuss what is likely to happen going forward, warning him that he could face suspension.

In the canteen, Taffy claims that it's typical. CID cock up and Uniform get the blame when it's not their operation. "It just makes me wonder what the hell we think we're doing." June sighs. Reg interrupts and claims they've got to be careful what they say in uniform as whatever is said whilst wearing it is reflected on every officer in the station. Yorkie insists he didn't say anything bad. Viv points out that the girls are proven liars and shouldn't be instantly believed. Reg claims in his experience a complaint about a verbal remark is usually proven to be true. Christine comes to tell Taffy that he's next to be interviewed.

Will Yorkie really put himself on the line to save Pete...?

Derek asks Taffy for his side. Taffy admits they didn't have 'much respect' for the property of Mellor because they were searching for drugs and time was of the essence. He refutes any claim they behaved inappropriately, however. Mellor's brief slams the officers as behaving like 'it was the first day of Harrod's sale' leading Taffy to point out that he would be interested in painting the worst possible picture of the police in favour of his client. Allegedly the damage to the shop came to £1850 (£4800 today). Taffy claims it wasn't that much but Derek insists there's no evidence to prove it otherwise so far as they can't prove he's up to anything dodgy. Luckily Bob interrupts and Taffy can escape. Bob tells Derek that there's no way Yorkie would make a comment like he's accused of. Derek shouts at him to drop it because he has too many people breathing down his neck about it. Bob points out they can't just make a scapegoat out of one officer. "There'll be more than one scapegoat. Just give me a break will you? You do your bit and try and calm the lad down." Bob is stopped by continuing by Tom arriving to speak to Derek.

Brownlow's next visit is to the parents of Josie. He apologises profusely for what happened and insists it's being looked into. He asks after Josie and her mother says she's still tearful but she is improving. Her father demands she be left alone and that her 'trouble' has been sorted out by them. Charles gently reminds her parents that she did lie about her age and that was why she was searched. Her parents admit they've told her not to smoke and that was part of the reason she was so scared and lied. Charles tells the parents there were good reasons behind the operation. Josie's Mum asks if it's true that Mellor is using his shop as a front to sell drugs to children. Charles admits that yes, they have suspicions against him. She asks why they haven't arrested Mellor if he's so guilty. Charles can't answer her and instead assures them the police have no interest in taking any complaint against Josie further, explaining that she is innocent of both possessing and/or taking drugs and that the officer who made the offensive comment is being disciplined. He invites them to take it further if they want to but the parents let it drop.

Tom tells Derek that Yorkie was not with the girls all the time as he asked him to go and notify the school and parents. Derek asks if there was any doubt about their ages and Tom insists that he believed that they were the ages they said they were. "17 year old school kids?" Derek scoffed. "Yes sir, it's called A Levels," Derek suggests Tom asked for the schools to be informed because he knew they were lying about their age. Tom repeats he asked for the school to be notified because the girls were still students, even if 17. Derek reminds him no one comes out of it smelling of roses - even if he tries to hide behind the rules and regulations. "I resent that." "Tough!" Derek asks him if he knows who made the remark to Josie. Tom says it could have been any number of officers in Custody.

Tom insists to Bob that it's a witch hunt. Bob sighs and claims it'll blow over. Tom insists he plays everything by the book and thinks Bob isn't supporting him like he should be. Bob is more interested in watching Yorkie storm out of the canteen in search of someone. He shouts out to him but Yorkie continues, stalking into the toilets.

Yorkie finds Pete and confronts him for not speaking up and letting him take the blame. He assaults him and warns him to never attempt to stitch him up again. As he leaves, Bob asks Yorkie if he's alright and does he know that the complaint has been dropped. Yorkie admits Reg had already told him. He doesn't think that it's a good thing at all because if the complaint was made official the girl would have had to pick the correct officer out of a line up. Bob follows Yorkie's gaze back at the toilets before he walks off and goes to look inside. Pete is slumped over a sink, coughing and retching. "... Must have been something I ate." Pete covers, with Bob just walking off, not buying a word of it.

Frank sits with Tosh outside Mellor's shop remarking that they had a perfect set-up for an operation with the busy street providing lots of places that officers could have hid. He idly notes that there's a decent cafe opposite that any officer could casually sit in and observe the happenings. He tells Tosh that his order is a bacon sandwich, remarking that he bets £50 that Mellor will be arrested by the end of the week - despite having been warned off by both Brownlow and Conway. Tosh hesitates but rolls his eyes and moves to get out the car to do as he's told.

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