Making The Police Act For You

Not every case that goes to court and results in a not guilty verdict, or instances where someone is arrested, is suitable for pursuing the accuser with and allegation of attempting to pervert the course of justice or perjury.

You need to carefully examine the evidence laid against you, or the testimony of the witnesses in the hearing, for clearly demonstrable lies. An ideal example would be that you where a thousand miles away in the company of several reliable witnesses at the time of the alleged incident (don’t laugh, it has happened).

If you are attempting to prove that a witness in your trial perjured themselves you need to bear in mind section 13 of the 1911 Perjury Act, which states that a person shall not be convicted on the evidence of just one witness. Further proof is required, which can take the form of another witness or physical proof such as photographs or video footage.

Once all proceedings against you have reached their conclusion, whether discontinued by the police or CPS or you have been found not guilty, you are ready to move on to the next stage. The police will not normally take any action whilst a case is pending against you.

All that you need to do is to attend your local police station and report the crime, taking with you copies of all the relevant evidence. In some instances the police will simply take all the information and start to investigate the allegation, if this is the case you do not need to read any further - all we would ask is that you contact FACT so that we may learn from your experience and add to our database of false accusers.

If this is not the case you need to start down the route of forcing the police to take your complaint seriously. We recommend that when you are told that the police will not be taking any action, and their excuses range from the sublime to the ridiculous, that you immediately inform the officer or civilian that you have tried to report this crime and that you wish to make a complaint of dereliction of duty about them.

At this stage the police have no option but to provide a Sergeant or Inspector to deal with your complaint; senior officers are far more likely to listen to your grievances and ensure that they are handled correctly. It may take a while for a suitable officer to become available, so a flask of coffee, sandwiches and a good book are wise precautions.

Once you see the senior officer just explain that your complaint will only continue if he fails to record it as a crime and ensure that it is investigated. This is also a good time to point out that you are aware of the contents of NCRS 2002 (SCRS in Scotland) which is a policy document that places a duty on police to record notifiable crime. Perjury and perverting the course of justice are both notifiable crimes.

A copy of NCRS 2002 can be found by visiting www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/countrecstan04.pdf

If the senior officer refuses to “crime” your complaint, simply inform him that you now wish to make a complaint about him for dereliction of duty and failing to adhere to the principles of NCRS. You should tell him that you wish to be contacted by the force’s Professional Standards Department.

Professional Standards officers are far more likely to listen to you as they will be anxious to resolve the problem and make your complaint unnecessary. They also have more time available than uniformed officers and are probably more conversant with recent legislation.

If they are still reluctant you should insist that the matter be referred to their Force Crime Registrar for a final decision, you should also make sure that you get this individuals details and ask your MP to write to him expressing his interest.