Saturday 27 February 2010

The JEP “opinion” and the “facts”

On the 23rd of February 2010 the Jersey Evening Post shared its “opinion” with its readers. Its “opinion” of former DCO Lenny Harper and CPO Graham Power QPM didn’t come across as very high.

But what happens when the “opinion” of a “news”paper isn’t compared against known facts? Well one is left to believe that the “opinion” must be right. On the other hand what happens if the “opinion” is compared against facts? Well the “news”paper knows what it is talking about, so the two (opinion and fact) shouldn’t be that far apart should they? That my dear reader(s) is something for you to decide.


How would it look if ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) produced an initial report concerning “Operation Rectangle” (Historic Child Abuse Enquiry) after assessing the enquiry, conducted by DCO Lenny Harper and his dedicated team, on a strategic level, in February-March 2008, well according to some………. they did!

So let’s have a look at the “opinion” of our only “news”paper and the facts that are available to us thanks to the power of the internet.


It is the “opinion” of the JEP that “There seems to be little, if any, doubt over the two key points. One is that Mr Power’s deputy, Lenny Harper, was not effectively supervised as he pursued with ever increasing public zeal his unsubstantiated suspicions that torture, murder and institutional cover-up had taken place at the former children’s home.”


Let’s take the first point - or “opinion” “ Lenny Harper, was not effectively supervised” now that is according to the JEP. First of all how are they to know DCO Harper was not “effectively supervised”? How can they confidently make such a sweeping statement, or judgement?


When the “facts” are - not only was the entire investigation being mentored by ACPO but DCO Harper, among others had his own personal mentor. I know what you are thinking, why should we believe you an “un-accredited” Citizen Media against “accredited journalists”. To that I will say, “one of us might be a little more informed, or should I say “researched” than the other.”


Just by going with what is already common knowledge, to most “researched” folk ACPO produced a number of reports concerning “Operation Rectangle” (HDLG Enquiry).


In it’s initial report it is claimed that it had this to say about “supervision”


“this is an initial report by the Association of Chief Police Officers Homicide Working Group’s Advice team appointed to mentor and advise Mr Lenny Harper, the Senior Investigating Officer for Operation Rectangle.”

And this - “between the 23rd February 2008 and the 29th February 2008, **** **** mentored and advised Lenny Harper .


So it is fairly safe to say that Lenny Harper and “Operation Rectangle” were pretty well supervised, contrary to the “opinion” of the Jersey Evening Post.


Which brings us to point, or “opinion” number two where the JEP say this “as he pursued with ever increasing public zeal his unsubstantiated suspicions that torture, murder and institutional cover-up had taken place at the former children’s home”

But ACPO are reported as saying (regarding “Media Strategy”) “The SIO (Senior Investigating Officer Lenny Harper) has, wherever possible, refuted wide suggestions and at appropriate times, refused to confirm sensitive information to minimise sensationalism.”


So here we have two “opinions” from the “accredited” media which are in my opinion, at complete odds with the Association of Chief Police Officers, perhaps ACPO are not “accredited”?


When time, and enthusiasm, permit I shall quote more of the JEP opinion from February 23rd 2010 and in particular according to the JEP “his unsubstantiated suspicions that torture, murder and institutional cover-up had taken place at the former children’s home”………… HIS UNSUBSTANTIATED SUSPICIONS?


You would think you couldn’t make this stuff up, but it looks like somebody is!!


I have now read on Senator Syvret’s Blogsite that he is going to be publishing the ACPO report(s) in there entirety, now that should make for VERY interesting reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

41 comments:

  1. Hi VFC

    Its now time for the full A.C.P.O reports to be published im glad stuart is going to do this. We are now reaching the endgame no more mucking about.

    Stuff the JEP they are no better than child abusers and like our other media outlets will be cleaned up after the blitz.

    Our government covered it up now is the time for the TRUTH

    Team Voice will find and bring you that truth

    rs

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  2. What makes you think people will actually read Stuart's blog this time, though?

    The moan-in is full of idiots as it is who won't read the blog (whether they've heard about it or not).

    Too many brainwashed numpties over here.

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  3. "What makes you think people will actually read Stuart's blog this time, though?"

    well, the powers that be will be reading it as they have been instructed to do so to see if their poor little civil servants are being "named".
    Am for one looking forward to reading,printing & distributing copies of the reports.

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  4. The Rag daily sales for the second half of 2009 dropped by 2.7% to only 19,520.
    'Nuff said.

    The Beano is not the Rag

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  5. Here we go again, hold on to your seats !

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  6. You won't get anywhere with the ACPO reports. I am sure they know Mick Gradwell's view of it all now so would distance themselves totally. They are only an advisory company anyhow.

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  7. Yeah you're probably right. I dare say ACPO have now interviewed the Tooth Fairy as well as the "fresh and fleshed" bone fairy and reaslize that Gradwell is the "truth fairy". Yeah I can believe that..........

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  8. Calling up Talk Back and insulting David Warcup is a bit desperate isn't it?

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  9. Somebody around here is desperate and insulting, and it is not me that expects people to believe in tooth fairy's against documented evidenced facts.

    That's what you call "desperate" and "insulting"

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  10. Keep up the pressure VFC.

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  11. Tooth fairies? Bone fairies? and now, Truth fairies???

    This is getting boring!

    When are we going to hear something from the "No-one ever got abused" FAIRY? !!!

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  12. Oh, that "Nobody was abused" is fairly close to what you hear on PJ.

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  13. There are two other points I would like to pick up on in the diabolical piece of ‘journalism’ (I use the term very loosely) that appeared as an editorial relating to Mr Power.

    Firstly we have this :–
    ‘Mr Power has been suspended for more than a year. He is now near retirement and, one way or another, will undoubtedly leave Jersey well rewarded for his ultimately disappointing time in the Island’.

    So, are we to believe that any ‘reward’ that Mr Power may receive, (and I can only assume the author of this means monetary), will compensate for what he has had to suffer, and still is at the hands of our Government? Being the honourable man he is, I am sure Mr Power would far rather leave with nothing and his reputation and good name restored and intact. We must not forget Mr Power chose not to take the option to ‘think over his position’, but to remain to fight for his good name.

    Secondly this:-
    There is, nevertheless, understandable sadness that a dedicated, respected police officer who has given long and distinguished service should find himself in this position at the end of his career.

    How contradictory! On the one hand almost effusive with praise for Mr Power and on the other not having the courage to state that the position Mr Power finds himself in, is down to our Government and not as it implies of his own making. Yes, there is indeed sadness that this situation has ever arisen and that those who have been instrumental in the process do not possess one iota of the decency and integrity that Mr Power does.

    Be ashamed all those people.

    Be ashamed Rag.

    Be ashamed yet again Jersey.

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  14. Anonymous says "Oh, that "Nobody was abused" is fairly close to what you hear on PJ".

    This in fact couldn't be further from the truth. Even the most ardent anti-syvret supporters state quite openly that there was abuse and that abuse still happens in Jersey to this day. Where some of them differ in opinion from commentators on this blog has been on the best way to catch and convict abusers within the historical context.

    With the exception of one imparticular and now infamous PJ poster who has been banned permanently from that forum those who have not supported Stuart's approach have done so from usually being closer to the abuse inquiry then many might imagine.

    PJ holds a variety of different views and that is a good thing. If we are to get nearer to finding justice for victims its important, in the absence of the AG deciding to prosecute, that arguments on both sides are laid out and publicly tested. Rico, better then anybody else, will be able to testify to the importance of that.

    At the end of the day, PJ is just a forum like any other forum and people from all walks of life contribute, but mainly because they care, despite what others might suggest.

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  15. rico, if you have concrete evidence "Our government covered it up now" then come out with it.

    I presume Voices of Children is aware of nuisance laws?

    This will be pressed over the coming months. We know Syvret is gone. Now its time to wipe his looney Lieutenants.

    If you can actually come out with something thats real....

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  16. Surely the revealing of this vital A.C.P.O report is going to be taken care of by people like Syvret, Hill, Power & Voice For.

    And hopefully the above people can expose it in the right way to make everyone aware how important it is, Le Marquand included!

    No excuses to ignore Senator.

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  17. I have researched and looked for the facts.

    There is so much out there now but i cant tell you what to believe no matter how clear the evidence.

    I believe ACPO were very hands on and now we are going to see.

    Im to tired to argue with you on here, you will believe what you want to believe, simple as that.

    nuisance laws- does that cover emails

    rs

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  18. 'I presume Voices of Children is aware of nuisance laws?'

    I am sure VOICE FOR CHILDREN is well aware of, and abides by any guidelines that it needs to keep within the law.

    However it makes me wonder if a certain poster on other sites where he is still permitted to post are aware of identity theft laws??!!

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  19. I think some of these posts along the lines of 'Ian Le M and David W will have to clear their desks' especially on PJ cannot be taken seriously and to other people they may well be regarded as a nuisance. I doubt the ACPO Reports will make any difference now because they have already stated clearly that they only advise and the ultimate people in charge were the Deputy and his Chief. Therefore I cannot see how the ACPO can be brought to account. VFC may have to accept defeat eventually.

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  20. The idea is not to bring ACPO to account but to see what they thought of the investigation and whether their expert opinion matched that of the hysterical nonsense spouted by Gradwell and Warcup.

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  21. Gradwell is a Pro in his field though. It will be virtually impossible to over turn any of his thoughts about the enquiry. We seem to be moving away from the victims here and there seems to be more concern about the reputation of 2 Police officers who, in reality, have retired now and who's opinions do doing but wind up the victims even further. To say there are cover ups all the time must be upsetting for people who cannot seem to get justice.

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  22. On the contrary.

    I have come to know many abuse survivors who whole heartesly support Lenny Harper and Graham Power in their quest to obtain and expose the truth about "the motives" of certain figures in our government, Law Offices and Civil Service.

    To the best of my knowledge Mick Gradwell only ever gave us his opinion. But his opinion and many reports by many senior ranking police officers and many police authorities are at complete contradiction.

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  23. I have recieved some comments to do with Kate and gerry Mcann.

    The comments are in a foriegn language so I don't know what they say.

    If the commenter would like to send me them in English I might be able to publish them. I can't publish them if I don't know what they say.

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  24. I have had a comment left by somebody who thinks they know what's best for the abuse survivors.

    I will not be publishing it in order not to (possibly) cause the survivors I know further trauma.

    Futhermore the commenter believes Team Voice are employing the wrong strategy, and we thank you for your advice, as much as we disagree with it.

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  25. Hi VFC

    We are never ever moving away from the victims, that is for sure. Im not fighting for Graham power or Lenny Harper.

    This is about the abuse survivors getting justice.

    When graham and lenny are vindicated then i hope that will follow.

    I have a lot of respect for Graham power, as for lenny well he is a man utd supporter so this has been very hard for me, lol he knows the score.

    The truth is coming as it always does

    rs

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  26. The truth is coming as it always does

    rs

    What truth? We keep on hearing this from you but it is pretty obvious even from Stuart Syvret's position of saying he was going to sue Jack Straw and get a Civil Case together for the survivors thats its getting nowhere. Its getting repetitive and less believable as every week passes so whats this truth?

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  27. "whats this truth?"

    Well after reading the main text of this Blog, one is left with the question, do you believe the JEP or do you believe ACPO?

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  28. The JEP is our main news source and all they do is repeat what they are told. I would not say for certain that we are told all the truth but then again what is written here is more of an opinion than actually fact. I think everybody wants to know the 'truth' and not just on historic child abuse but other news as well. But we have been bombarded with so much speculation which has now on many occassions been dissmissed that this truth rs keeps on telling us about may just be another lie.

    In reality the Net has very little power. It may excite a few people who think they can use something to their advantage but this subject has really been going around in circles for over a year now and I see it carry on in the same manner another year down the line.

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  29. Patience Anonymous - ever heard the saying 'The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow, but they grind fine'.

    I think we get more facts on VFC than we do from the JEP who are very selective and one sided in their reporting.

    It is up to you to believe what you wish, but if you digest and dissect some of the facts you have been furnished with on this and Stuart's blog you may think differently (unless of course you just don't want to).

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  30. Anonymous 13.23: Just how are we moving away from the victims? the reputations of these two police officers (one of them retired) had to be attacked simply because they were projecting the cases of the victims as truth. Without destroying their reputations an attack on the victims could not succeed. If these two officers are shown to be correct then it follows the victims are vindicated.

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  31. Too much of this trolligarchy nonsense concerns how evidence is supposedly never provided on this blog or on Stuart's. These trolls go on to disregard all of your posted documentation and answer with their same old knee jerk reactions. Their desperately ample but repetitive and non-evidenced arguments against VFC show how little can be debated with them based upon demonstrable facts. The troll view is all troll opinion all the time, with Gradwell's now factually discredited words simply substituted for hard evidence. It appears they have no compelling case left to make.

    Carl

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  32. I thought the JEP got it spot on tonight about the Police authority. 12 years too late.

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  33. Of course you thought the JEP got it spot on about the police authority, Dear Leader.

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  34. The political authority to bring the police investigations under their rule was far too late indeed. Now poor Jersey has to suffer from the trials and convictions of several of those child abusers. It is getting harder and harder to spin. This could have all been kept hidden with politicized police management. Or rule by fear the Jersey Way. The prosecution of paedophiles will be ruinous. Independent thinking, honest policing and free speech must be stopped at all costs.

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  35. Well don't you think the historic child abuse scandal would have been better handled with an independant police authority that could scrutinise it?

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  36. Hey, Rico

    Do you think the reason the RAG does not allow comments on some of their most outrageous editorials would be due to the growing overseas interest in Jersey's rather belated struggle for democratic process?

    The newspaper editors know of our classroom interest in the mutual influence and impacts of Jersey's government and local press.

    The recent editorial regarding the political oversight of the police department is one which will live on in infamy in this classroom, I assure you. Although I must say that one had some keen competition!

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  37. The outside media only took an interest in Jersey during the digging of HdlG. Since then - nothing.

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  38. Hi overseas classroom

    The rag don't care who is looking at them believe you me if they did they would have stopped long ago.

    What i would like to know is how do they know HdelaG was a fiasco, all we have is the word of the deputy chief of police who sexed up a report when the boss went on holiday.

    The JEP is a full on establishment paper can you imagine what it was like before the internet what was kept quiet brushed under the carpet i suppose we can guess because its all coming out now.

    Can you explain how you came to be looking at little jersey and a bit about your class.

    Thanks

    Team Voice

    rs

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  39. Gary.

    The last sentence in your comment, in my opinion, is very insensitive towards "the victims" so will not be getting published. Should you wish to re-submit the comment without the insensitivity, it should get published.

    VFC.

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  40. Rico,

    Our class was given the choice of several current "foreign situations" to research and report on, in the context of direct media relationship to politics. Jersey has remained our most popular selection for two years - partially because of the ease with which even lazy students have been able to document specific degrees of bias in the local newspaper.

    To analyze levels of bias we use a standard type compare/contrast model citing published media statements against specific documented facts found in the public domain.

    In the case of a newspaper, when we find examples of "news" articles omitting relevant facts to such an extent a reasonable reader would more than likely be misled, we classify that as an example of bias. We then contrast anything we label as biased with what an objective media consumer would conclude differently if those omitted facts were added to the article.

    There is more than enough media bias to be found right here. The real challenge is that our cultural and political identifications too often blind us to our own bias when the implications are closer to home.

    Jersey initially provided us with a dynamic English language model free of direct personal or politically prejudicial ties to us, but it did not take us long to find ourselves personally invested in the outcome of the child abuse story.

    The Haut De La Garenne investigation, the fascinating plight of Senator Syvret, and the ease with which our class identified with you and other on- line sources have altered the level of personal objectivity, however that has been instructive as well.

    By the way, our class was not the only one locally to select Jersey for student research and reporting. Civics classes compare Jersey's system to three others to illustrate variables in balance of power.

    Overseas Class

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  41. Hi Overseas class

    Thanks for the reply.

    Stuart will be putting up the ACPO 1 report tonight its the beginning of an in depth look at what happened concerning the Historical child abuse investigation.

    We will be questioning the role played by our local media there will be no hiding place the truth will be found.

    Could you let us know what conclusions the class have come too,if some pupils feel like they would like to contribute please tell them to comment.

    How about the overseas classroom doing a blog on voiceforchildren, you write it we publish it let the readers know your researched views

    On the talkback radio show this morning i herd for the first time how some politicians and general public agree that our government is failing.

    The internet is scrutiny nothing else

    rs

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