Constable says he was 'victimised' for backing colleague

Published on Friday 1 April 2005 02:26

A POLICEMAN claims he is being victimised by his force for supporting a colleague at an employment tribunal.

Constable James Shaw, who has served with Tayside Police for 25 years, was a key witness at a hearing last year in an action raised by Constable Douglas Fisher against the force.

PC Shaw has lodged an employment tribunal application against his employers, alleging he has been the victim of a campaign against him by senior officers.

No date has yet been set for the hearing and PC Shaw, who has been on sick leave suffering work-related stress since 2 December, declined to comment yesterday.

But in the application to the tribunal it is claimed that on the day after giving his evidence Mr Shaw was asked to justify remaining in his role as a "lead constable". It is also alleged that since then he has been required to justify overtime claims, denied support in an application for promotion, transferred against his will to other duties at Dundee Sheriff Court - in a role he says is unsuitable because of a back problem - and been subjected to an attempted unwanted transfer to a role elsewhere.

John Finnie, secretary of the Scottish Police Federation’s northern branch, who is representing PC Shaw, said: "The application lodged with the employment tribunal outlines a sustained campaign of victimisation directed towards Jim, by at least two senior Tayside Police officers.

"Our efforts at resolving this matter have thus far met with no success. However, we remain committed to exhausting the force’s grievance procedure, failing which the matter will move to the tribunal."

A spokesman for Tayside Police said: "We are aware of the application to the employment tribunal but it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."

PC Fisher first took his case to a tribunal preliminary hearing in March last year when he said he was blocked for promotion after leading a protest by rank and file officers against solo patrols in inner-city areas of Dundee.

It was claimed that more than 100 colleagues had raised concerns about the solo patrols, as had Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP MSP.

PC Fisher said solo policing raised a health and safety risk and lodged the complaint under the Employment Rights Act 1996.

PC Shaw, a former Scottish crime squad officer, said in evidence that he was "not scared of anything", but would not want to patrol alone in the area where Tayside Police chiefs were asking PC Fisher to operate.

He said: "I don’t know of any place that is worse than the Hilltown. It has the highest crime rate in Dundee, the highest instance of drug users and drug-related crime, areas of high social-deprivation and is a main traffic route.

"I am glad that my area covers the city centre because of all the CCTV. Despite my experience and my size, I would want someone alongside me on the beat up there - no argument."

The tribunal later decided that PC Fisher’s case should proceed to a full hearing.

John Vine, Tayside’s Chief Constable, objected and in December the issue went to an appeal tribunal in Edinburgh, chaired by Lord Johnston, which dismissed Mr Vine’s case. A date for a full hearing has yet to be fixed.

In both tribunal cases, proceedings cannot begin until police internal grievance procedures have been completed.

In his tribunal application, PC Shaw said he was required to attend PC Fisher’s case as he was one of the force’s health and safety representatives, but that Tayside Police took exception to his evidence.

During the past year he has reported more than 130 incidents, including 68 crimes, and received several good performance notes, including a letter of thanks from the fiscal after the jailing of a sex offender.