ACPO SPENDS MILLIONS OF ANTI-TERRORIST CASH ON LUXURY FLATS

Britain’s most powerful police body, ACPO which is registered as a private limited company has spent millions of pounds meant for counter-terrorism work on luxury London flats for senior officers.

The spending on an undisclosed number of apartments in the Westminster area is understood to be about £1.6million a year.

The money is taken directly from taxpayers’ cash given to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) by the Home Office to tackle the terrorist threat across Britain.

The funding – £33million last year – is supposed to be used to beef up regional police forces’ anti-terrorism response and pay for crucial equipment and facilities.

Instead, ACPO’s Terrorism & Allied Matters (TAM) committee, headed by Assistant Commissioner John Yates, has used millions of pounds from the budget to pay for flats.

Last night ACPO refused to disclose how many apartments it was paying for, or who was receiving the perk, but all are said to be well-appointed homes close to Scotland Yard.

ACPO insists they are ‘occupied’, but two well-placed sources told The Mail on Sunday that officers only occasionally stay in them.

Local estate agents say the cheapest two-bedroom flats in the area cost £400,000 to buy or at least £300 a week to rent. But with the officers requiring a ‘secure location’ the flats are said to cost substantially more.

ACPO is already under fire for its commercial activities

Selling information from the Police National Computer for up to £70 - even though it pays just 60p to access the details.

Marketing ‘police approval’ logos to firms selling anti-theft devices.

Operating a separate private firm offering training to speed-camera operators, which is run by a senior officer who was banned from driving.

The news led to questions about ACPO’s central role in policing, writing rules on police operations, as well as campaigning on key issues such as the proposed 90-day detention for terror suspects and the DNA database.

ACPO president Sir Hugh Orde has pledged to reform the organisation, admitting its role as a private firm paid millions a year by the taxpayer to effectively run the nation’s police forces was uncomfortable.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, the police watchdog, went further, saying its ‘status as a private limited company cannot continue’.

This is a complete disgrace indeed a PLC being given public money-how does that work?

A PLC allowed not only to design 43 police force strategies but plan their force structure for years to come.

This misuse of public money must stop, these flats need to be sold and the money returned to the people.

Tom Linden (NF Press and Publicity)