One thing we can’t be thankful for today is the UK police. Once the paragon of criminologists, they utterly screwed up the investigation of phone hacking by Murdcoch’s News Corp for years.
They appear today more Inspector Clouseau than Sherlock Holmes.
That also seems to be the case in the ‘Climategate’ scandal, as Richard Black at the BBC explains in “Climate Emails, Storm or Yawn?“:
I have it from a very good source that it absolutely was a hack, not a leak by a “concerned” UEA scientist, as has been claimed in some circles.
The Norfolk Police clearly see it as a criminal act too, a spokesman telling me that “the contents [of the new release] will be of interest to our investigation which is ongoing”.
Groups like UCS are, however, beginning to ask where that investigation has got to.
I have been passed information stemming from an FoI request to Norfolk Police showing that over the past 12 months, they have spent precisely £5,649.09 [US$8,844]on the investigation.
All of that was disbursed back in February; and all but £80.05 went on “invoices for work in the last six months”.
Of all the figures surrounding the current story, that is perhaps the one that most merits further interrogation.
Precisely.
h/t DeSmogBlog
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The latest at the Guardian seems to clarify on the £5,649 figure:
So the £5,649 figure would seem to be quite far from the complete picture. And I don’t think the Qinetiq contract job will even be recorded under the Norfolk constabulary’s account, since the contract was made by the Muir Russell team and/or UEA, not the police.
This sounds eerily familiar.
– frank
Ugh, I miswrote. Qinetiq was involved “as contractors to Norfolk Police” according to Prof. Sommer’s submitted evidence. It was Prof. Sommer who was contracted (?) by UEA to look into the e-mails (after they were lifted out by Qinetiq).
– frank
Doesn’t make me feel better.
The police are the servants of the established money power. They are good at kicking heads and pepper-spraying old ladies, when needed, but when it is ruling class criminality involved, they suddenly develop lethargy, sloth, ineptitude and carelessness with evidence. The disinterest in the phone-hacking scandal in the UK was, in my opinion, utterly deliberate. The News Corpse mob would be doing it and ruining lives without remorse still, if ‘The Guardian’ had not broken the MSM’s unwritten rules never to implicate each other, and exposed the crimes that were hidden in broad daylight. In Australia our Federal Police, when investigating crimes that involve the masters, simply go away, do nothing for a couple of years, and then, at 3.33 am on a Sunday, release a press statement that the investigations have ended, with nothing found.
After the Murdoch cell phone hacking debacle, it’s reasonable to assume that his firm used top contacts in Scotland Yard to squelch the investigation. Since Murdoch himself did not have enough at stake, this could have been done as a favor to his friends at Koch Industries, habitual lawbreakers who are the most likely suspects.
This is of course just conjecture until England and BC circumvent their corrupt or inept law enforcement and bring in independent professional investigators. Then we might find out who actually did it. When that happens, it could be a huge wakeup call.
Here’s a connection that has been highlighted before.
Neil Wallis worked for Murdoch, then got a job with the Metropolitan Police as a “PR Consultant”. Of course, in his role he helped the Murdoch Empire make the cops look good, while no doubt passing on juicy tips, and making sure the phone hacking enquiry went nowhere. It is now known that the Murdoch Empire continued to pay him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8785470/Phone-hacking-News-International-paid-Neil-Wallis-while-he-was-at-Scotland-Yard.html
It is just too ironic to find out the name of the man the University of East Anglia hired to help them with PR after the hacking: Neil Wallis. Coincidence? Or was he recommended by someone, someone possibly in the police? Again, it put him in a role where he could use his police contacts to hobble an ongiong investigation(and the provincial police might be in awe of someone who worked with “the Met”).
You can’t help but feel there is another story there ready to break, but who has the guts to break it? Not the police, apparently – it might make them look bad.
As far as i know Neil started working at the Police about 1-2 month before the hacking incident at CRU.
The problem here seems to be really systemic in the UK.
And all this is still going on, during a time when the Cameron governemnt calls itself the greenest government in UK hitory. Credibility? Accountability? Responsibility? Hello????
Climate change shrinks any national security threat, and the people who acively manipulate the data and debate are committing high crimes and threaten the lives of billions.
Maybe the UK should start hiring some real experts, instead of NOTW PR people? I heard that Julian Assange has a lot of time and his residence is in the UK atm.
Bring in some Experts FFS!
“Climate change shrinks any national security threat”
What exactly do you mean by “shrinks”??
I don’t understand that statement.
Type the word into google and this is the 1st which comes up…
“Shrink can refer to: Miniaturization…”
Or in other words, the magnitude is so great that you hardly can compare it with anything else.
Zero leads on the CRUhack case.
David, have you ever met, heard of or seen evidence for the existence of a ‘Leftwing’ cop? I’d bet a bit that 90% plus of cops despise Greenies. Just a guess, mind you.
This is crazy! How much was spent investigating the scientists?!?
Hey, Joe, your first link is bad.
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/07/19/272361/news-corp-hacked-climategate-emails-time-for-an-independent-investigation/
thanks