30-09-2013, 07:49 AM
Ceop head under investigation?
Quote:Child protection agency chief under investigation over staff bullying claimsLincolnshire police say inquiry is under way into Peter Davies after complaints about his management style
Sandra Laville
The Guardian, Sunday 29 September 2013 16.34 BST
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5341[/ATTACH]
Peter Davies, head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, has not been suspended and remains in his post. Photograph: Toussaint Kluiters/EPA
The head of the specialist agency that tackles online child abuse and bullying is under police investigation over allegations about the ill treatment of his staff.
Sussex police is carrying out an inquiry into Peter Davies, chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), after grievances were lodged against him, some from senior staff, about his management style, including claims of bullying.
The controversy comes as Davies moves Ceop into the government's new FBI-style National Crime Agency and threatens to overshadow its launch in seven days' time. The NCA will take over the investigation of organised crime, trafficking, online child abuse and cybercrime, and is accountable to the Home Office directly.
The inquiry into the senior officer, who is on secondment to Ceop from Lincolnshire police, is shrouded in secrecy. It was commissioned by the Serious Organised Crime Agency which runs Ceop after a series of complaints from staff.
It is understood an initial four-week review of the allegations involved interviews with several current staff and its findings were such that it was passed to the chief constable of the Lincolnshire force to begin a full investigation.
Lincolnshire police called in the Sussex force as external investigators to mount the inquiry into the officer who has been running the agency since 2010.
However, the investigation has not been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, as might be expected for an inquiry into such a senior officer. The IPCC said it had no knowledge of the inquiry.
Davies has not been suspended and remains in his post, although several sources said he was no longer working out of the agency's main offices.
Ceop refused to comment on the allegations against its chief executive, who earns £120,000 a year, saying they did not comment on "personnel queries".
But a spokesman for the Lincolnshire force confirmed Davies was under investigation. "Lincolnshire police can confirm that a chief police officer from the force, Peter Davies, who has been seconded to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency for over two years, is presently the subject of a complaint regarding his style of management," a spokesman said.
"The director general of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the body responsible for Ceop, has referred the matter to Lincolnshire police. Deputy chief constable Giles York of Sussex police has been commissioned as an independent investigator to conduct an enquiry into the complaint.
"It would be inappropriate for Lincolnshire, or the other agencies involved to make any further comment until the investigation is complete.
"Mr Davies remains in post at Ceop."
The Guardian understands that there was an earlier review by Soca into allegations about the bullying and management style within the agency but no action was taken.
"There were people some really competent people who were just completely broken by this and they didn't feel they had anywhere to turn. It didn't feel like anyone wanted to deal with it," said one source. "It is particularly bad when people are carrying out really difficult, stressful work like this. You don't work at Ceop unless you care about what you are doing."
Sussex police would not give details of the scope of its inquiry. A spokesman said: "Sussex police is conducting an investigation into a matter at the request of Lincolnshire police.
"As we have been commissioned by another force it would be for that force to provide any details it is able to, so Sussex police will not comment further at this stage or later. This is usual practice in such cases."
Ceop will be one of several agencies within home secretary Theresa May's National Crime Agency, which also takes over the role of Soca. Its staff include police officers, child protection experts and computer specialists, all of whom work to investigate, locate and gather intelligence on child abusers who operate online.
Davies's secondment as head of Ceop is due to come to an end in November.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14