I found myself in the unusual position of providing a character reference to Ipswich Crown Court this week on behalf of Chief Inspector Jonathan Baldwin, who served as District Commander of Policing for Epping Forest during 2008 and early 2009.C.I. Baldwin was arrested on three counts of fraud by misrepresentation relating to mileage claims between December 2007 and March 2008 totalling £310. I worked incredibly closely with the District Commander during this time in my role as Mayor of Epping and had no problem at all in describing him as a "committed, respected, focused and thoroughly decent". During our time together, we worked to establish various Neighbourhood Action Panels, Joint Action Groups and a Crime and Disorder Partnership for the district. I also spent time attending 'ride-alongs', where I would shadow him and other senior officers whilst they executed their duties to get a feel for what they were doing and what issues they were facing.
The jury took 35 minutes to find him not guilty of all counts and the Chairman of the Essex branch of the Police Federation, Tony Rayner, said the case should never have been brought before the courts.
It is, of course, absolutely right that allegations of this kind must be properly investigated and considered by the relevant authorities, but I do worry about the huge amount of time and public money that has been wasted on this case!
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