‘Illogical’ outcome to card abuse says MPA member

A member of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) said it is “illogical” that no formal action is to be taken against over 1,000 police officers and staff who misused corporate credit cards.
An internal MPA audit review of potential cases of business card misuse identified 1,183 officers who had made purchases outside the policy for use of the cards.  
These fell into two categories, said the MPA.
“Claims outside of the business card policy where an officer should have used an alternative procurement process to purchase particular items of equipment or services for operational use; and claims that contained items of personal expenditure but were repaid by the officer within acceptable parameters.”
An MPA statement said the purchases were “contrary to the rules and while the officers were not subject to formal discipline sanctions they received training and guidance”.
Training and guidance has been given to the 1,183 individuals who misused the credit cards but did not break the law. These were labelled as ‘category B’ cases and included officers and staff who purchased personal items and later repaid the money or bought equipment that should have been purchased by other means.
But MPA member Jenny Jones told Police Professional that training and guidance does not fully resolve the issue.
“When there are over 1,000 individuals involved I understand it is too big a problem to deal with every case, but to take no action, I believe, is illogical.
“Either the rules have been explained to these officers and members of staff or not. Where they have been explained, those who have abused the rules should have a note made on their record of employment. Or, if the policy and procedure was not properly explained then those individuals responsible for doing so should face consequences.”
She said it is hard to see where the failure happened but believes a “much more vigorous regulation on the use of corporate credit cards and expenses claims will result following this audit”.
Individuals who made potentially unacceptable use of the credit cards, including cases of suspected fraud, were labelled ‘category A’ by the MPA and passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
A spokesperson for the MPS declined to comment.
A statement from the IPCC said: “Fifty cases of credit card misuse have been referred to the IPCC so far. Of the 50 cases referred, three officers have been convicted, two are awaiting trial, 14 have been given written warnings, one has received words of advice, one has received a formal reprimand and two are awaiting misconduct hearings.”