During David Woodland’s 19 years’ service with the Metropolitan Police, the ‘thin blue line’ came under intense pressure.
In addition to the routine caseload of gang crime, murder and armed robbery, Irish terrorist groups launched a vicious and prolonged terror campaign. The Author, a Detective Inspector in the Crime Intelligence Branch at New Scotland Yard, witnessed a series of major scandals.
He reveals why many otherwise honest detectives strove to rectify defects in the law that allowed professional criminals to evade justice.
When Sir Robert Marks, the newly appointed Police Commissioner, described the CID as ‘the most routinely corrupt organisation in London’, there may have been more than an element of truth in his extraordinary claim but it devastated the public’s credibility in the CID.
Using his own cases and experience, he demonstrates the difficulties faced by a depleted, demoralised Police Force not least ‘the enemy within’.
‘Crime and Corruption at The Yard’ is a gripping, shocking and instructive insider’s account of sharp end police work. Salutary lessons are learnt about the effect of PC and ‘human rights’ on the preservation of law and order. AUTHOR: David Woodland was born in Croydon in 1936 and attended John Ruskin Grammar School. He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1953. After National Service with the Royal Military Police in Germany he rejoined the Met. His interest in the historical evolution of criminal law developed at Bramshill Police College, Hampshire and this led to publication of his first book Wild’s Law. Prior to retirement in 1978 he was a Detective Inspector at Criminal Intelligence Department, New Scotland Yard. Thereafter he investigated fraudulent shipping and insurance claims for Lloyds of London worldwide. He retired to the Channel Islands in 1988. He is married with three sons and four grandchildren. 16pp b/w prints