‘The police should be setting a good example’: Littering groups blast ‘disappointing’ footage of officer dropping his sandwich crusts outside resident’s home (and add it’s a criminal offence…ironically!)
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Littering groups have hit out at a police officer who was caught on camera throwing sandwich crusts out of his patrol car – branding his behaviour ‘disappointing’ since doing so is a criminal offence.
The male Thames Valley Police officer was captured on CCTV opening the passenger door of his marked patrol car and discarding the unwanted bread – before being confronted by an angry local who demanded he pick it up.
Footage of the incident went viral on TikTok and Thames Valley Police has since said the officer, based at Witney Police Station, has been spoken to and ordered to ‘reflect’ on his behaviour.
But anti-littering campaigners have hit out at the officer’s behaviour after he initially appeared to suggest he hadn’t littered – a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £2,500 – which colleagues later admitted was ‘wrong’.
Environmental groups including Keep Britain Tidy have blasted the officer’s behaviour, branding it ‘depressingly disappointing’ – but social media users remain split on the incident.
Jamie Cossey, 52, outside his home in Banbury, Oxfordshire, posted a video accusing a police officer of throwing bread crusts on the floor
The officer initially denies littering, telling the homeowner filming: ‘I haven’t thrown any rubbish. That’s actually just sandwich crusts’
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, chief executive of environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, said: ‘Litter is a crime, it makes people feel unsafe, it encourages more crime and does significant harm to our environment. Everyone should be putting it in a bin.
‘It is depressingly disappointing to see someone whose job is to enforce the law, in fact breaking the law and I sincerely hope no one follows his example and he thinks again about the laws he upholds and the impact of litter on us all.’
John Read, founder of the Clean Up Britain campaign group, added: ‘It’s certainly disappointing to see a policeman littering, which is actually a criminal offence, and can be punished with a fine of up to £2,500.
‘The officer concerned seems a little oblivious to what he’s done, and does at least appear contrite.
‘However, the important point here is that we should all be caring for the environment, and always keeping litter in our cars until we reach our destination.
Cossey was outraged that the police officer was littering along his street
Cossey works as a full-time carer for his elderly father and did not take kindly to the police officer committing what Keep Britain Tidy suggested may be a criminal offence
CCTV appears to show the officer discarding the crusts as he opens his door at the roadside (circled)
‘Britain is suffering from an epidemic of roadside littering, and the police really should be setting a good example, of course.’
He added that, in ‘fairness’ to the officer, a bread crust will eventually biodegrade.
The viral video, filmed on Tuesday morning, starts with the resident asking for the officer’s badge number and police station – which he confirms as being Witney, ten miles west of Oxford.
The man filming asks the officer: ‘Have you got an excuse why you pulled up outside my house and threw rubbish out your car? Is there a reason for that?’
The officer denies littering, saying: ‘No, I haven’t thrown any rubbish. That’s actually just sandwich crusts.’
‘Oh right,’ the man filming replies, pointing his camera at a pair of sandwich crusts discarded on the grass verge.
He adds: ‘So you think it’s okay to pull up outside somebody else’s house and chuck your lunch or breakfast outside my house? That’s acceptable, is it?
‘If I’d done that in front of a police officer, right, or if a litter enforcement officer, right, I’d get nicked, wouldn’t I? Course I would. You’ve got no respect, have you?’
The officer then replies: ‘I can fully understand where you’re coming from and I appreciate that maybe it didn’t look so bad, and I’ll fully take that on board.
‘I will keep that in mind for the future.’
The person filming then retorts: ‘Pick the f****** crust up and take it with you… I ain’t moving until you f****** do it.
‘It’s my house, and you just discard your food on the side of the road, right, without any thought.’
The officer’s colleague then interrupts to say that the roadside doesn’t constitute part of the property of the person filming.
The cameraman fires back: ‘It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t – oh so it’s okay, is it? It’s public property, so that makes it even worse, doesn’t it?
‘I’ll be making a complaint… about him. Who do you think you are? Do you think the police are so above the little man that you can get away with that?’
As the officer who dropped the crusts tries to say he’ll pick up the rubbish, the resident adds: ‘Pick it up. Pick it up. Pick it up then.’
When the policeman asks him to stop shouting, he says: ‘I’ll shout at what I want – there’s no law against it, is there?’
The cameraman tells the officer: ‘Pick the f****** crust up and take it with you’
The offending sandwich crusts can be seen on the grass verge next to the door of the police car
The officer then agrees to pick up the crusts, asking the cameraman not to shout at him
The car then leaves as the man filming says: ‘Move along. You’re dismissed. Go away’
The cameraman then steps back on to his driveway and shouts: ‘Alright. Now pick the f****** thing up. Now I’m on private property. Pick it up.
‘How dare you come to somebody’s house and discard your food, in front of their house, even whether it’s a public property or not. Who the hell do you think you are? Pick it up. Now.’
The officer says: ‘I will do. Will you please stop shouting at me like that? I don’t think that’s quite respectful.’
What does the law say on littering?
Littering is a criminal offence under Section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which says a person is guilty of an offence if he or she ‘throws down, drops or otherwise deposits’ rubbish in public – including on private land open to the public.
Despite being a crime, most littering is dealt with through civil action, through fixed penalty notices (FPNs) handed out by police officers or council civil enforcement officers.
If litter is dropped from a car, authorities have the power to fine the registered keeper of the car from which it was dropped.
The maximum penalty on FPNs was £150 until July this year, when the government raised the ceiling on litter fines to £500.
Failure to pay an FPN is a criminal offence and can lead to a fine of up to £2,500 in a magistrates court in England and Wales or a sheriff court in Scotland, as well as a criminal record.
‘I don’t think it’s respectful you discard your food outside my house,’ the homeowner fires back. ‘Pick it up.’
‘I’m going to, if you leave me alone. Okay?’ the officer says, before picking up the crusts.
The video ends with the cameraman saying: ‘Move along. You’re dismissed. Go away. Don’t chuck food outside your car again.’
Footage shared with the MailOnline then shows a male and a female police officer visiting the resident’s house on Wednesday night to inform him that the policeman had been ordered to undergo ‘reflective practice’, which will sit on his record.
The female officer tells the man: ‘We have spoken to the officer and said this isn’t correct (and that) you need to reflect on your actions.
‘He has accepted that it is wrong and he has apologised – not to you, but this is why we’re here. We’ve dealt with it this evening.
‘This reflective practice will go onto his record, that that’s what’s happened, so that’s on his record, and we’re here to say: “Apologies, that shouldn’t have happened.”‘
She added: ‘(His actions) weren’t right, and he acknowledges that and he’s learned from it.
‘And, you know, like you said, he’s young in service and this will stay with him and he’s not going to do it again.’
As the man says he considered the chucking of bread to be littering, the other officer appears to agree, saying: ‘Yeah, he’s still littering, he’s still littering, so it’s not right.’
Thames Valley Police said it had been made aware of the video and has flagged it to senior officers and its professional standards department.
It later confirmed to MailOnline that the matter was no longer being referred to the department, which handles complaints about officer misconduct.
The street in Banbury, Oxfordshire, where the alleged littering took place
After Cossey posted the video on TikTok, Thames Valley Police said it had been made aware of the incident and flagged it to senior officers
Viewers on TikTok were slip on whether Cossey’s approach to the incident was the correct one
It said: ‘We are aware of a video being widely shared on social media involving one of our officers.
‘The video has been reviewed internally and we have spoken to the officer involved.
‘We have also been to discuss the encounter and the officer’s actions with the individual who recorded the video.’
The force added: ‘We strive to learn from our encounters with the public so the officer involved has been given a chance to reflect on their actions and learn from them.
‘We will also be asking our independent scrutiny group, which is made up of members of the public, if they have any further recommendations for us.’
The original video, tagged #policecorruption and #norespect, has picked up almost 500,000 views on TikTok, while re-posts have accumulated at least another two million.
Viewers were split on whether the man filming was justified in his approach.
One said: ‘Wow it was a crust for the birds. Ya can tell who was curtain twitching.’
A second wrote: ‘Aww tbf (to be fair) he’s young guy and the birds will eat the bread no harm done.’
A third added: ‘I throw crust all the time for the birds lol I feel bad for the young fella.’
But another user said: ‘Good for you mate ! Woody thinks he can do what he wants coz the uniform double standards.’
Someone else said: ‘No it’s okay for them to litter but we were to do it that’s an £80 on the spot fine.’
The cameraman who uploaded the video later admitted that he could have approached the situation more tactfully.
In an earlier statement, Thames Valley Police said it has referred the video to professional standards – but later told MailOnline that it was no longer a matter for the department, which handles complaints about officer misconduct
Responding to a comment that said he ‘let himself down’ with the way he spoke to the officers, the cameraman said: ‘Your [sic] right, I did, I lost it.
‘I am not happy about it but the arrogance of it pushed all the buttons.’
Littering is a criminal offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, punishable by a fixed penalty notice of up to £150, which can be increased to a fine of £2,500 if not paid within 28 days.
Some littering offences have shocked those who received them – including a Kent nurse who was handed a £100 fine after feeding some pieces of bread to ducks at the riverside.
Dementia nurse Susan Watson, 68, said she was confronted by an enforcement officer waving an ’18-inch long’ ticket, who went on to suggest that what she did could be construed as flytipping.
Under plans announced by the government earlier this year, fines for littering have increased more than threefold to a maximum of £500 under a new crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
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