Cops caught gaming while on guard duty

9:21am Friday 2nd February 2007

TWO police officers were caught by a passer-by playing on a handheld Playstation when they should have been guarding a wall in danger of collapsing.

A builder took two photographs of the police officers who were sitting in a patrol car playing a football video game in Larkshall Road, Highams Park at about noon on Thursday, January 18.

A police spokeswoman said both the police and the council were contacted by a member of the public who was concerned about a wall that could topple over at any moment.

She said the council told the police that it would take a while for a qualified structural surveyor to arrive and assess the wall because of damage done to property throughout the borough by windy weather.

So in order for the wall to be protected two policemen were asked to guard the wall.

The spokeswoman added: "The use of the games console during this time was inappropriate and unprofessional and senior officers from Waltham Forest are dealing with the matter internally."

A council spokesman confirmed that the police were asked to guard the wall before the surveyor arrived to re-enforce it.

The surveyor re-enforced the wall and the wall's owner added further re-enforcement to it, he added.