UK Policing News

Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said there should be no role for the private sector in law enforcement in Britain, and the Police Federation, which represents officers, urged authorities to be "wary" about giving them power. The private security firms usually charge residents to patrol streets in a bid to deter troublemakers. Simon Reed, vice chairman of the Police Federation, told the BBC: "We have got people who have certain powers, we are going to see them in uniform. "Potentially there is confusion there for the public and who are they actually accountable to? "I understand the public's fear of crime but actually it's the police who patrol pu…

he use of cautions for criminal offences is to be reviewed, Justice Secretary Jack Straw has announced. The move comes after the BBC learned that almost 40,000 cases of assault were dealt with by cautions in England and Wales last year. The figures have led to fears among some that out-of-court punishments are being wrongly used. Mr Straw told the BBC he had "concerns" about the variations between the way different forces were using them. Cautions are formal warnings, issued at the discretion of the police if the offender admits their guilt. In England and Wales, half of all criminal cases are now punished out of court by way of cautions, warnings and fines - dire…

Devon and Cornwall Police are running a forcewide operation throughout November targeting goods vehicles and coaches looking at drivers’ hours (tachograph) offences and carriage of dangerous goods (HAZMAT) offences. Operation FATIGUE is an initiative aimed at reducing road casualties and collisions by robust enforcement of road traffic legislation in order to address offences committed by drivers and operators of large goods vehicles (LGVs) and passenger carrying vehicles (PCVs). Specifically, the operation will target drivers’ hours offences, tachograph falsification and hazardous materials offences. Department for Transport (DfT) research shows that LGVs account f…

An 86-year-old woman who was kidnapped and raped at a care home has died. The frail victim was dragged from her bed and raped in the garden of the Springfield residential care home in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The pensioner was discovered at about 1am on September 15 after staff, who checked on her hourly because of her medical condition, found she was missing from her room. An 86-year-old who was kidnapped and raped in September at Springfield care home in Bradford has died. A teenager pleaded guilty to the attack last month Dale Gary Boocock, 19, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty in October to kidnap and rape and is due to be sentenced later this month at Bradfor…

Tragic WPC Sharon Beshenivsky Saturday November 14,2009 By Gabriel Milland TAXPAYERS have handed over an eye-watering £3.4billion to take care of foreign prisoners since 1997. The total bill is now £431million a year – with 11,350 foreign convicts in UK jails. That compares to just 5,388 when Labour came to power, according to Tory figures that were revealed yesterday. Many of them have been ­convicted of horrific offences, such as murder and rape. They include vile criminals like Yusuf Jama, a Somali illegal ­immigrant, who killed WPC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford in 2005. He is expected to remain in prison here until 2041 after being told he must serve…

A slaughterman who executed a mother-of-three with a bolt gun in front of her daughters after becoming obsessed with her was jailed for life today. John McFarlane was told he must serve at least 20 years in jail for the 'clinical' murder of 38-year-old Mary Griffiths. McFarlane was taking revenge after she posted a message on Facebook saying he was 'delusional' if he thought they would ever have a relationship. Mary Griffiths was shot by slaughterman John McFarlane with a bolt gun in front of her children after she called him 'delusional' on Facebook Hours before the murder in May this year, Ms Griffiths had contacted police to voice her fears that the 40-year-old, …

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8356392.stm Good news? Or is it ridiculous that things have descended this far? Are un-fit officers an issue in your experience?

National service should be reintroduced to give young people "a sense of belonging rather than a sense of violence", Sir Michael Caine has said. The actor, 76, who served in the Korean War and did two years of national service, said he was "very anti-war". "I'm just saying put them in the army for six months," he said in London at the European premiere of Harry Brown. In the film, Sir Michael plays a vigilante intent on revenge against young thugs who killed his friend. The movie, set in a London council estate beset by problems with drugs and gun crime, was "almost documentary", he said. "There should be a great plan to re-educate these youngsters. "It's such a was…

jailed warder who had young inmate;s baby Jailed for 30 months: Former prison officer Kelly-Anne McDade gave birth to a boy after a relationship with an inmateA prison officer who had a baby after conducting an affair with a young offender in his cell was jailed today. Kelly-Anne McDade, 31, gave birth to a boy in February after the relationship with Nelson Delgado, who had been listed as dangerous by officials. McDade, told colleagues at the Young Offenders' Institute in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, that she had become pregnant after a holiday relationship. But she had to resign after she was caught on CCTV opening 21-year-old Delgado's cell door when all doors at …

Jailed for 30 months: Former prison officer Kelly-Anne McDade gave birth to a boy after a relationship with an inmate A prison officer who had a baby after conducting an affair with a young offender in his cell was jailed today. Kelly-Anne McDade, 31, gave birth to a boy in February after the relationship with Nelson Delgado, who had been listed as dangerous by officials. McDade, told colleagues at the Young Offenders' Institute in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, that she had become pregnant after a holiday relationship. But she had to resign after she was caught on CCTV opening 21-year-old Delgado's cell door when all doors at the institution had been closed for the n…

How many other people listened to 'Call You and Yours' on Tuesday 10/11? It was a phone in about people's attitudes to the police but the caller's opinions were almost universally negative. It followed BBC1's Panorama programme on 9/11, which a number of callers referenced. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/b006qps9/Tuesday/console

POLICE are investigating after a man waiting for his bus was approached and threatened if he did not hand over a cigarette. The robbery happened at the bus station in St Andrews Street South, Bury St Edmunds, between 5pm and 5.15pm on Monday. The victim was approached by two men as he was waiting for a bus. A police spokeswoman told how one of them threatened him and demanded a cigarette. She said: “The man gave him one and got onto his bus. The man who was given the cigarette is described as white, in his late teens to early 20s, between 5ft8in and 6ft 2in tall with short brown or blond hair and wore a black baseball cap, a black hooded top and dark trousers. He s…

A police marksman was removed from Scotland Yard's specialist CO19 unit today after posting revealing pictures of himself online. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...l#ixzz0WazETmrP He's a bit of a tool for posting pictures of himself naked alongside pictures in uniform but I don't really see how this affects his ability to do his job, other than the constant ribing he'll undergo!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8356288.stm I found this worrying that the force in question actually had to clarify it was legal to taser a dog which was attacking them :D Presumably some people would rather it tired itself out gnawing on the the officers leg... Interesting that the dog was returned to it's owner and wasn't deemed as being out of control etc.