UK Policing News

Celebrity macaw attacks police officer. http://www.ananova.com/News/story/sm_3478977.html A 3ft macaw that starred alongside Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley in a Pirates of the Caribbean film went squawking mad when its owner's car was pulled up by police near Dover ferry port. Now there is one item Bill Newman would not have seen coming. http://www.ukpoliceonline.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=34896

Not looking good for this trio! Two Metropolitan Police officers and a community officer lied to make a "better" case against a man arrested for cannabis possession, a court heard. Sgt Marcus Garvey, of south-east London, Pc Wayne Campbell, of Kent, and PCSO Stefanie Loftus, of Essex, all deny perverting the course of justice. The three officers claimed they found Benjamin Thacker carrying cannabis. But a recording made by Mr Thacker during his arrest later prompted the arrest of the officers, jurors heard. Prosecutors claim between them, the three officers created a "false picture" against someone they thought "no-one would believe" Subsequently the Crown Prosecuti…

Of course, that was totally worth £1,200. The Daily Mail does have some glorious scoops sometimes, but I do pity those that take it seriously ^.^ (Maybe he was going downhill with the wind behind him?)

A rookie police officer suffered scratches and bites to his hands and arms after being asked to escort a celebrity parrot to a Dover police station, the Telegraph reports. The owner of the 3ft wingspan macaw was pulled at Dover ferry dock after an officer spotted the bird loose in her vehicle. She was cuffed after checks showed she was banned from driving, and PC Martn Dadd, being "the officer with the least length of service", was "volunteered" to drive the car to "a more appropriate location". Chief Superintendent Steve Masters, of the Port of Dover Police, explained: "A very nervous probationary officer then proceeded to drive the vehicle to the po…

If Gordon Brown is planning to fight the next election campaign by claiming that “Tory cuts†would lacerate public services, causing hospital patients to die and robbing children of an edu- cation, he needn’t bother turning up in Essex to make a speech. There, taxpayers have just had a remarkable demonstration of how much waste exists in the public sector – and how slashing it can actually improve public services. Over the past year Essex Constabulary has put an extra 239 officers on the beat. How? By cutting back on waste and bureaucracy. In just one year the force has managed to find £11million of savings. some have come through better- negotiated contracts…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8244700.stm A man who left his jacket on a bus and a woman who had no credit on her phone are among the callers who dialled 999 in Greater Manchester. Lots of idiots about!! Sorry to call emergency i have no credit on my phone. :lol:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...oid-prison.html Just one in five people guilty of possessing a knife or offensive weapon is given a jail sentence while the proportion being handed community service or suspended sentences has increased. The Ministry of Justice figures come a day after it emerged offenders are escaping with as little as a £10 fine. Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: “This is yet more evidence of the huge discrepancy between what ministers say and what actually happens.†Quarterly statistics show that 6,231 people were sentenced for possession of a knife or offensive weapon in Engl…

Source What an odd combination of articles to have on your "final moments"

*Lethal injection??? Source A South Tyneside teenager who stole a cat and forced it to inhale cannabis by trapping it in a bag has been given a suspended sentence. Mark Kane, 19, was filmed on a mobile phone carrying out the "sadistic attack" on the tabby cat in January. Kane, of St Aidan's Road, South Shields, had earlier admitted causing unnecessary suffering. He was given a three month sentence, suspended for two years, and banned from keeping animals for 10 years. He was also ordered to pay £100 in costs. Magistrates on South Tyneside were told Kane had stolen the cat from a friend of his girlfriend. The court was shown a video in which Kane was seen put…

Source Busy day for West Midlands Police Any specials involved in this?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/8247107.stm How does the licencee imagine that this is a responsible thing to do? :D Virtually every job I go to on a Friday night is drink related - it's enough put me off drink. Probably best not start a drinking thread, but...

AN EAST Riding police officer was at the heart of a million pound conspiracy to defraud an insurance company. Stephen Spellacy, from Garths End, Pocklington, conspired with an employee of Norwich Union and others to steal and launder money from the insurance firm, which is now known as Aviva. Norwich Union accounts manager John Taylor, from York, siphoned £1.4m from 11 dormant accounts over several years. Spellacy and others then conspired with Taylor to launder £1.14m of the money by helping him to conceal the fraud between November 2007 and January 2008. Spellacy, 36, was a serving officer with Humberside Police at the time of the money laundering. He resigned im…

Nine police instructors have been taken off firearms duties more than a year after their colleague was shot dead during a training exercise. Pc Ian Terry, 32, of Burnley, was hit in the chest near a disused warehouse in Manchester, in June 2008. In April, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said no officers would face charges over his death. But senior officers have now decided to remove the instructors from firearms duties ahead of an inquest next year. The officers, who were involved in the exercise, have been moved to other policing roles pending an investigation. Asst Ch Con Garry Shewan said the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report had "raised …

Eleven anti-hunt protesters have been given a total of £38,300 in damages from Derbyshire Police. The force made the out-of-court settlement after admitting its policing of a demonstration in January 2008 was heavy handed. Lawyers said protesters had been wrongfully arrested and imprisoned after they had peacefully followed the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt. No charges were brought against the Hunt Saboteurs Association members. They had been following a few fields behind the hunt. Police vans and the force helicopter were sent to the hunt, which goes through Ashbourne, after the protesters were seen. They were chased by police and arrested before each …