UK Policing News

Joey Barton changed his plea to guilty of assault. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/ju...newcastleunited Barton will be sentenced today. The judge indicated he was likely to get a suspended sentence if he pleaded guilty. This plea bargaining type decision could be the thin end of the wedge. Is it a good idea?

A Cumbria Police Constable saved a man from drowning after his boat began sinking on Lake Windermere. PC Graeme Woodman from the the Lakes Neighbourhood Policing Team was the first on the scene, and as luck would have it, is an authorised boat officer and a member of the first responder scheme. In the early hours, a member of the public contacted the police after hearing muffled calls for help somewhere on the Lake. PC Woodman responded and was able to gain access to the Lake wardens offices and take out their boat. He found a male in the water suffering from Hyporthermia. He was so cold that he could not assist himself by climbing into the boat. PC Woodman was on h…

After tonight’s programmes I’m wondering is it really this bad on the streets. Or is the media exaggerating the problem. Teenagers as young as 13-14 regularly carrying guns and Knifes in some inner city areas, using them on their peers and adults and making some communities, lives hell. From the perspective of some one in the process of joining the force is the situation on the street like that portrayed in the programmes or is it sensational TV. What do serving Officers think?

Police forces 'block race audit' Police forces are accused of blocking inquiries into discrimination against black, Asian and Muslim officers. The Association of Muslim Police is auditing the distribution of minority officers by rank and specialism. But 20 of the 43 forces in England and Wales said data protection rules prevented them from responding and the AMP is to ask ministers to intervene. The Association of Chief Police Officers says forces work hard to tackle all forms of discrimination. The association is to write to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Monday to ask her to intervene. It says it will speak to the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo)…

Source BBC I don't know whether he has a case or not, however I'm a bit surprised that the issue appears to be being raised via the media rather than addressed internally in the first instance. Does he really have so little faith in the internal procedures of an organisation that he himself is in large part responsible for? If there is any substance to this then the Commissioner is finished.

Go Wisely – everything you need to know about stop and search For many people, being stopped and searched by a police officer will their first encounter with the police so its crucial that officers are professional and respectful when they use the tactic. The public also need to understand why the police use this tool, as well as what their rights are during a stop and search procedure. The ‘Go Wisely – everything you need to know about Stop and Search’ DVD is intended to: explore what stop and search is for and why it’s controversial; inform the public of their rights when they are stopped or searched; and be part of an overall training package for the p…

Link. Neat Not quite Baywatch hot though.

It was 9am on New Year's Day in Hackney, east London, and still party time. A flat in an unremarkable side street had been rented by two Ethiopians for the festivities. The cost of admission had been £5 on the door and the music to welcome in 2002 was to be provided by DJ Creation, the name used by a young man from Deptford in south London called Ashley Kenton. There was an argument. As partygoers told it later, Kenton was planning to leave the party and someone was unhappy about his departure. "No one ain't going nowhere," was what he was told. A gun was produced and Kenton was shot through the neck, severing an artery. The bullet went through a thin partition wall an…

A mother who left her three-year-old daughter to starve to death in a beetle-infested room above a pub was jailed for 12 years yesterday. Tiffany Wright’s decomposing body was not found until two days after she had died from malnutrition. Tests showed that the 3ft 4in (1.01m) girl, who weighed 1st (9.5kg) at the time of her death, had not been given anything to eat or drink for at least 20 hours, Sheffield Crown Court was told. Sabrina Hirst, 22, had previously admitted manslaughter. Her husband, Robert Hirst, 44, received a five-year sentence after admitting child cruelty. As her daughter lay dying in a bedroom littered with dirty nappies above the Scarbrough Arms i…

Cabinet minister Hazel Blears has suffered another break-in, two weeks after a computer containing official files was stolen from her office. This time it was her official car that was broken into, as it parked outside her constituency office in Salford. No ministerial paperwork was in the car but her driver's mobile phone and a satellite navigation system were taken. "There were no official papers in the car, no ministerial red boxes," Ms Blears' spokesman said. The Communities and Local Government Secretary was in the news two weeks ago, when it emerged that a computer had been stolen from her constituency office that contained information sent in breach of data…

One of Britain's most senior ethnic minority police officers is facing an investigation into his expenses, the Mail can reveal. The probe comes just three months after Ali Dizaei was controversially promoted to a top Scotland Yard job. The Met commander, who has infuriated colleagues by repeatedly alleging racism in the force, is alleged to have used his work credit card for a massive spending spree in the United States. The Iranian-born president of the National Black Police Association is being investigated over claims that he spent nearly £5,000 on perfume, designer clothes, expensive shoes and visits to bars and clubs. His purchases, which are understood to h…

heres an article that was hardly reported on... one of my sgts at loughton nick was attempting to pull the car over following a positive anpr activation, not chasing the guy as the story says. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1343935.ece

Police are forced to sleep in shifts in the street as they work around the clock to police demonstrations... Hundreds of riot police kip in the street – as colleagues form a barrier to keep out protesters. The exhausted cops have been forced to sleep in shifts as they work around the clock to quell violent demonstrations in Seoul, South Korea. Trouble erupted after ministers lifted a ban on US beef. Talk about blanket security. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1346236.ece The picture is worth looking at, must take some faith in your fellow Officers to doze off like they did.