UK Policing News

London police officers given courses in dealing with public in Spanish, Polish, Russian, Arabic…In the multi-cultural melting pot that is the nation's capital, it is the sort of question that is bound to arise once in a while for London's 31,000 police officers: how do you say "Which way did he go?" in Arabic? Or Polish. Or Spanish. Or Bulgarian. Or Vietnamese. Or Farsi. An increasing number of London's beat bobbies will soon be able to answer such questions without reverting to a dictionary, or Google Translate. An initiative which gives new meaning to gags about the "word of plod" has been launched by the Metropolitan Police offering language lessons to officers so the…

April 1st 2013 and the end of the individual Scottish Police Forces and the start of the all encompassing Police Service of Scotland. At my level of service it's a change that I should easily adapt to as I continue on a steep learning curve. A challenge I look forward to with openmind. There is a tinge of sadness, there was some pride in being part of my particular force after the studying and effort it took to get in it. But I appreciate there will be many more colleagues of more service who will not be looking forward to forthcoming changes so much?

Four West Midlands police constables have been arrested following the death of a man who was detained by the force. Kingsley Burrell, 29, was held under the Mental Health Act on 27 March 2011 and died four days later. The Independent Police Complaints Commission [iPCC] said the four were held on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and misconduct in a public office. West Midlands Police said it had co-operated fully with all IPCC requests. The four officers placed Mr Burrell while he was under restraint into a seclusion room at a mental health unit in Birmingham, the complaints body said. It said the four PCs were arrested after refusing to be interviewed by …

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10311365.Taser_guns_for_all_my_frontline_cops

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/scotland-s-police-chief-rubbishes-strathclyde-takeover-fears-1.79091 Scotland’s police chief rubbishes Strathclyde takeover fears The Chief Constable of Scotland’s new single police force has spoken in a bid to dismiss fears that the new body will be Central Belt-centric. Speaking after Friday’s Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board meeting, which was held in Dundee, Stephen House told The Courier the new Police Scotland would fundamentally be a “locally-delivered” service. He said talk of a Strathclyde takeover was “rubbish”. “People expected it to be, it isn’t and people need to move on,” he said. “The current head…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-21946043 Like to see who wins this case.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9962734/How-1800-suspended-police-keep-their-pensions.html - Notice that most of those mentioned are of ACPO rank, except Harwood. I don't disagree with some of the comments, but coming from MP's who we all know are ''pagans of virtue'', makes one want to be sick. Good job MP's were not suspended for fiddling their expences, there would only have been around 7 left in Parliament.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21974134 As is normally the case the offending driver manages to escape with minor injuries and makes off on foot. These people have no thought for anyone but themselves. Will this trigger the debate about police pursuits again I wonder.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9801377/Insulting-words-crime-which-made-it-illegal-to-call-a-police-horse-gay-is-to-be-changed.html I'm all for petty offences being set aside but could it be this "insulting" bit is in preparation for whatever comes out of the Mitchell Pleb gate enquiry..Or am I being cynical? HMS

http://www.thisisder...l#axzz2OsAXcxyw UKIP will support police over officers' pensions Thursday, March 28, 2013 Derby TelegraphFollow MARK Pickard, chairman of Derbyshire Police Federation, is requesting a lobby against a rise in officers' pension contributions, saying that "just... weeks ago, we received the news that plans to increase MPs' pension contributions had been suspended" (Derby Telegraph, March 13). This is a classic example of the hypocrisy of current politicians of all the other major political parties and demonstrates why, as the exit poll at Eastleigh showed, the electorate are voting UKIP. Because of this groundswell in support, UKIP's member…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21518466 Now, I've no love of MPs but I feel some sort of sympathy with Mr. Clegg when he's asked to reveal a 'guesstimate' figure on how many Romanians are going to come here soon. Because if he won't tell anybody that figure then it must be so large that it scares him, and if it scares him, then he knows it's going to scare the Beejeezus out of a lot more people who matter to him - specifically voters. If the figure was low, then he'd just come out and tell us what it is.............if 20 were expected over, then he'd be shouting it from the rooftops.............. I realise that we sometimes only get to meet a certain section of…

An oddly balanced story on the police from... The Guardian.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21964504 Retired Police Officers face 'huge' pension tax bills Dozens of retired police officers in 31 force areas who returned to work in civilian roles too soon are facing tax bills of tens of thousands of pounds. The former officers were awarded a lump sum on their pension after retiring before the age of 55. They faced bills of sometimes more than £40,0000 after returning to work, often at the request of forces. HMRC said it could not comment on individual cases, but the rules were designed to prevent tax avoidance. The Home Office said personal tax liability as a result of being re-employed was a matter for the individual an…