Foreign Policing News

Oz cops investigating screams of 'why don't you die?' find bloke in battle with spider https://www.theregister.co.uk/AMP/2019/01/02/oz_cops_investigating_screams_of_why_dont_you_die_find_bloke_in_battle_with_spider/

On late Sunday night a scuffle broke out between a New York police officer and five homeless men at a subway station in Manhattan. The officer single-handedly fended off all five with just his feet and his baton. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/‘what-the-hell-is-this’-officer-in-viral-subway-video-didn’t-know-he-had-gone-viral/ar-BBRtnRP?ocid=spartandhp

Interesting headline I spied earlier in which a City Council in Canada is seeking to replace the Mounties (Canada's national police service) with a local appointed municipal force. Some obvious parallels to be drawn over here in Britain where various local authority councils have complained of the level of policing services offered at a county level, a few councillors wishing to retain their own Constabularies. I thought this would spark an interesting discussion of the pros and cons.

A 911 dispatcher has shared an emotional post about what it means to do what can be a challenging job. https://metro.co.uk/2018/12/01/emergency-services-dispatcher-shares-emotional-essay-about-what-she-does-8197734/ I had to laugh at this bit: 'To my mother please forgive me for not having the patience to always sit thru your entire conversation, it’s only because I’m trained to get all pertinent information within a certain amount of time. So, I don’t have the patience that I used to.'

At least four people have died – one of them a police officer – after a gunman opened fire inside a Chicago hospital, officials said. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/chicago-shooting-police-officer-among-four-killed-after-gunman-goes-on-rampage-in-mercy-hospital/ar-BBPTgn8?ocid=spartandhp

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46222026 Japan's new cyber-security minister has dumbfounded his country by saying he has never used a computer. Yoshitaka Sakurada made the admission to a committee of lawmakers. "Since I was 25 years old and independent I have instructed my staff and secretaries. I have never used a computer in my life," he said, according to a translation by the Kyodo news agency. The 68-year-old was appointed to his post last month. His duties include overseeing cyber-defence preparations for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Changes are coming to the way drunk drivers are policed and prosecuted in Alberta with the provincial government set to issue a directive to police that will largely decriminalize impaired driving, CBC News has learned. Full story Seems like a very, very silly idea pursued in the name of political correctness.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/nov/09/melbourne-bourke-street-police-incident-declared-after-car-in-flames What we know so far One person has died after a man drove a car into Melbourne’s Bourke Street and attempted to stab people in a terrorist attack. The attacker was shot by police at the scene and died in hospital. Police said he and his family members were known to counter-terrorism. Two other men were injured and are in hospital, though their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. The attacker had “barbecue-style gas cylinders” inside the car and set it alight. The man had …

MIAMI — Authorities say a man packing a blue light and a BB gun pulled over a nondescript car on Interstate 95, ready to play “traffic cop” again. Bad move: The driver he pulled over is a real police detective. http://nypost.com/2017/04/14/police-impersonator-messes-with-wrong-guy/ [emoji1]

(CNN)A 90-year-old California man is due in court Thursday on suspicion of killing his stepdaughter -- a slaying police say they solved with the help of data from her Fitbit device. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/10/04/us/california-fitbit-killing/index.html A sad case, but impressive use of tech to solve it, including: ”The device recorded a spike in Navarra's heart rate at 3:20 p.m., followed by a sudden slowing -- and the last heartbeat was recorded at 3:28 p.m., the affidavit reads.”

Two police officers are among four people who have been killed in a shooting in eastern Canada. Police arrested a suspect after the attack in Fredericton, the capital of province New Brunswick. Fredericton Police said it would not release the names of the officers killed, adding: "Please appreciate this is a difficult time for their families and our colleagues. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/two-police-officers-among-four-killed-in-eastern-canada-shooting/ar-BBLKa0O?ocid=spartandhp

An off-duty police officer has shot an 11-year-old girl in the back for shoplifting, police said. The Cincinnati officer allegedly used a taser to stun the child after thinking she was stealing from a supermarket on Monday. Cincinnati police said the officer was working security in Spring Grove Village, in Cincinnati, and was investigating several young girls who were believed to be stealing from the shop. USA Today reported that the police officer approached the schoolgirl, but she ignored this and walked away. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/police-officer-shoots-11yearold-girl-in-the-back-with-a-taser-for-shoplifting-a3906831.html

A hero police officer rescued a four-year-old boy hanging from a fifth-floor window after his head got stuck in the window grills in central China's Xiaogan City on August 1. The video shows the officer standing on the fourth-floor roof holding the boy and trying to push him back into the room. According to reports, the boy got his head accidentally stuck in the grills when he was playing at home with his older sister. After the residents in the community heard his crying, they called the police and held a quilt open downstairs as a protective mat in case he fell down. As the boy’s older sister was lying on the window to hold his hands, no one could open the door for the …

Police in Canada are reminding drivers not to leave electronic key fobs sitting in unattended vehicles, after a woman in Ontario accidentally stole a car for two weeks having mistaken it for her rental car. The woman rented a black Nissan Sentra in late June, according to police in Cornwall, a city of some 47,000 people in eastern Ontario. From there she headed to Walmart, where she did a little shopping before tracking down a black vehicle in the sea of cars parked outside. She climbed in the unlocked car, pushed the start button and drove home. http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/fobbed-off-woman-accidentally-steals-car-for-two-weeks-after-key-mix-u…