Outsourcing policing
22/02/12
G4S has signed the deal, thought to be the first of its kind, with Lincolnshire Police Authority in a move which could save the force £28 million, the firm said.The firm has signed a contract to build, design and help run a police station.
From April 1, and for at least the next 10 years, G4S Policing Support Services will also provide Lincolnshire Police with administrative and operational services including human resources, IT, fleet management, custody services and firearms licensing.
All very interesting but the private sector have often made big promises about what it will save the tax payer but the supposed saving rarely materialize without the service declining substantially.
This announcement is even more interesting on the day that news has arrived of four G4S employees being questioned by police over fraud involving their running of the Government's flagship 'workfare' scheme.
On Reading Macpherson
13/01/12
Ask most people what they know of the 1999 Macpherson Report, which followed the murder of Stephen Lawrence, and they'd probably say 'it found that the police were institutionally racist'. And that this racist ethos led to a lackluster investigation into Stephen's murder.
The fact is that Macpherson never said the police were institutionally racist. In fact, he said something very odd, the problem was more the ‘unwitting words and actions’ of individual officers acting together.
Translation:
Institutional racism implies direction from some over-riding authority in order preserve power, as in apartheid in South Africa or the race laws of the American South.
Individualizing the problem denies institutional involvement and leaves the way open to take apparent action to placate those demanding justice. For instance, awareness training and reoganising within the police force, and the recruitment of more ethnic officers.
Macpherson went further, introducing a new subjective definition of 'race crime', under which the ‘any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person’ is a race crime. Perversely, this action by Macpherson actually institutionalized action against race crimes across all government departments and agencies, across schools and football pitches. Macpherson went further and wanted to make it illegal for citizens to engage in racist talk in their own homes.
Following the Lawrence verdicts, Trevor Phillips, high priest of the Equality and Human Rights Commission boasted that racial prejudice is now seen "as a secular sin that is not to be tolerated".
Very interesting - but a clever person once observed that those who shout loudest for tolerance are the most intolerant, Trevor!
However, the biggest moment in Macpherson is that his report led to New Labour overturning the Double-jeopardy rule via the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Which means at acquittal you are only ever found provisionally not guilty under English law.
12/11/11
Total Policing: did we vote for that?
This page is not called Police Nation for nothing. It's purpose is to highlight Britain's stealth like creep towards a police state, under the guise of safeguarding law and order, and the fight against terrorism.
Three significant moments
On Wednesday, students and others protesting in London were subject to what can only be described as a moving corral. Four thousand police offices were deployed to encircle the 5000 protesters. Letters were sent out to activists arrested on previous marches, warning of the consequences of attending. Leaflets were issued telling marchers how they were expected to behave. And crucially, prior to the march, protesters were informed that police would use plastic bullets as necessary. Plain clothes officers were grabbing protestors, using a section 60 order empowering officers to force the removal of masks (on pain of arrest).
Protesters were also informed, via Twitter and megaphone, after the march started that the gathering at London Wall, the end of the march, would be limited to two hours. Anyone over staying would fall foul of the Public Order Act.
In the event, a breakaway group, attempting to set up tents in Trafalgar Square were arrested under that Act.
All of this represents Met Chief Hogan-Howe's idea of 'total policing'. Except that currently it's a bit less than total. However, Teresa May will soon re-introduce powers under the Riot Act to police, at Superintendent level, to remove the public from a specific location.
On Thursday, Home Secretary, Theresa May outlawed Muslims Against Crusades (MAC), for 'glorification of terrorism' under the 2000 Terrorism Act. MAC were set to disrupt Friday's Armistice Day ceremonies, with a lot of shouting and burning of poppies.
The MAC is the fifth incarnation of Anjem Choudary's sharia fantasy, the others are Al Ghurabaa, The Saved Sect, Al-Muhajiroun and Islam4UK.
Choudary told the media, who just love the man...
"I think it is an abject failure of democracy and it is a victory for sharia Muslims. The truth is something the government would rather silence."
So thanks to May's ban on Muslims Against Crusades Hogan-Howe was left free to devote all his attention on Friday to the English Defence League.
For reasons best known to the EDL they were in the vicinity of the Armistice Day ceremonies. Perhaps, the EDL thought that Muslims Against Crusades might turn up for some fisticuffs, despite their ban. In the event the police turned up and arrested them all. For effect, let's repeat that, every EDL follower was corralled, processed and arrested. What were these EDL members doing that inspired the thin blue line to swing into action? Nothing! Apparently, they were arrested by virtue of the fact that they were there.
The police, we are being told, was responding to an "imminent" breach of the peace.
Apparently, the EDL was set to launch an attack on the St Paul's Occupy LSX Camp. Oddly, the EDL had decided that St Paul's was 'their' church and they would not tolerate a bunch of hippies making it look untidy.
In the foregoing instances the forces of law and order have not introduced much, if anything, that's new. What is new is the use of existing tactics and powers that in the past it was not deemed necessary to employ.
The strident pronouncements of politicians and police have set the tone for future developments. Extreme views, no matter what the source, will not be tolerated. Protest will be conducted according to rules stipulated Hogan-Howe.
Three cheers for democracy....
Many, who think of themselves as democrats and liberals, may well have applauded State actions over the past few days. We do not see much to cheer.
Last year, the student demo in London had a turn out of some 50,000. Has last year's rage over the lost of ESA and the staggering increases in student fees evaporated so soon. Or could it be that many decent kids were frightened away by Hogan-Howe's boys with their plastic bullets.
Theresa May's populist ban on Muslims Against Crusades was an exercise in futility. We need to hear the voices of people like Anjem Choudary. Choudary's is the voice of Islam as a political ideology. So-called moderate muslims may not buy into it but they're in denial. When it comes to Islam you can't pick and choose which bit you want to subscribe to, it's not a Sky TV package; you're automatically signed up to the Large package. Moderate British politicians and citizens who want to silence Choudary are no less in denial: if you genuinely want democracy, then you take the whole package.
The arrest of the 170 members of the EDL, who decided to have a few beers at the Red Lion, before moving on to St. Paul's is really a lesson in tactical error. However, the EDL also has a voice that needs to be heard because they believe that they represent a commonsense, working class, right-minded, flag of St. George approach to things. The EDL have not been banned yet but arresting them for turning up is a bit rich. Are we likely to see this idea of "imminent" breach of the peace being applied generally.
Today the EDL, tomorrow, the arrest of the radical wing of the Save Our Public Toilets Campaign, as they exit Green Park tube station, heading for their advertised 'let's piss in the park' gathering.
The Ministry of Gimmicks is proud to present its new police website
February 1, Teresa May, Home Secretary defended spending £300,000 on the development of the new police.uk website by telling the press, that the aim was to empower people, to make them feel that something was being done about crime, and to make them feel that they were a part of what was happening. (Note to self - something is happening?)
The website enables citizens to see how much crime has been reported in their area. All very interesting but this only tells citizens about reported crime, nothing about arrests or convictions following those reports is available on the site.
All very silly really, when you consider that in some areas the anxious might be on the phone all day reporting hooligans playing football in the street. Or sensitive types might report being assaulted, i.e. pushed whilst trying to board an overcrowded bus. The site would be marginally useful if it broke down the degree of seriousness allotted by the police to particular types of reported incidents.
So a neighbourhood might appear to be particularly anti-social or violent when in fact the incidents reported are relatively minor.
One policeman, attempting to be helpful, suggested that the public should phone the local police station and someone would be on hand to explain how the crime reports are compiled. This man clearly had a sense of humour. Would it have been been beyond the wit of the site designers to include such information as a part of the service.
However, far from empowering people this new Tory gimmick is more likely to frighten people, when they discover they are living in a crime hot spot. One thing is for certain it will not do much to improve their house price.
According to Nick Herbert, he's apparently the Policing Minister, "the site will provide real facts and figures and will make the police more accountable". Nick must have left his thinking cap at home; what is the point of knowing how many crimes have been reported in a given area and how does recording crime make the police accountable?
Alright it's well known that historically the police have not been that good of keeping a tally of reported crimes, well if you have no intention of doing anything about a problem, i.e. anti-social behaviour directed against a single mother with a handicapped daughter, then best not to keep a note of things.
The only statistic anyone needs to consider is this:
For every 100 reported crimes, only three lead to a conviction.
Met Gets Tough on the Reporting of Crime
Last week, when they gave the top job in the Met to Bernard Hogan-Howe he appeared to be a good choice. Well, that was last week. He has now revealed himself to be a bigger twit than Inspector Clouseau. H-H tried to use the Official Secrets Act to make a Guardian reporter hand over her notebooks concerning the way the Met handled the phone hacking scandal.
Now, the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone was either a matter of national security or it was as the Guardian revealed, that the police considered the Dowler hacking "gratuitous" and not worth pursuing. The latter was very embarrassing for the Met, given the public outcry. A bit of damage limitation might have been called for by the Met's new man, not blatant idiocy.