• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Dumb Cops

Ronson8 said:
Vimto police probe cost £200,000

British Transport Police reportedly spent £200,000 investigating officers for "stealing" five bottles of Vimto which they had found.

Two transport officers found the soft drink cordial in a cardboard box beside a railway line, according to The Sun.

Police rules say they should have booked it in as lost or stolen property but they decided to share it with colleagues instead.

When it was spotted in a mess room cupboard the constables were suspended on full pay for 18 months.

The case was later dropped but they were then fined four days' wages, £400 each, for a minor breach of police rules.

Insiders told The Sun that the case, in Stockport, Manchester, had cost taxpayers £200,000 in wages and legal fees.

A source told the newspaper: "These guys and their families were put through hell for something trivial."

Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "This is an absurd and shocking waste of taxpayers' money and utter incompetence on behalf of the senior officers involved."
Click to expand...

If you drink 5 bottles of 'VIMTO' that you find by a railwayline then you deserve to be sacked, these are supposed to be police officers and the next thing you know they will be drinking lorry driver tizer that they find at the side of the road. :roll:
 
The Police often give the public safety warnings on this and that, so this is inexcusable:

Police dogs die in parked vehicle

Two police dogs have died in a hot vehicle parked outside the headquarters of Nottinghamshire Police.

An RSPCA officer was called to the Sherwood Lodge headquarters in Arnold on Tuesday and found two German shepherd dogs dead.

An independent vet is carrying out post-mortem tests to establish how the animals died.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has launched an investigation into the incident.

Nottinghamshire's Assistant Chief Constable, Peter Davies, said: "This is a tragic incident and we value the important work our police dogs carry out on a daily basis.

"That is why we swiftly reported this incident to the RSPCA and we will be working with them very closely."

In a statement Nottinghamshire Police said the welfare of all animals owned by them was, "of paramount importance and we endeavour to take every measure possible to ensure their well-being and safety".

The force refused to say what kind of vehicle was involved.

Nottinghamshire vet Andrew Wilson said: "The dehydration would have been a big factor.

"They wouldn't be able to cool themselves because panting wouldn't be effective any more, there would be no evaporation from the tongue.

"As the core temperature rose as a result of that, and the brain temperature rose, the brain would cease to function and various other organs would fail. This happens certainly within 30 minutes".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nott ... 129826.stm

:evil:
 
Police firearms instructor shot civilian with Magnum during role-play at safety lecture
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:50 PM on 23rd July 2009

A police firearms instructor accidentally shot and badly injured a civilian worker at a firearms awareness session at its HQ.
Keith Tilbury was blasted through the liver at close range by firearms officer PC David Micklethwaite, in front of horrified colleagues. :shock:
The bullet from the Magnum .44 revolver - described as 'the most powerful handgun in the world' by Clint Eastwood's uncompromising policeman Dirty Harry - passed through Mr Tilbury and the chair he was sitting on, lodging in the seat behind.
Mr Tilbury was blown off his chair and thrown half way across the room.

Today, at Southwark Crown Court, Thames Valley Police admitted it was in the wrong over the safety lapses which allowed the incident to take place.
Pc Micklethwaite, who is being prosecuted alongside his employers in a case brought by the Health and Safety Executive, denied the charge against him and will be sent for trial.
He is accused on one count of failing to discharge the duty imposed upon him under Section Three of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Thames Valley Police was charged under Section Seven of the same act, of failing in its duty as an employer.

Deputy Chief Constable Francis Habgood said: 'Whatever the individual actions involved in the shooting of Keith Tilbury on May 30, 2007, Thames Valley Police has always accepted that the incident should never have happened.
'Health and Safety legislation requires organisations to ensure that their staff are not exposed to risks that could reasonably have been avoided and we take this responsibility very seriously.
'Our guilty plea today is an acceptance that additional control measures could have prevented the shooting.'

He added that after the incident measures were taken to prevent a repeat of the incident and those steps had been endorsed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the Health and Safety Executive.

Mr Tilbury was horrifically injured in the shooting and his recovery was hampered by infection.
He has since received a compensation payout from the police.
Pc Micklethwaite was moved to non-firearms duty but does not face any criminal prosecution.

Mr Habgood added: 'Several people have been personally affected by this incident and we continue to provide support to all of them.
'Of course, the most significant of these is Keith and his family and I want to reiterate the apology from Thames Valley Police that has already been personally delivered by the Chief Constable.'

The case against 52-year-old Pc Micklethwaite, a police firearms instructor, is that he failed to check the ammunition he had brought into the awareness session for the call centre staff.
When putting rounds into the revolver he believed they were dummy ammunition but they turned out to be live, with almost fatal consequences.
Thames Valley Police is due to be sentenced on September 17

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... cture.html
 
Plastic bobbies now used to pick up litter
Community support officers, introduced deter criminals and supplement police patrols, are being used to pick up litter, it has emerged.
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Published: 5:47PM BST 26 Aug 2009

Kent Police diverted two PCSOs, who are paid for by the taxpayer, to clear streets – in an area where car crime alone has increased by 11 per cent.

Rank and file police leaders said the move was a “gimmick” and that policing had “lost the plot”.

And local residents said it should be criminals collecting litter while PCSOs, who can earn £20,000 a year, focus on tackling crime.

It is the latest embarrassment for community officers, who have been dubbed “plastic bobbies” since David Blunkett introduced them as Home Secretary in 2002.

Armed with litter-pickers and black bin bags, PCSOs James Bateman and Margaret Rose took to the streets of Lordswood, in Chatham, Kent, to clear up sweet wrappers and crisp packets.

The two even proudly posed for a photo after clearing four streets and an alleyway.

In the meantime, car crime in the area increased by more than 11 per cent to 106 crimes last year.

Overall, there were 428 in the ward of Lordswood and Capstone in the past year.

Ian Pointon, chairman of the Kent Police Federation said: "This will undermine the public's confidence in what we are trying to achieve – it's just a gimmick.

"Increasingly it seems policing has lost the plot in this country – it's about time we got back to basics and do what we are here for.”

Mark Wallace, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group, said: "Councils already employ people to do this and PCSOs are needed in the fight against crime.

"If they have nothing better for them to do they should get rid of them, cut taxes, and get some proper police officers." :twisted:

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... itter.html
 
Dutch police in cannabis mix-up

A triumph for Dutch police quickly turned out to be an embarrassing mistake after they destroyed what they thought was a field of cannabis plants.

Police on Wednesday announced they had discovered a plantation of some 47,000 illicit cannabis plants with a street value of 4.4m euros ($6.3m; £3.8m).

They had destroyed much of the crop when they were told the plants belonged to a respected school of agriculture. :shock:

They were a type of hemp, being grown as a fibre for use in textiles. :roll:

Hemp is related to cannabis, but contains only trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive substance found in marijuana.

They were being grown in the field near Lelystad, Flevoland province under licence by researchers from Wageningen University who were studying the hemp variety as a potential sustainable source of textiles.

"The street value from a drug point of view is less than zero," the university's Simon Vink told AP news agency.

Under Dutch law, cannabis is a controlled substance, and its large-scale production is illegal.

However a policy of tolerance is applied to individual users.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8237006.stm
 
Police firearms teacher who shot civilian with Magnum in classroom had 'failed instructor course'
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:54 PM on 18th September 2009

A police firearms instructor accidentally gunned down a civilian worker during a classroom demonstration after failing a training course, a court heard.

PC David Micklethwaite, 52, blasted telephone operator Keith Tilbury at point blank range after mistakenly loading a live round into a 'Dirty Harry' style .44 Magnum revolver.
The victim was taken to hospital where doctors performed life-saving surgery on his bowel and kidney.
Mr Tilbury, 51, did not regain consciousness for 12 days, and has never returned to work.

Micklethwaite, a firearms instructor with Thames Valley Police, faces a massive fine after admitting breaching Health and Safety laws.
He shot Mr Tilbury while attempting to show civilian recruits how the chamber spins in a Magnum made famous by Clint Eastwood.
When he reached into a Quality Street tin Thames Valley's armourers used to keep assorted ammunition, he grabbed a live round.
Thames Valley, which has also admitted breaching the Health and Safety Act, could be hit with an unlimited financial punishment.

Prosecutor Richard Matthews told Southwark Crown Court that Micklethwaite had failed part of a firearms instructor course organised by the Metropolitan Police.
But after considering the matter, Thames Valley Police put the failure down to a procedural difference between the two forces.
'It was felt that if he underwent a development plan, he would pass the course,' the prosecutor said.
But when the certificate was eventually issued, Micklethwaite had not taken any development course.
Mr Matthews said that when interviewed the constable was asked about the Met firearms training course and insisted he 'thought he had passed'. :roll:

He also told officers there were a 'million and one reasons' why he thought he was handling blank ammunition.

But the barrister told Judge Nicholas Lorraine-Smith if the defendant 'had looked closely' he would have realised the round he put into the Magnum was live.

Nicholas Pardoe, representing Micklethwaite, said his client wished to 'take this opportunity to issues a heartfelt apology to all those affected by this incident'.

etc...


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0RXedRoSg
 
Litter-picking is not a waste of time. Wilson and Kelling's 'Broken Windows' (1982) describes how, when an neighbourhood becomes neglected and run-down, crime and disorder increase.

Here's a famous quote -

...consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.
Click to expand...

Many local authorities in several countries have tried tackling crime by improving the environment in crummy areas: it's usually found to work well.
Local people, noticing the improvement, begin to take pride in their area again and feel ownership of it, rather than abandoning it to vandals and muggers.

So setting community support officers on a highly visible task like cleaning up the environment is a perfect use of their time, backed up by both theoretical criminology and empirical observation of actual policy. :D

Edit: here's how Kent Police are putting the 'Broken Windows' theory into action, although they're concentrating on harassment offences rather than vandalism.

A pioneering drive by one of Britain's biggest police forces to tackle antisocial behaviour and low-level offending is being linked to a massive reduction in crime and people's fear of crime – the elusive combination perennially sought by ministers.

Officers in Kent are attributing a virtuous set of crime-fighting and performance figures to the creation of neighbourhood task teams, units specifically tasked to deal with antisocial behaviour, vandalism, petty offending and nuisance issues flagged up by the public.
Click to expand...
 
'Naked police run' investigated

Australian police are investigating whether officers ran naked round an unmarked police van as they travelled to a stag party.

The incident was reported by a woman who saw two men get out of the van at traffic lights in Brisbane on Sunday afternoon.

When police checked the licence plate number, they realised it was a police vehicle, Australian media reported. :shock:

The officers were said to be "very remorseful".

They were reportedly from the elite Special Emergency Response Team, used in situations involving explosives and hostage negotiation.

Commissioner Bob Atkinson said: "There is no excuse for this."

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said that due to the nature of their jobs, the officers were usually on call 24 hours a day and did not usually drink alcohol.

"Their actions on Sunday are completely out of character and they are very remorseful," he was quoted by the Brisbane Times as saying.

Queensland Police Service ethical standards command is investigating the report.

The officers could be charged with wilful exposure and public nuisance, and face disciplinary action ranging from a caution to being fired.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 268399.stm
 
'Victory for common sense': Charges dropped against father arrested for confronting yobs
By Andrew Levy
Last updated at 8:56 AM on 30th September 2009

A father arrested after confronting teenage yobs who pelted his house with apples claimed a 'victory for common sense' yesterday when a court case against him was dropped.
Roland Digby, 49, was charged with common assault after he approached the gang and tried to restrain a youth in an attempt to make a citizen's arrest.

He was forced to retreat after 15 other teenagers joined the fray, leaving him with a split lip.
Five days later two police officers arrived at his home in Royston, Hertfordshire, and arrested him for common assault.
He spent several hours in a cell, had to make one court appearance, and lost three days of work before the Crown Prosecution Service discontinued the case yesterday as there was no realistic prospect of a prosecution.

Mr Digby, a father of three, immediately accused Hertfordshire Police of 'hounding me when they could have been catching real criminals'.
The courier driver added: 'Common sense seems to have at last prevailed. It's just a shame they had to put myself and my family through this first.
'It all comes down to the fact police did not come and get both sides of the story before they charged me.

'I had to spend five hours in a police cell when they first arrested me. I have never been in trouble in my life and I should not have gone through that.
'It was madness they even charged me and clearly madness they took me to court. This has been hanging over me for almost a month - it's been terrifying.'

Mr Digby was forced to take matters into his own hands after three consecutive nights of terror at the hands of the gang.
They first threw crab apples at his house on August 31, and again on September 1.
He and his wife Janette, 44, called the police but officers arrived hours later when the teenagers were nowhere to be seen.

When the youths returned for a third night the couple made four increasingly desperate 999 calls before Mr Digby marched outside to find who was responsible.

He approached a group around a quarter of a mile from his home and tried to apprehend one teenager by placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.
When a scuffle broke out he put the boy in a half-nelson armlock 'to make sure he didn't get away' but other members of the gang rounded on him and he was forced to leave nursing the cut lip.

It wasn't until September 7 that two police officers arrived at his house and arrested him for the level of restraint he used on the boy.
When he refused to accept a caution he was charged with common assault.
He publicly declared he would plead not guilty prior to a hearing at Stevenage Magistrates Court on September 24 and the case was adjourned to give the prosecution more time to consider their case.

Explaining yesterday's decision to drop the charges, the chief Crown prosecutor for Hertfordshire, David Robinson, said: 'There was insufficient evidence to prove that Mr Digby used unreasonable and excessive force or that he was acting unreasonably.

'Reasonable force can be used in self-defence, defence of property, prevention of crime, or when making a lawful arrest.'

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0Sa3HN6Rq
 
Police officers warned of 'slippery leaves' and 'bright sunshine' in new seasonal safety leaflet
By Rebecca Camber
Last updated at 12:56 AM on 30th October 2009

Police have been told to watch out for a peril which could lurk around every corner - wet leaves.

In a health and safety campaign, bobbies on the beat are being warned to beware 'slippery leaves' in autumn, snow in winter, 'sudden downpours' in spring and even the sun in summer.
But the seasonal poster campaign by West Midlands Police has angered officers, who say it is just 'stating the bleeding obvious'.

It comes after the force, which is Britain's second largest with 8,460 officers, saw the number of accidents rocket from 787 officers injured in 2002-3 to 1,411 in 2008-9.
That is almost double the number of officers injured when they were assaulted on duty, which stood at 822 in 2008-9.
Between April and August this year, 66 police officers and 17 members of police staff reported slipping, tripping or falling on duty.
In a bid to tackle the problem, the force will launch a series of seasonal poster campaigns in November.

A report from the force's personnel committee seen by the industry magazine Police Review states: 'It is intended that a series of four seasonal campaigns will be introduced throughout the forthcoming months.
'As the winter approaches, a campaign dedicated to slips, trips and falls and adverse weather conditions will be introduced in November based on safety awareness posters.
'The other seasons introduce their own seasonal risk, for example heat stress in the summer and impaired visibility through sunshine; in autumn, slippery surfaces due to leaves, sun at low point in sky affecting visibility; and in spring, sudden downpours.'

But critics accused police chiefs of ' nannying' officers and wasting taxpayers' money.
Andy Gilbert, chairman of West Midlands Police Federation, told Police Review: 'While we welcome anything that enhances officer safety, there is a clear danger here of being patronising and stating the bleeding obvious.'
A spokesman for the TaxPayers' Alliance called the initiative 'absurd'.
Yesterday a spokesman for West Midlands Police said the force would now consider emailing officers with the advice rather than printing posters. :roll:

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0VPOIwNSG
 
Police to be given a 93 page manual on how to ride a bike
Police officers are to be given a two volume guide, which runs into 93 pages, on how to ride a bicycle.
Published: 7:00AM GMT 12 Nov 2009

The official Police Cycle Training Doctrine, which cost thousands of pounds to produce, gives full instructions on how to balance, stop and get off a bike safely.

Officers are also given a step-by-step guide on how to brake and avoid obstacles like kerbs and rocks, and are also warned not to tackle criminals while "still engaged with the cycle".

Volume two of the booklet tackles manoeuvres such as deployment into a junction" , or how to turn left and right into a corner, complete with a handy diagram.

The "mandatory" national guide, drawn up by the Association of Chief Police Officers, has been heavily ridiculed.

TaxPayers' Alliance campaign director Mark Wallace told The Sun: "This is an absurd waste of police time and thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money.

"Police officers are perfectly capable of riding a bike. It's no wonder we haven't enough on the beat if they are having to spend time and energy wading through this nonsense."

A Home Office source added: "Most of the red tape the police complain about is actually created by the cops themselves. This is a particularly bad example."

The guide has been drafted, but it has not yet been published and distributed among officers.

An ACPO spokeswoman said: "This guidance may have been drawn up by ACPO but we haven't fully approved it yet."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... -bike.html

This post and the previous one suggest that all the life-experiences that most of us learn in our childhood have somehow been missed out on by our police. Perhaps the selection procedure should be tightened up. How about adding these questions to police application forms:
"Do you know the difference between summer and winter?"
"Can you ride a bike?"
:twisted:
 
Suspected bank robber caught on camera eating demands note
A suspected bank robber was caught on camera apparently eating his demands note shortly after police handcuffed him.
Published: 5:45PM GMT 23 Nov 2009

On Thursday a man entered a First Merit bank in Streetsboro, Ohio, and handed a worker a note that said he would shoot her if she did not give him money, police said.

Shortly after the robbery occurred, police arrested John H Ford, 35, who was driving on a motorway towards neighbouring Twinsburg.

Police handcuffed Mr Ford and were searching him for weapons when, according to images captured by a camera fixed to the dashboard of the car, the suspect gobbled up a piece of paper an officer had just removed from his pocket.

Police in Streetsboro, Ohio said the note was the same as that handed to a bank teller hours earlier demanding cash.

Police appear not to notice as Mr Ford tucked into the note as they were busy searching the suspect for weapons.

Daniel Biada, a Twinsburg police officer, said: "As we're searching him, officers are removing items and throwing them on the cruiser hood.

"We're searching him for weapons. We're not looking at his head."

The whereabouts of the note demanding money came into question after the suspect was taken into custody on Thurdsay and investigators asked whether officers had found the piece of paper.

Police only discovered that Mr Ford had eaten it when they reviewed the images captured on camera.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... -note.html
 
Rock band The Thirst held at gunpoint in pub car park after police error
Police have apologised for arresting members of the The Thirst – an forthcoming rock band who have supported the Rollings Stones and the Sex Pistols – at gunpoint after a concert.
By Matthew Moore
Published: 7:59AM GMT 30 Nov 2009

Staffordshire officers used dogs, a helicopter and a fleet of vehicles to swoop on the musicians as they loaded instruments back into their cars.

"It was like something out of a film," bassplayer Kwame Cofi-Agyeman told The Times.

"I felt very nervous because I could see that the guys holding the guns were shaking. I had a gun pressed against my neck. This guy had my life in his hands and his hands were shaking."

The band, from Brixton in south London, accused officers of racial stereotyping after the incident on Nov 21, during which they were detained overnight and had their fingerprints and DNA taken.

While the four black band members and their manger were loaded into a police van and given no food in the cells, a white friend who was also arrested was allowed to travel in a police car and offered a meal.

"I'm not trying to play the race card but I couldn't help thinking race had something to do with it," the friend, Johnny Morton-Clark, told The Times.

Police were sent to arrest the four-piece after a CCTV operator reported seeing a handgun in their car after their performance at the Oak put in Burntwood. Searches revealed there was no weapon, but the men were not released for another 15 hours.

Staffordshire Police initially claimed that its officers acted "appropriately and proportionately", but a senior officer has now written to the six men to apologise.

Jane Sawyers, the assistant chief constable, wrote: "We totally got this wrong and I totally accept that the sighting of a handgun was a mistake."

The band, who describe their music as a blend of indie, soul and rock, said they are considering legal action and may lodge a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/musi ... error.html
 
US policeman 'draws gun' at Washington snowball fight
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8423705.stm

Washington has been hit by one of the biggest snowstorms in its history
Police in the US are investigating a detective who appears to draw his gun during a mass snowball fight on the streets of Washington DC.

Video taken at the scene shows people pelting a man with snowballs after his car, a Hummer, gets stuck in the snow.

The man - not in uniform at the time - then appears to pull out a gun while an angry crowd gathers and chants: "Don't bring a gun to a snowball fight."

DC police refused to comment, telling the BBC an investigation was under way.

'Don't shoot'

At one point on the video - shown on YouTube - the man identifies himself as a "detective", but refuses to give his full name.

Then he proceeds to admit to pulling his gun.

"Yes I did because I got hit by snowballs," he tells angry residents who demand to know his badge number.

Images and video appear to show him exposing his gun briefly, always pointing towards the snow on the ground.

Panicked residents shout, "He's got a gun," but others continue to lob snowballs his way.

The confrontation, which took place on Saturday, ended only when other policemen were despatched to the scene, and managed to calm everyone down.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan police, Det Kenny Bryson, told the BBC on Sunday that he would not comment on the allegations and refused to identify the officer involved.

Det Bryson said the department was looking into the allegations of misconduct but that there was "nothing further" to report.
Click to expand...
 
I think this one is pretty self explanatory:

Bungling cops raid wrong houses

Bungling cops battered down the doors of two houses on the same street... but got both addresses wrong.
Police armed with search warrants were faced with frightened and bemused residents after bursting into the homes on Clifford Street in South Elmsall near Pontefract.

Allan Cowell, 38, was helping daughters, Leah, seven, and Nina, four, get ready for school, when police raided his house in the morning on Monday, December 14.

Mr Cowell said: "My daughters looked very stunned, I had to comfort them. They had a search until they realised they had the wrong house.

"They made the door secure when they left, it's still a bit smashed. They said to see the landlord and bill the police for it.

He added: "I don't want this to happen to anyone else."

Diane Wood, 57, was home with her 18- year-old grandson, Kieran Osborne, when her home was raided by police.

She said: "I was in the kitchen when I heard a banging. My grandson was in bed, they went into his bedroom, asked his name and the number of the house.

"The man did apologise and a policewoman sat with me for five minutes when they realised they had the wrong house.

"My landlord put a new door on straight away but it's the shock. I'm mad and upset about it. I was crying and shaking, I was ina right panic."

Police have apologised and said a local neighbourhood police team inspector would be speaking to those affected.

A spokesman said: "Planned warrants were being executed at addresses in South Elmsall. Due to an error, officers unfortunately attended wrong addresses on Clifford Street.

"This is a very rare occurrence. We apologised immediately to the occupants and immediately arranged for the necessaryrepair work to be carried out."
Click to expand...

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 5925807.jp
 
Police count who they meet in new red tape farce
Thousands of police officers are having to count how many people they meet each day or leaflets they hand out in a new red-tape farce, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Published: 7:30AM GMT 29 Dec 2009

Police and civilian community support officers are spending the last hour of their shift behind a desk explaining who they met or meetings they attended – instead of being out on patrol.

In an absurd twist, staff in Neighbourhood Policing Teams are coming off the street to account for their movements so they can demonstrate they are meeting a national pledge of being visible to the public. :madeyes:

It means the very officers who have been tasked with restoring traditional community policing under the Home Office’s flagship initiative are spending at least an eighth of their time in paperwork.

The latest bureaucracy was discovered by Jan Berry, the Government’s police red-tape tsar, who criticised senior officers for still being obsessed with “easy-to-count” targets.

Rank and file officers said it was “madness” while campaigners labelled it “pointless and patronising”.

The Home Office insisted there was no requirement from Whitehall to carry out such form-filling.

The problem centres on one of the Government’s ten new Policing Pledges designed to make forces more accountable and accessible to the public.

It promises that each local Neighbourhood Policing Team, made up of regular officers and CSOs, will spend at least 80 per cent of their time “visibly working in your neighbourhood”.

There are an estimated 13,000 officers and 16,000 CSOs in 3,600 neighbourhood teams across England and Wales.

Miss Berry, the former Police Federation chairman, said forces were concerned how they would demonstrate they were meeting such a pledge.

As a result, officers in some constabularies have to log their daily movements which she attacked as “simply counting numbers” rather than showing anything that was achieved by it.

Miss Berry said: “Officers are having to justify and demonstrate what they are doing with their time. That can mean detailing how many leaflets they handed out, how many people they have spoken to, how many meetings they attended.

"It is just a very shallow way of trying to demonstrate that they are doing something useful without actually demonstrating anything."

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... farce.html
 
I think its funny but I guess they were dumb to let themselves be filmed.


Oxford riot shield sledging police officers reprimanded
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 458822.stm

A Thames Valley Police officer uses a riot shield to sledge in the snow

Police officers filmed using riot shields to sledge down a snowy hill while on duty have been reprimanded.

The footage of a group of officers on Boars Hill, Oxford, was taken by Rick Latham on Tuesday. He posted it on the file-sharing website YouTube.

Mr Latham said they were only there for a few minutes and praised the officers for having a "sense of humour".

Supt Andrew Murray said those involved have been spoken to and advised that their actions were a "bad idea".

But the local policing area commander added that the snow had "a habit of bringing out the child in all of us".

"I have spoken to the officers concerned and reminded them in no uncertain terms that tobogganing on duty, on police equipment and at taxpayers' expense is a very bad idea should they wish to progress under my command," Supt Murray added.

Since I've put the footage up lots have people have commented saying how good it is to see officers having a sense of humour
Rick Latham

Mr Latham, 50, from Oxford, said he was on the hill when the officers came over.

"I thought they were going to tell us off at first," Mr Latham told BBC News.

"But they had a look at the hill and two of them went down on their shields.

"They were jovial and it was nice to see officers taking time out to get involved.

"They were only there for a few minutes so I don't think they should be criticised.

"Since I've put the footage up lots have people have commented saying how good it is to see officers having a sense of humour.

"It makes a change of the image you usually read about."
Click to expand...
 
Driver parked in front of speed camera gets tickets
A driver was twice sent speeding tickets after parking in front of a camera because police officers failed to notice his vehicle was stationary, it has emerged.
Published: 11:11AM GMT 21 Jan 2010

Jeff Buck parks in front of the camera outside his home on Watnall Road, Nottingham, because he does not have a drive or a garage.

But he has been sent two speeding fines by Nottinghamshire Police.

The mix-ups happened because officers failed to spot his car was parked as another vehicle triggered the camera by breaking the 30mph speed limit.

Police have apologised to 55-year-old Mr Buck after he successfully contested the fines.

He told the Nottingham Evening Post: ''I assumed the first time it happened that the police would put something in place to prevent it from happening again.

''I'm concerned now that every time someone triggers the camera I'll get these notices. I am amused by it, but also angry that I have to go to the trouble of contacting the police.''

Mr Buck received his most recent apology on Monday after he asked to see photographic evidence that his Vauxhall Zafira was doing 37mph along Watnall Road on December 13.

A spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire Police said the camera wasn't faulty and staff were being given guidance about the importance of verifying images properly.

She added: ''We hope that residents in this area appreciate that the camera is there to reduce the number of speeding motorists. We have written to Mr Buck to offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.''

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... ckets.html
 
Re: Road safety?

Mighty_Emperor said:
One Way of Promoting Traffic Safety...

Tue Jul 20,12:08 PM ET

Add Oddly Enough - Reuters to My Yahoo!

PRAGUE (Reuters) - A Czech police officer took a police campaign to cut traffic accidents a little too far when he shot at a pedestrian who crossed a road on a red light.

The policeman in the western city of Pilsen first fired a warning shot in the air. But when the man refused to return to the pavement, the officer shot at him twice but missed, the online edition of the Czech daily Pravo said.

No one was injured. The police officer faces a criminal investigation.
Click to expand...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...&u=/nm/20040720/od_nm/odd_czech_pedestrian_dc
Click to expand...

Was this cops family name Dredd???
 
Don't expect us to attend every 999 call... says chief constable whose force finds cash to run a police dog blog
By James Slack
Last updated at 2:02 AM on 05th February 2010

A chief constable is in hot water for saying police cannot attend every 999 call - and most people do not expect them to.

Cambridgeshire's Julie Spence made the claim after a judge criticised her force for its 'indifferent' response to a man who reported an attacker hiding behind his house who was 'coming for a fight'.

No officers were sent in response to the emergency call and the man was badly beaten.

Mrs Spence, who yesterday also came under fire for 'wasting money' on an internet blog supposedly written by a police dog, said 'a note of realism' was required. :rofl:

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0eeNsw1zu
 
A Cop Quango story:

Quango spends £750,000 on bridge to nowhere
David Leppard and Chris Williams

The quango charged with improving police efficiency has spent £750,000 on a project that involved restoring an ornamental bridge on the country estate it uses as a police training college.

Chief Constable Peter Neyroud, chief executive of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), oversaw the decision to spend taxpayers’ money on what a former agency official described as “a bridge to nowhere”.

The bridge, built as a folly in the late 1940s, is at Bramshill House, a listed Jacobean property at the agency’s 269-acre estate in Hampshire.

As well as paying contractors to take it down and rebuild it, the agency had to pay to round up a colony of great crested newts that lived in ponds by the bridge.

The agency admitted last week that it was under no obligation from English Heritage to restore the bridge. It said the work had been part of a project that involved repairing a leaky dam.

The £750,000 total bill for the project would be enough to pay the annual salaries of 35 frontline police constables.

The agency was set up three years ago to get better value from the government’s £9 billion policing budget :roll: , but it has attracted criticism over its use of public money.

Last December Neyroud admitted to MPs that his agency had “inherited a lot of bad consultancy”, spending £71m on consultants in one year. Some consultants were paid £2,000 to £3,000 a day, he said. :shock:

It emerged last month that the NPIA pays £23,000 a year for Neyroud to have the use of a flat in Westminster, and has met the £9,000 income tax bill on the perk. Neyroud also has the use of a flat overlooking the lake at Bramshill.

The quango used premium materials to resurface a mile-long driveway at a cost of £2m. It also spent £31,000 of public money on a black-tie dinner for senior officers in September 2007.

It has been told to cut its £550m-a-year budget, but has just embarked on a £25m refurbishment programme.

The NPIA denied it was wasting public money and said the main reason for spending £750,000 on the bridge project was because of the failure of the 400-year-old dam wall of the pond.

Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, said: “These revelations should force its board to put a stop to this kind of thing.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 026294.ece
 
Eye in the sky arrest could land police in the dock
Merseyside force trumpeted success but did not have permission to use surveillance drone
Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 February 2010 22.04 GMT

For Merseyside police, the "eye in the sky" arrest was a landmark moment in policing history. The force had managed to track down and apprehend a teenager who had fled from a presumed stolen Renault Clio, senior officers revealed, by using a remote-controlled flying robot equipped with thermal imaging cameras.

But the attempt to claim credit for the UK's first arrest using a surveillance drone backfired tonight after it emerged the force itself could face prosecution because officers flew the surveillance aircraft without permission – a criminal offence. :shock:

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which regulates UK airspace, confirmed it was investigating Merseyside police over the apparently unauthorised use of its drone to pursue the 16-year-old after he fled from a suspected stolen car in Bootle. It is one of three UK forces using the drones.

Officials from the regulator's Aviation Regulation Enforcement Department (ARE), which investigates and prosecutes alleged breaches of airspace, are investigating the incident, and Merseyside police has told regulators the drones have been grounded with immediate effect.

The CAA was tipped off by the Guardian after Merseyside police released a statement to the media last week declaring it had broken new ground by making an arrest using its newly acquired Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Police used the drone to pursue two suspects in the Clio on 26 January. Officers arrested a 20-year-old at the scene, and used the rotor-propelled drone to track the 16-year-old after he had sprinted off in the dark and hid in some bushes some 100 metres (300ft) away.

"The force is continually looking to use new technology to help in its fight against crime and these arrests demonstrate the value of having something like the UAV as a resource," Chief Inspector Nick ­Gunatilleke, from the force's Antisocial Behaviour Taskforce, which operates the drone, announced on Wednesday.

However, police appear to have ­overlooked the legislation that came into force this year, following concerns about the safety implications of flying unmanned aircraft in built-up areas.

In a statement tonight, the force said: "The CAA introduced new statutory regulations on 1 January 2010 which requires all UAVs to be licensed by the CAA before use. Since the force has known of the change in regulations all UAV flights have been suspended and will remain so until the appropriate licence has been granted."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/1 ... -backfires
 
"Since the force has known of the change in regulations all UAV flights have been suspended and will remain so until the appropriate licence has been granted."

Errrr... isn't the first thing the cops point out to you if you claim that you didn't know what you were doing was illegal is that ignorance of the law does not exempt you from prosecution?

Oh dear! :no-no:
 
Manchester police chief admits snowballing mistakes

The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police has criticised some of his officers for recording snowball throwing as "serious violent crime".

Peter Fahy said the officers concerned had failed to show any common sense.

During last month's cold spell, six snowball-throwing incidents were logged as serious violent crimes, although no-one was injured or arrested. :roll:

The classification is more often given to offences such as murder, rape and causing grievous bodily harm.

A spokesman for the force said the six incidents had been misreported by the officers and since rectified.

But speaking at a police authority meeting on Friday, Mr Fahy was scathing about the mistake.

He reportedly said some of his officers were too cautious in recording crimes as they were confused by government regulations and caught up in bureaucracy.

Mr Fahy, who took over as chief constable in 2008 after moving from neighbouring Cheshire, said he was trying to change the culture of over-recording crime in Manchester.

The chairman of the police authority, Paul Murphy, said: "I am disappointed some officers couldn't distinguish between different types of crime but the force's performance is improving significantly."

He added: "This constant measure of performance makes people nervous and indicates almost a lack of confidence, which says that what I will do, I'll report this and be safe. You know, it's disappointing that we're not using elements of common sense in this."

Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney said: "Due to the complexity of the Home Office Crime Categories, occasionally incidents could be classified as a serious violent crime when they are first reported but downgraded when an officer has visited the scene and established the actual circumstances.

"We are working with officers to ensure they know how to properly code crimes so they are an accurate reflection of the situation."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8526256.stm
 
Looks like West Yorkshire Police have really been busy with the balls ups:

Police kick door down by mistake and then apologise with flowers bearing wrong name

A young woman has slammed the police force who kicked her door in looking for a drug dealer who didn't live there and then apologised to her by giving her flowers addressed to the wrong person.

Naomi Tikva, 25, said: "Its appalling, it's a joke, they still didn't know who lived here. The West Yorkshire Police sent flowers to apologise for a mistake they made, and made another mistake.

"The officer came on Wednesday asking for Laura and I said 'my name isn't Laura, its Naomi'. He just took a card off the flowers and put it in his pocket and then handed me them.

"He never said my name, I don't think he even knew my name. They still didn't know who lives here.

"I phoned up and they apologised again, they told me that the police officer who entered my details was called Laura and that's where the confusion came from.

"It is a bit worrying if is this is West Yorkshire Police's intelligence, I don't feel safe."

Naomi was at work when the police raided her home on Tuesday morning and it was only when the cops contacted her boyfriend that she became aware of the situation.

"They had boarded up the front door with my two dogs inside assuming I would be able to use the back door - but it was bolted from the inside.

"They must have been terrified," she said.

It was only after Naomi's boyfriend Adam Vickers, 21, of Leeds,
unscrewed the board from the front of the house using a screwdriver he borrowed from a neighbour that they gained entry to get to Deano, an eight-month-old German Shepherd and Pebbles, a year-old border collie cross.

Naomi said the police have now told her she can get the door-fitters to invoice West Yorkshire police directly.
Click to expand...

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 6125240.jp

'Sting' cops arrest wrong man

Undercover police officers bought heroin from a drug dealer on 10 occasions – then arrested the wrong man.

But officers picked out a different man at an identity parade and arrested him instead.

Carr, 31, was eventually caught after the wrongly-arrested man was
shown the footage and identified him for them.

Leeds Crown Court heard how officers from Operation Greenhill rang a number called the Alf Dealer Line in December 2008 and arranged to collect a supply of heroin on Hill Street, Beeston.

Carr met the officers and handed over the drug in exchange for £50.
Duncan Ritchie, prosecuting, said Carr then supplied the undercover officers with heroin on nine separate occasions over the next five months.

One of the offences took place close to a school as it was open.

Mr Ritchie said: "Undercover footage was shot by the officers and it seems that the police wrongly identified somebody else before this defendant was found responsible."

Father-of-three Carr, of Woodlea Street, Beeston, was interviewed in September – four months after his last offence – where he admitted being responsible for the drugs.

He said he had got himself into £1,000 debt and had been forced into selling heroin to pay it off.

Carr told officers he had stopped selling the drug once his debt was cleared.

He pleaded guilty to 10 charges of supplying a class A drug.

The prosecutor told judge Christopher Batty that he had asked the police officers how the wrong man had been arrested.

But he said he did not want to state the reasons in open court.

The prosecutor was invited into the judge's chambers to provide the explanation after the hearing.

Steven Crossley, for Carr, said he had been told that test purchase officers had been taking part in a Viper parade and had identified someone else.

Viper – short for Video Identification Parade Electronic Recording – enables police to carry out identification parades via video recordings.

Jailing Carr for two years, judge Batty said: "It is just very sad. He has got a wife and three children and has got himself involved for six months or so in knocking out class A drugs.

"That's a very sad state of affairs."
Click to expand...

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 6122633.jp
 
I was just phoned up by the local plod. I'd had to call them out about some anti-social behaviour round here back in January, and they wanted to know if I had ten or fifteen minutes to answer questions on my satisfaction (or otherwise) with their handling of the case.

Now I don't want to sound like one of those people who moan about the cops always filling in forms instead of catching criminals, but I'd prefer they spent an extra fifteen minutes on the beat (preferably in my street ;) ).

So I just said I didn't have time, but I had no complaints.

....Except that now I feel I do! :evil:
 
But its all part of Performance Magement System or whatever the monster that is imposed on the local plods is called.
 
rynner2 said:
I was just phoned up by the local plod. I'd had to call them out about some anti-social behaviour round here back in January, and they wanted to know if I had ten or fifteen minutes to answer questions on my satisfaction (or otherwise) with their handling of the case.
Click to expand...
Interesting that I got that call the day before this news came out:

Police accused of failures over anti-social behaviour

The way the police in England and Wales deal with complaints of anti-social behaviour has been strongly criticised by the chief inspector of constabulary.

Denis O'Connor said the failure to properly record and tackle incidents undermined confidence in the police, and called for urgent improvements.

His comments came as the inspectorate published "report cards" on the performance of 43 forces.

Nottinghamshire and Greater Manchester received the lowest grades.

Nottinghamshire also recorded the highest rate of violent assaults.

The inspectorate found the way police databases logged information about reports of harassment, vandalism and verbal abuse was "inadequate".

Most police computer systems were unable to identify people who had been victims before or previously categorised as "vulnerable".

Mr O'Connor said: "It is like going back to the doctors' surgery but you see a different doctor every time.

"The more times they suffer, the less confidence people have. There are some heart-rending stories."

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme at least half of police forces found it "very difficult" to identify repeat victims of anti-social behaviour.

He said being unable to track a pattern of complaints made it hard to tackle the "chronic illness that causes corrosive harm in communities".

etc...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8560720.stm

Coincidence? Maybe not....

EDIT: Further down that page are the ratings for the various forces - ours gets Good, Good, and Fair.
 
Police miss bank robbery down the road and rush to branch in the wrong county
Bank workers held at gunpoint waited for more than an hour for police even though the police station was less than 100 yards away.
Published: 8:00AM GMT 13 Mar 2010

Officers were alerted to an armed raid at a Lloyds TSB branch in Henley-on-Thames, South Oxon, but instead scrambled to another bank more than 14 miles away in a different county. :shock:

Meanwhile, the armed thief walked out of the bank with tens of thousands of pounds.

Operators received a 999 call from employees at the branch moments after the robbery began.

Instead four Thames Valley Police cars rushed to Pangbourne in Berkshire - 30 minutes drive away.

By the time they located the scene of the crime the robber had escaped.

A police helicopter was scrambled to track-down the criminal, but he was not traced.

Thames Valley Police chiefs said an automatic alarm had sent officers to the branch in Pangbourne, Berks.

The force was criticised earlier this week after being rated "poor" - the bottom rank - at solving crimes by the Home Office and was told to take "immediate remedial action."

Chief Inspector Ian Beckett confirmed officers had been deployed to the Lloyds TSB in Pangbourne, Berks., just after 5pm on February 16, arriving eight minutes later.

"When they arrived it was clear that a robbery had not taken place at the address," he said.

"The correct address was then given to the officers and they were immediately deployed to the Lloyds TSB in Henley.

"The method of notification is an automated alarm system and as a result of this incident, the systems have been checked and rectified to ensure this does not happen again."

During the raid, the hooded gunman, who was dressed head-to-toe in black, persuaded a female bank worker to take him to a private room, before taping her to a chair and holding a handgun to her head.

He then forced another staff member to collect tens of thousands of pounds and put it in the holdall he was carrying.

The thug then walked out of the branch just after closing time - but the four police patrol cars did not arrive until more than an hour after the alarm was raised.

Police are appealing for any information about the robber, who is described as Asian, about 30 years of age and 5ft 8ins tall.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... ounty.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top