As far as I can tell, the tragic death of 60yr old Mr Michael Thompson in March 2016 was not widely covered by the media. An inquest in Southwark in 2017 returned a verdict that Mr Thompson had died an accidental death after he set fire to his own property whilst in mental health crisis at home. He died from the effects of smoke inhalation, bringing on a cardiac arrest, contributed to by his mental health crisis meaning he was unlikely to have understood what he was doing in setting the fire. It’s all kinds of tragic on its own, but in the 18hrs or so prior to the Fire Service pulling Mr Thompson from the building and beginning CPR, there was contact by the police and ambulance services and this was examined at the inquest. The court considered what powers, if any, may have been available to police and paramedics on scene the previous evening after Mr Thompson’s family had called 999 hoping somebody, somewhere could do something. This followed attempts to engage a GP or MH team, given previous mental health problems in...
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Blogs from Police &
other Emergency Service Workers
Police: The Right to Life
Police: JUSTICE NOT SEEN TO BE DONE
In the last couple of months media have been bombarded with stories of how throttling is to be made a crime, secret justice in the magistrates courts and that rape complainants [often wrongly written and spoken of as "victims"] will be offered opportunity to give evidence at a distance and /or to a court cleared of the public: all this whilst as a result of the deliberate policies during the last decade of slashing the MOJ...
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Police: WHEN IN ROME? MACCLESFIELD? DO AS THE TURKISH
It is of no great surprise when visual media covering visits of female royalty or lesser supposed personalities or leaders to middle eastern countries publish images of said visitors dressed in such a manner that we are told they are paying respect to the mores of those host countries. These outward manifestations of "respect" would often include the wearing of head coverings of a form associated with the Muslim religion and or trousers when that form of dress would be unusual in a western setting. Most observers would not in any way offer criticism. For mere mortals visiting such countries following local modesty rules is more than just out of politeness or respect it is an absolute necessity to avoid falling foul of local gendarmerie and a possible jail sentence or forced deportation. For visitors to this country or immigrants the British and especially Londoners are and have always been tolerant to seeing people attired in all manner of national costumes from the lavish colours of the silk...
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Police: A SNAPSHOT OF BRITISH JUSTICE 2021 STYLE
Being retired from any job allows time for some introspection. As a retired magistrate who has enjoyed sharing his opinions since 2009 this freedom has offered me opportunities to muse on matters of national importance and occasionally to comment [criticise?] on real time happenings at magistrates courts. Today`s effort is one of those times.
I was active when dedicated domestic violence courses became compulsory for any JP who sat or wished to sit in those courts. I recollect at the time that the providers were heavily dependent on statistics from USA and very much dedicated to male on female violations. I would imagine that such courses have been modified since then. However a recent case at Grays Magistrates Court caught my eye. As bad a case it is possible to be heard outside the crown court. Indeed from the report it seems it was undercharged resulting in a suspended custodial sentence for the offender. Readers can access the matter here and it is refreshing to note the detail often omitted...
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Police: RETIRED JP STILL BEHOLDEN TO JCIO
I sat on an inner city bench for seventeen years until enforced retirement allowed me to retain use of the J.P. suffix and automatically relegated me to the "supplemental list" where a very few magisterial functions were still within my authority. The most significant of those is the authority to countersign passport applications as countersignatories must either work in (*or be retired from) a recognised profession and Justice of the Peace is a recognised profession. Those on the supplemental list or retired magistrates cannot:-
Sit in a magistrates’ court to adjudicate on cases
Sign summonses or warrants, including search warrantsBe a member of any committee or any other body as a magistrate
Take part in the election of chairman or deputy chairman of any bench
Attend any formal or business meeting of their former bench
Countersign an application for a shotgun or firearms licence
Sign off statutory declarations
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Police: Chief’s blog: why Connect is critical
One of the areas we have talked about in the “This Work Matters” strategy is Precision Policing. We want to develop this concept to blend evidence based policing, our data capability with our need to be efficient in using resources and ensure communities are policed fairly. This requires us to be smart in understanding problems, setting objectives and ensuring resources are used well.
I mention this as I was thinking about this as I reached the final leg of my Connect Learning Journey this week and looked at the new Proactive Management Plans (PMP). Connect is critical to Precision Policing.
Yes – I have a Connect training journey of 19 lessons and around 8 hours! Connect is a huge change for WMP and everyone needs to understand it. This is critical for leaders. Some of you may have heard me say we need digital leaders not analogue managers. Leaders have core roles in Connect, but also need to understand how to exploit it to improve our policing and help all staff with new ways of...
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Police: MAGISTRATES COURTS MUST BECOME MORE INQUISITORIAL
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Police: CHIEFS AND INDIANS: TOO MANY OR TOO FEW?
I was never a management consultant or worked in HR but I was an employer who had at his maximum ten employees for whom I had to provide a safe, secure well organised working environment. Like any employer it was my responsibility to organise these people so that they and the business put their best endeavours forward for all to prosper. That included recognising and maximising the best abilities of each person. Even in such a small workforce the recognition in title and remuneration of outstanding talent was essential. In large national organisations huge departments of specialists are employed to do much the same and none more so than in police forces. To that end the 2020 ratio of serving officers was as below:-
5.39 constables/sergeant
3.33 sergeants/inspector
3.26 inspectors/chief inspector
1.85 chief inspectors/superintendent
2.97 superintendents/chief superintendent
1.36 chief superintendents/chief officer
These ratios are based on the chart below.
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Police: IS 99% CONVICTION RATE EVER JUSTIFIED?
It is not uncommon when reading legal reports from China that their conviction rate is around 99%. Most observers will remark that such a conviction rate reeks of a totalitarian system of government where the courts and the legal system are but servants of said government and that as a system of so called justice it fails miserably to reach even the lowest benchmarks regarded as indicative of a system which is free and open for all regardless of rank or position. In other words in plain English defendants are more or less rubber stamped as guilty even in the rare circumstances where they can offer a defence in the real meaning of that word as it applies we hope in this country. At the other end of the outcome scale there is a an apparent never ending complaint in this country that cases of rape are inefficiently investigated by police, undercharged by CPS and too often conclude with findings of not guilty. The question for all involved within the legal system is quite simply what is the "correct"...
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Police: MINISTRY OF JUSTICE IS JUST A SHADOW
I doubt there is a single reader of this blog who is unaware of the drastic reduction in legal aid for those attending magistrates courts. In 2019/20 the criminal legal aid budget in England and Wales was £897 million compared with £896 million in the previous year. Criminal legal aid peaked in 2003/04 at over £2.6 billion. Between 2005/06 and the most recent financial year it has fallen by £676 million in real terms. Civil legal aid has also been cut since 2005/06. After peaking at £1.2 billion in 2010/11 it fell to just £651 million by 2015/16.
Not only does financial strangling of the legal aid availability reduce the numbers of lawyers in court it imposes a higher standard of performance from presiding justices to ensure that justice is done and seen to be done. It has led to a reduction of the numbers of lawyers financially able to undertake work as duty solicitor. The biggest cuts were introduced in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 but provision has been...
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