Police Blogs • Emergency Shorts: Police Blog And Emergency Service Blog:

Police: Call the Cops TV documentary

Written by

Old Plod on the 23^rd August 2019 at 12:14 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

A series which started earlier this week showed the reality behind the challenges officers from Devon and Cornwall experience every day.

Channel 4’s ‘Call the Cops’ docu-series started on Monday, August 19th at 9.30pm and will consist of 6 weekly episodes.

It is set to cover a wide-range of jobs across the force area - the largest geographical policing area in England - such as armed robberies, sexual assaults, missing people searches and domestic incidents.

It is also set to highlight the challenges Devon and Cornwall Police’s staff and officers have to face on a daily basis, including being on the receiving end of verbal and physical abuse.

Police: A JP`s WILFUL REFUSAL OR CULPABLE NEGLECT

Written by

The Justice of the Peace on the 22^nd August 2019 at 12:56 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

During training all new magistrates are told that if they or a close relative, or someone known to them has an involvement in a case which comes before them they must declare an interest and usually recuse themselves from any participation. Obviously the general guidance can be only that; general. Certainly after a year or more on the bench a magistrate will have learned from colleagues when to consider if they are in breach of said guidance and of course the Deputy Justices Clerk is there for advice. Therefore there appears to be no excuse for this woman although her name has not as yet appeared in cases disciplined by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. This would seem to be wilful refusal to act judicially or culpable neglect on her part. No doubt the full story will out.

Police: PHONING AT THE WHEEL NEEDS A RE-THINK

Written by

The Justice of the Peace on the 20^th August 2019 at 12:46 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

Without exception government departments employ hundreds if not thousands of people to spread the word; the word they want we, the public, to hear on the basis that all words of opposing opinion will, if not drowned out, be lost in the cacophony that results. Nowhere is this attempt at control more evident than within the Ministry of Justice which day by day is becoming an oxymoron. With all the problems facing the MOJ, last week the House of Commons Transport Committee with or without consultation with its colleagues at Justice or Home Office decided to recommend that all mobile phone use whilst driving be banned. This announcement, of course, made headlines in all media. But in practical terms there is no way that a measure such as this with dubious supposed statistics at its rear end will make it into law. There are as far as I know no statistics on driving convictions or penalty points allocated for the use of in car hands free phone use. The so called eminent MPs might have issued a warning...

This police blog continues, Read More...

Police: Officer Down

Written by

policecommander on the 19^th August 2019 at 8:33 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

As the world moves on, it leaves behind a broken-hearted bride, married just four weeks ago.

Officer down.

Most give what they can; some give all they have. PC Andrew Harper was one of those who gave everything, killed in the line of duty on the night of Thursday 15th August 2019.

I never had the privilege of knowing him, but I know what kind of man he was – one who understood that precious, old-fashioned thing called duty. He was described by his Chief Constable as “a fantastic police officer” and “a great friend and man”. I suspect that I would have liked him very much.

The sense of staggering loss is greatest, of course, for those who knew him best and loved him most. I find myself thinking of his two families – the one he was born into and the one he was sworn into – but, most of all, I think of his widow, Lissie. She was supposed to be preparing for a honeymoon. Now she’s preparing for a funeral.

I can’t even begin to imagine.

Those who do the job know the risks of course. But there has been an inescapable sense of...

This police blog continues, Read More...

Police: ANOTHER COURT INTERPRETER PROVIDER BITES THE DUST

Written by

The Justice of the Peace on the 16^th August 2019 at 15:07 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

Since 2012 I have been commenting on the less than satisfactory history of court interpreting that began with the yet to be investigated scandal of Applied Language Solutions` contract with the Ministry of Justice that year. The MOJ for its part is regularly issuing notices of how efficient the current service is but apparently old habits die hard when it comes to that organisation`s signing of contracts.

A sub contractor for these services went out of business last week. It is now obvious that all government departments are obsessed with outsourcing. In the oft forgotten days of the Callaghan administration and earlier, government employees used their trade union affiliations to cause havoc to public services. I remember the three day week of 1972 and eating by candle light. I remember rats searching in uncollected rubbish in 1979. There was no doubt that Maggie Thatcher`s reforms to prevent such events was welcome relief but now the pendulum has swung to the maximum of its arc. The...

This police blog continues, Read More...

Police: CAMERON OR JOHNSON; WHAT`S THE DIFFERENCE?

Written by

The Justice of the Peace on the 13^th August 2019 at 12:20 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

All those interested will have by now made up their minds whether or not our newly enthroned prime minister was showing “leadership” or being unwise in speaking out in support of “tough” sentencing. My own opinions on his and David Cameron`s similar comments and particularly of the Sentencing Council`s tick box structure have been mentioned here on more than one occasion. Cameron when PM revealed, perhaps without too much forethought, his thinking processes on the Sentencing Council. He is quoted in The Telegraph at the time as saying,

“My mum was a magistrate for 30-odd years and you don’t go on being a magistrate just reading the handbook and working out exactly what sentence is handed down. You respond to local circumstances, to the sense of right and wrong in that community.”

And that is precisely where the dispute in current sentencing now lies. For some years we have been told to do exactly that which is on the tin or top cover if preferred; read the handbook [guideline] and...

This police blog continues, Read More...

Police: A week is a long time in politics and WMP

Written by

CC Dave Thompson on the 09^th August 2019 at 9:05 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

If you have been watching the news you will see a great deal is going on concerning a national increase of 20,000 police officers. I want to update you on what I know and what this means. Before I do that a few other things.

Firstly, a huge thank you for the brilliant work over July. More detail here, but there is considerable reduction in outstanding calls to what we have seen over the last two years. We are no less busy but the impact of strong planning, escalation policies, more mobility, banded shifts, new control rooms shifts, webchat and general grip and hard work has resulted in much greater control.

Operationally we are starting to see a shift in the right direction on crimes like burglary. More work is needed still on robbery and violence but we have seen less high profile serious violence in the last few weeks. August will keep on testing us but we are definitely in a stronger place than last year. Thank you.

August sees the start of our technology changes with MyTime, the new duty...

This police blog continues, Read More...

Police: HOW AWFUL

Written by

The Justice of the Peace on the 06^th August 2019 at 11:20 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

There is no doubt, unless the opinion is emanating from an MP on the Tory side where it`s waffle from dawn to dusk or from the Opposition where it`s based on, "they`re wrong whatever the topic", that most clear thinking individuals when pressed will admit to apprehensions about our justice system. For this short post the justice system is a loose term encompassing the process from the law being broken to a defendant being found guilty or acquitted. In order to bring a defendant to court s/he must first be arrested for an alleged offence. However only about 8% of such people are actually charged. In the last eight years the number of prosecutions has fallen by around 45%. Eight years ago there were just under 900,000 cases at magistrates and crown courts. Latest figures are just under 500,000. Ten years ago there were 20,000 more warranted police officers than there are currently. And nine years ago in Bradford the crown court was being overwhelmed with cases it could not handle with available resources. I posted on this...

This police blog continues, Read More...

Police: MUSINGS ON THURSDAY (2)

Written by

The Justice of the Peace on the 01^st August 2019 at 12:57 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

Sometimes magistrates courts and information of interest to those who use them are bereft of interesting items and at other times the pieces of news flow like buses after a hold up.

Whilst on the bench the most onerous decision making for me was not about whether to convict or acquit, to jail or not to jail but to decide if it were unsafe to bail an untried defendant especially in cases of alleged domestic violence. Since then the procedure regarding bail has changed drastically. If I were a cynic I would suggest that these changes were designed to reduce the number of people kept in prison on remand but of course government does not operate like a black market shyster during World War 2. Being now unable to keep suspects on almost unlimited bail with the associated conditions imposed police must release them without any conditions until they are ready to charge; this is called released under investigation. This has been the case since April 2017. Since then the Metropolitan Police have released 97 out of 284...

This police blog continues, Read More...

Police: THE MOVING FINGER WRITES

Written by

The Justice of the Peace on the 30^th July 2019 at 12:27 - A Police Blog
Comments and Reactions

Following on from my recent tweets when I alluded to the themes that have driven this blog along for almost ten years I surely must add perhaps the one of which I have most confidence that my fears will be realised; namely that the functions of Justices of the Peace comprising independent finders of fact and sentencers of the guilty will be but a historical memory within the next five or ten years. The pathway to our being snuffed out by governments with little regard for opposition within the whole panoply is there for anyone to see. Since the early 1990s an independent magistracy has been constrained and eventually consumed by what is now Her Majesty`s Courts and Tribunal Service via the disestablishment of magistrates` courts` committees and the local arrangements alongside; arrangements such as the daily rostering of J.P.s` benches by independent court elected rota committees. Instructions for such procedures are now directed by senior judiciary. Management structures have been put in place to serve the needs of...

This police blog continues, Read More...

Police: Call the Cops TV documentary

Police: A JP`s WILFUL REFUSAL OR CULPABLE NEGLECT

Police: PHONING AT THE WHEEL NEEDS A RE-THINK

Police: Officer Down

Police: ANOTHER COURT INTERPRETER PROVIDER BITES THE DUST

Police: CAMERON OR JOHNSON; WHAT`S THE DIFFERENCE?

Police: A week is a long time in politics and WMP

Police: HOW AWFUL

Police: MUSINGS ON THURSDAY (2)

Police: THE MOVING FINGER WRITES

Police Blog List

About