Thursday, July 25, 2013

And named as ....

An individual by the name of Nicky JACOBS has been charged with the  murder of Pc Keith Blakelock and was remanded in custody.

As expected a community activist who was named as a Stafford SCOTT was  outside the court and declared him innocent and a 'vulnerable character' and a campaign was to be launched to support him.

The media unsurprisingly have NOT prioritised this story, The Daily Express carried it on page 27 after an article on ' Kate's yummy mummy club'

And who'd have guessed it, the Guardian allowed professed community activist Staford SCOTT a few columns to rechurn his views to a wider audience.

Mike Mansfield to throw his wig into the ring for the court case on this one?

Monday, July 22, 2013

About time....

The Daily Wail has led with an item that the MET will charge an individual with the death of Pc Blakelock

This incident occurred 28 years ago. A police officer was brutally hacked to death by a mob, in a riot, in the UK.

I hadn't joined the MET then but,as was the vast majority of the public , horrified as to what had happened.

His horrific death , in my opinion, became lost in the politics and hand wringing of our so called political elite.

I could rant on for ages about the politics and issues around this but........

If we do get  a name on a charge sheet again about the death of this officer I salute every one involved in it and particularly the management who have seen it through over the years to come to this point.

This individual is one of the many in the mob involved who killed the officer that day.

That it has taken this long makes me thankful of the diligence and determination of the investigation team and senior management involved.

Cynically I expect they might have been under pressure to walk away from this.

I expect the usual suspects to rally to the cause when the individual is named ...

But what the hell..lets see it through.


Thursday, July 18, 2013

And so it goes on....


The Independent Police Complaints Commission has churned out another report complaining about the police

Met is failing to deal with racism complaints, say IPCC

Isn’t that surprising?

An organisation whose existence can only thrive on complaints has found cause for complaint.

I don’t think the IPCC could find it’s a**e using two hands and a map but I suppose they would complain about that as well.

The media are clearly bored and still attempting to foment the idea of some form of crisis in the MET. This will soon be forgotten when the royal birth arrives.

A face and a microphone outside NSY claims all Commanders across the MET are being summonsed for a meeting.

Great

If true, loads of internal hand wringing, patronising emails cascading from above and at the very least posters and possibly an NCALT training package at some point.

A summary 

‘A report by the IPCC says the Metropolitan Police Service is failing to deal effectively with race complaints.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

The police watchdog is calling for a cultural change in the way force deals with such complaints, supported by training, monitoring and community feedback.

It said after analysing the data officers were not handling race complaints ‘in a sufficiently robust, fair or customer-focused way’.

IPCC Commissioner Jennifer Izekor said as race is ‘a critical issue’ for the Met, the way it deals with complaints about allegedly racist behaviour by police officers is ‘crucial to public confidence’ in the force.

She said: “This report shows that, though there are some examples of good practice, in general there is an unwillingness or inability to deal with these complaints robustly and effectively.

“Too often, complaints are dismissed without proper investigation or resolution, complainants are not properly engaged with, and lessons are not learnt.”

The report found that racial discrimination was only tackled robustly where there was independent evidence of an overt offence such as racist language.

The IPCC said the quality of investigations was ‘in general poor’, and little or no account was taken of its guidance on the issue.

Mrs Izekor said this can exacerbate people’s negative experience, and officers may not be held to account for their actions.

She said: “We know that there is less confidence both in policing and in the complaints system among BME communities.

“If the Metropolitan Police Service is serious about building that confidence, there will need to be a cultural change to complaints handling.”

Bottom line, like anything else in the real world, if it is capable of some form of proof we will run with it and put it to CPS.

In the METS eyes anything is racist if someone deems it racist

So if someone says ABC happened and it’s because of my his /her race/colour of skin it’s flagged as a racist incident.

Ok …but this still leaves that big issue. Is it ever capable of being proved beyond someone’s PERCEPTION of the incident.

The key paragraph I think is this

The report found that racial discrimination was only tackled robustly where there was independent evidence of an overt offence such as racist language.

That’s pretty much the same for any incident we deal with, whether deemed racist or not.

Life is Life and not everything can be dealt with to the satisfaction of the complainant.

 

A member of ANOTHER tub thumping bunch of  hot air merchants  has come up with

Metropolitan Police 'ignore 45% of London crimes'

Up to 45% of all crimes in London are "ignored" by police, Conservatives on the London Assembly have claimed.

Police data for 2012-13 shows that 76% of motor vehicle thefts, 40% of residential burglaries and 23% of robberies were "screened out".

Tory London Assembly Member Roger Evans said not probing minor crimes robustly was sending a "dangerous message".

The Met said it investigated every allegation of crime and conducted secondary probes in 60% of cases.

Figures from the force show that about 45% of cases - 346,397 incidents - did not lead to follow-up investigations.

'No interest'

The cases which were "screened out" include 16,820 (76%) reports of car thefts, 16,748 (80%) of bike thefts, about 24,339 (40%) burglaries in residential properties and more than 7,570 (23%) reports of robbery of personal property.

Mr Evans, the police and crime spokesman for Greater London Authority Conservatives, said: "A victim of crime shouldn't feel that the police have no interest in them unless you are physically or sexually assaulted.

"Moreover, many criminals' illegal activities escalate each time they get away with it so we are sending out a very dangerous message."

A statement from the Met Police said: "The MPS investigates every single allegation of crime that it receives.

"A number of crime allegations will require secondary investigation once the initial investigation is complete.

"The MPS currently conducts secondary investigations in approximately 60% of all crime allegations, as compared to the national average of 45%."

The force said it was improving the "quality and rigour of initial investigations in order to improve the service to victims by reducing the need for follow up visits".

The MET lives and works in the real world.

Despite the figures merchants claiming crime is falling, I know my little patch of paradise is awash , particularly with Theft Dip, Distraction theft, Theft other....

Frankly we have to screen crimes in or out otherwise we would figuratively speaking ‘drown’

Every crime report to the MET is looked at. It is NOT ignored. But the volume has to be assessed realistically. We apply set parameters on each crime. If we think, within those parameters ,we can nvestigate we will.

Simply, with the  resources available ( and falling ) we cannot look at everything.

I think the MET  do alright with the resources we have available and the sheer volume of the incidents and population we deal with.

But that wouldn’t catch an editor’s eye would it.

Monday, July 08, 2013

Old perceptions fall, some still continue...


It was nice to come into a Monday early turn after a weekend and not have much to deal with.

Everyone was saying it was the Murray factor. A City glowing with the satisfaction of a long held sporting dream coming to fruition rather than sections of our customer base resorting to type on a weekend booze/anger fest.   

I was reading an article in the Evening Standard on my way home today quoting Damian Green, an MP… (look him up on Google if your that  interested)  who believes we as police should be invoking the Olympic spirit and raising our game . The glow of the Games should be infused into our daily routine.

It’s one thing being all smiley  in a one off specific environment where the Members of the Public are all nice, happy and ‘on board’ ...than at 2am in the morning, short staffed and dealing with drunken and violent idiots.

But what would an MP know?

He talks about banishing the ‘canteen culture’…..where are  his aides and researchers digging this stuff up from?

If he bothered to look at the Stats there are few canteens left open, if at all, in the  dwindling estate. It’s more of a ‘packed lunch, a microwave meal, or Tesco/ Sainsbury, Maccy D Culture’ than anything else …. All whilst working at the computer playing catch up.

He and the Press portray the MET as ENGULFED in scandal…..

B*****CKS

All in the past……just awaiting the Govt to give a knee jerk response to a drip fed media.

Let the politicians beat their breasts, the committees and the enquiries be set up. The only people who will gain are the legal teams on either side of the divide.

But that is as it ever will be.

Neither myself or any colleague I have worked with will be crawling down Whitehall crying ‘ mea culpa’.

Let the politicians and the media play the games.

Damian talks of ‘cleaning the stables’ out of the Police.

If he thinks the ‘stables of the Police’ require a cleaning out… a shovelling of a few festering piles of manure…… then his cosy Establishment on the Thames would require isolation and full fumigation.

But THEY just don’t see it!

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

And another thing....

Politicians just cant help themselves but tinker....they see a soundbite ..their advisers and think tanks shovel up the figures and there you go.... bouts of vacuous nonsense ...sustained by drip fed columns in the press.

Stop and Search is the latest to get the approach

Apparently stop search figures show a million stop and searches are 'pointless' as they don't lead to an arrest.

The armchair wannabes miss the point.

It is not the success of the search that is important it is the fact that there are officers out there putting hands in pockets that is the issue.

It is the deterrent...

Grounds for stop and search are under 'reasonable grounds' based on a number of factors, local knowledge ,intelligence briefings or just that plain old coppers hunch that something is not right.

Our actual arrest figures would be through the roof if we had X ray vision,the ability to read minds or see into the future.

Sadly none of which feature in any NCALT training package currently available.

Though the hindsight merchants at Discipline and the IPCC seem to think we have these in abundance when our a***s are chewed months and years down the line .

If Ms May imposes restrictions on the use of these powers so be it.

Once our clients and customers  know we are far less likely to 'turn them over' in a stop they will play the odds and carry and use...... etc

Crime WILL rise and the use of weapons, the  abuse and distribution of drugs  and property theft will become a major issue.

No community in London wins by the arrangement

The soundbites then?...lazy incompetent police...what are they doing about it.?...

You can see the Daily rags cut and pasting the stories now...



Monday, July 01, 2013

Hucking funbelievable


When you think the residents of HP could not seem more smug, out of touch,arrogant and completely without any sense of irony they come out with nonsense like

'Cut police pensions' to punish misconduct, MPs say


Police officers The MPs recommended a scale of fines be introduced for police misconduct


 I think you’d need a charge sheet signed off by the Pope for anything to happen to their little in built nest eggs and expenses
Wasters the lot of them

I could rant for pages but the spittle is starting to affect my laptop screen so I will stop now and drink myself quiet.