New Labour - Soft On Crime

New Labour Are They Really Soft On Crime?

For those of you keen to keep up on this kind of thing, I'm pleased to announce that the Labour Party can be found in number one position again in Google for the search phrase soft on crime.

Soft on crime has seen some movement over the last few months as far as The Labour Party and Google search results are concerned. With the number one position being jockeyed for by several contenders!

As I write the Labour Party website can be found in the following search positions under the search term soft on crime...

Google - 1st place
Google UK - 1st place
Yahoo - 9th place
Yahoo UK - 1st place
MSN - 2nd place
MSN UK - 2nd place

There's bound to be some further movement over the next few weeks as the labour party try to improve their soft on the causes of crime image.

Thanks to all who've kept the faith..!

24/7 Policing

24/7 Policing is in and out of the news on a regular basis.

There's an interesting programme on telly tonight featuring snippets from the Police Federation report 24/7 Response Policing in the Modern Police organisation – Views from the Frontline on Tonight with Trevor McDonald at 8pm on Monday 11th December on ITV.

The programme is titled Stretching The Thin Blue Line the programme synopsis reads:

Police numbers are at record levels according to MPs - but where are they when we need them most? Tonight investigates mounting concern about response times to 999 calls.

The Police Federation have issued the following press release:

New report warns Government of dangers of overlooking emergency policing

With record numbers of police officers you would be forgiven for thinking that dialling 999 would warrant a quick response.

A report commissioned and published by the Police Federation of England and Wales shows the shocking reality of the effects of government reforms on 24/7 policing today with many response teams understaffed, overworked, chasing targets rather than criminals and sinking in bureaucracy.

The disturbing findings of the new report ‘24/7 Response Policing in the Modern Police organisation – Views from the Frontline’ will be exclusively revealed on the ‘Tonight with Trevor McDonald’ programme being broadcast at 8pm on Monday 11th December.

The programme will focus on the key findings of the report which provide a clear insight into the pressures being faced by emergency response teams and the dangers this is inevitably placing on what is arguably the most important area of policing.

Emergency response teams from fifteen police forces took part in focus groups and revealed recurring resource issues in rural and urban regions alike. These include:

• There is regularly only 50% of staff available at the start of the shift, so the department is only at half capacity before they get started and this inevitably depletes further as the shift continues.
• Experienced officers are often ‘abstracted to specialist teams leaving the riskiest situations to be dealt with and managed by the least experienced, least trained and least resourced teams.
• Ill-conceived government targets are adding further pressure to over-stretched resources and are resulting in lesser crimes being prioritised over more serious crimes in order to ‘tick ‘ the right boxes in as short a time as possible.
• Crown Prosecution Service officials in police stations are placing an unnecessary burden on police officers by adding to the bureaucracy. They have their own targets and procedures to meet about cases going forward to court for prosecution, often placing greater burden on officers and in some cases duplicating investigative procedures.
• The centralisation of custody suites is resulting in officers losing further amounts of time away from the frontline, as they often have to travel further with prisoners or wait in long queues to process prisoners
• Pressures on call centres to clear calls to meet government targets often results in regarding calls which can place greater pressure on already overloaded frontline officers

Jan Berry, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales said:
“Some people will only dial 999 once in their life and when they do so they should get an urgent response if needed. Whilst the Police Federation entirely supports the rollout of neighbourhood policing teams the government failed to properly assess the impact this would have on response policing. Added to this the culture they are promoting of chasing targets rather than chasing criminals and it paints a bleak picture of 24/7 policing in England and Wales. For the sake of the safety of police officers and the public the government and chief officers must ensure that we always maintain sufficient 24/7 emergency response policing teams to deal with the ever increasing amount of 999 calls, as well as being prepared and ready for any unexpected incident that may arise. It’s what the service wants and what the public rightly expect.”

Click 24/7 Response Policing in the Modern Police organisation – Views from the Frontline for a copy of the report.

Police Roll Of Honour Trust

I've added a link to the Police Roll Of Honour Trust.

I've just spent a few moments reading through the citations for the last couple of years. It kind of puts things back into perspective.

Please take the time to visit the site and support their charitable work if you get the chance.

What the Police Roll Of Honour Trust is about:

The Trust was founded in 2000 after 20 years research into the Roll of Honour, paying tribute to some 4,000 United Kingdom police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty since the first recorded death of a Constable in 1680. We will ensure future losses are also recorded.

The Roll includes officers who have been killed or died on duty as a result of criminal acts, misadventure or accident, enemy action, natural causes and unknown causes. It commemorates their sacrifice in the public service and provides a focal point and visible means for family and friends to reflect on the loss of their loved ones and to know that their loss is not forgotten.

Through our authoritative archive of the subject we are able to provide information and advice to researchers and police forces, both to remember and honour our fallen officers and to increase knowledge and understanding of how fatalities occur to help promote officer safety.

Through our Police Family Membership and links with associated charities, we are able to provide access to care and support for bereaved families and friends of deceased officers.

Our aim is to remember both those who have died and those left behind and we particularly welcome contact from relatives of officers killed on duty.

The Trust researches and maintains the National Police Officers Roll of Honour for the UK Police Service. We provide the Roll of Honour for the annual National Police Memorial Day service and for the National Police Memorial built by the Police Memorial Trust in London. We have assisted with the Roll of Honour for the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC Garden of Remembrance and for the Scottish Police Memorial. We have also assisted with many Police Force Rolls and provided the Roll of Honour for the Metropolitan Police Book of Remembrance at Hendon.

Police Roll Of Honour Trust

PCSO Stabbed In The Neck In Manchester

Thoughts and prayers go out to the 47 year old PCSO stabbed in the neck in Manchester today, as well as to his family, his friends and his colleagues.

According to BBC News the as yet un-named PCSO remains in a critical condition after undergoing a second emergency operation.

The PCSO was attempting to serve an eviction notice on a man at Elizabeth Avenue, Stalybridge, Manchester, when the attack took place.

I shall refrain from partaking in the whole PCSO / Police debate, which seems to be being stirred up in the press, as a mark of respect to an unarmed officer in uniform attacked whilst performing his duty.

Here's the latest GMP statement as of 2300hrs 4/12/2006.