Monthly Archives: September 2011

 NEW YORK — The chief of the New York Police Department says city police could take down a plane if needed.

Commissioner Ray Kelly tells CBS’ “60 Minutes” that after the Sept. 11 attacks, he decided the city couldn’t rely on the federal government alone. He set about creating the NYPD’s own counter-terrorism unit. He says the department is prepared for multiple scenarios and could even take down a plane.

Kelly didn’t divulge details but said “obviously this would be in a very extreme situation.”

Other measures include sending NYPD officers abroad, using radiation detectors and creating a network of surveillance cameras in Manhattan.

The interview airs Sunday evening. It comes just a few weeks after the tenth anniversary of 9/11, when hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Kelly: Well, it‘s something that’s on our radar screen. I mean in an extreme situation, you would have some means to take down a plane.

Pelley: Do you mean to say that the NYPD has the means to take down an aircraft?

Kelly: Yes, I prefer not to get into the details but obviously this would be in a very extreme situation.

Pelley: You have the equipment and the training.

Kelly: Yes.

Kelly gave us an extraordinary look inside the counter-terrorism bureau, the training – like this assault team practicing for a hostage situation in a subway car – and the astounding technology that has been designed and built specifically for the NYPD.

NYPD Chief: Police Could Take Down Plane if Needed

A university degree launched by Thames Valley Police will see some future officers pay for their own training.

Billed as an “alternative method of entry” to the force, the two-year course will cost up to £9,000, while in-house training is salaried and free.

The Thames Valley Police Federation said: “It’s a way of passing on the cost of training to the individual.”

The force said graduates would be 30 weeks ahead of regular recruits and receive a higher salary sooner.

The 120 foundation degree places at Oxford Brookes University, Bucks New University and the University of Northampton and an unconfirmed site, will be available next year.

Oxford Brookes will charge between £6,000 and £9,000, Bucks New will charge £7,500 and the Northampton course fees will be £8,500.

Thames Valley Police said it wanted to recruit “a significant percentage” of policing degree graduates from 2014, though a spokesman said it was too early to say what that percentage was.

There is no guarantee of a place on the force, but successful graduate recruits will be deployed “within days of joining”.

‘Objective review’

Traditional recruits spend two years training in-house on an Initial Police Learning Development Programe, while on salary.

Don Oldcorn, of Thames Valley Police, said: “Those who have completed the foundation course would be 30 weeks ahead of their traditional colleagues.

“If they are passed as fit for independent patrol they will get a pay increment.”

He added the degree “opens up routes of entry to policing” and would be attractive to those who want to become a police officer but also want a university degree.

Graham Smith, chairman of the Thames Valley Police Federation, said he wanted to see an “objective review” after three years.

“We don’t want it to close off any other methods of joining the police that would stop people from poorer backgrounds joining,” he said.

The University of Central Lancashire first launched a policing degree in 2007.

Thames Valley Police degrees launched at universities

Tesco has been criticised by a police force after tabling a request for riot compensation that included a claim for just £40.

In total, the retailer has asked for nearly £3m in compensation from police forces around the country, following the riots that tore through some high streets in August. It is likely that this is the biggest request from a single retailer.

The company is claiming under the Riot Damages Act, a piece of Victorian legislation that allows businesses and individuals affected by riot damage to claim directly from the police, rather than their own insurer.

In the immediate aftermath of the civil disturbances, the British Retail Consortium urged small retailers to put in their claims to make sure their businesses were not harmed.

However, the Greater Manchester Police Authority, which has been hit with 280 claims totalling £4.4m, has criticised Tesco for using the Act, saying there was no guarantee the police force would be able to afford all of the compensation. The force faces £134m budget cuts in the next five years.

It added that J Sainsbury was one of a number of large companies that had chosen not to submit any compensation claims. Tesco has submitted more than 20 claims for compensation to Manchester police, including one for £40-worth of looted stock.

Peter Fahy, the Greater Manchester police chief, said: “Sainsbury’s must be applauded for taking the moral high ground and recovering its own costs.

“I would like to encourage other large retailers to consider Sainsbury’s stance. Absolutely we want to help small businesses and sole traders but punishing the police for the disorder is a bit like punishing the NHS when there is a flu epidemic.”

Next week Tesco will publish half-year profits, which despite tough trading in the UK, are expected to climb 8pc to £1.94bn.

As many as 300 Tesco stores were affected by the riots, because of the sheer number of areas and high streets in Britain with an outlet.

While Manchester police have received 280 claims, the Met in London has received 3,000 totalling £200m.

Tesco said it had withdrawn its £40 claim, as it was an administrative error, and that it could have put in claims for more than £4m. A spokesman added: “Tesco was badly affected by the riots as we have stores serving communities everywhere in the UK – often in areas ignored by other retailers. The business case for doing so is not easy, particularly in the aftermath of riots.”

Police warn it may not be able to afford Tesco’s £3m riot compensation bill

Ali Dizaei, the former Scotland Yard chief who spent more than a year in prison, has been reinstated as a commander with the Metropolitan Police.

Mr Dizaei was given his job back on Thursday night following a meeting by the Metropolitan Police Authority’s professional standards cases sub-committee.

It is understood that although technically reinstated, he has been immediately suspended as he awaits a retrial on charges of perverting the course of justice and misconduct in a public office.

However the decision could mean that Mr Dizaei will once again be paid by the Metropolitan Police as he awaits trial. He will earn in the region of £90,000 a year.

Mr Dizaei claimed the MPA tribunal tribunal “unanimously” dismissed his sacking, and said: “I am delighted to be reinstated. I have always wanted to be a Met Police officer and now vow to clear my name.”

The MPA refused to make any immediate comment.

It is understood that many members of the MPA were not made aware of the decision until this morning as only six members sit on the panel which reinstated Mr Dizaei.

Scotland Yard also made no immediate comment.

Mr Dizaei was jailed in February 2010 after a jury at Southwark Crown Court found him guilty of perverting the course of justice and misconduct in a public office.

He was found to have arranged the false arrest of Waad al-Baghdadi, a web designer who had done some work with Mr Dizaei. The pair had fallen out over payment for the website.

Mr Dizaei was dismissed from the police in March 2010.

Mr al-Baghdadi later pleaded guilty to benefits fraud in a case unrelated to the incident with Mr Dizaei.

In May this year Mr Dizaei won an appeal against his conviction after arguing that it was unsafe. Much of the appeal centered on the suggestion that Mr al-Baghdadi was not a credible witness.

He is awaiting a retrial and had been released from prison.

Ali Dizaei reinstated at Scotland Yard

Bobbies on the beat are likely to be spared compulsory annual fitness tests because chief constables are worried too many would fail.

They fear that filling front-line posts left vacant by overweight and unfit police officers could put extra strain on already overstretched ranks.

Instead officers making up ‘the thin blue line’ will be encouraged to keep fit through a healthy lifestyle and diet.

Under the current system only new recruits must undergo a compulsory fitness test to make sure they are up to the job.
Fat blue line: Many police officers are unfit so will be spared annual test because many would fail

But some police forces have attempted to bring in annual fitness tests as part of a drive to modernise the service.

Earlier this year research by academics at Birmingham City University showed that almost half of recruits to one unnamed force were overweight or obese.

They warned of an ‘obesity timebomb’. Professor Craig Jackson, an occupational health expert, said: ‘Unlike the military, there is no annual medical – once you are in you can let yourself go to rack and ruin.’

Tom Winsor, the former rail regulator who is conducting a national review of police pay and conditions, asked whether compulsory annual fitness tests should be introduced.

The tests could be modelled on the test for new recruits. This includes an endurance shuttle run in which officers must run on a 15 metre track in time to a series of beeps for three-and-a-half minutes. The second stage involves performing five chest presses and pulls of around 35kg (77lb).

But police chiefs told Mr Winsor, who will make recommendations to the Government, that there is ‘no evidence’ fitness testing would justify the cost.

The Association of Chief Police Officers studied how other services including the fire brigade and the Forces test staff fitness.

But the association decided police have a ‘much wider remit’ which does not require the same levels of ‘daily, strenuous physical activity’.

As a result only a relatively small number of specialist officers, including marksmen and dog handlers, will be tested to make sure they are fit for duty.

Acpo said the public expects officers to be fit enough to do their job. But its members are worried ‘significant resources’ would be put into the tests and to ‘backfill individuals who cannot operate on the front line having failed a test’.

They said: ‘There are other ways to improve poor attendance and fitness levels through the improved management of sickness absence and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle.’

On the beat, the blobby bobbies: They say No to yearly fitness test

See Also: Fat bobbies to ‘escape annual fitness tests’

… where the picture published in the Telegraph article is not of ‘blobby bobbies’ but of ‘porky pCSO’s' 

The speed limit on Britain’s motorways will rise to 80mph after ministers judged that motorists driving above the 70mph limit were ‘perfectly decent people’.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the current limit was ‘out of date’ and a higher one would bring economic benefits when introduced in 2013.

The rise to 80mph will be the first change to Britain’s speed limit since 1965, while the introduction of more 20mph zones in residential areas is also being considered.

Mr Hammond said the number of people drivers breaking the law was undermining the principle of policing by consent.

Mr Hammond told The Times: ‘I take the view that we operate in a democracy of policing by consent.

‘If 50 per cent of the population are routinely breaking the law it’s actually the law that needs looking at.

‘Now I think 95 of the country will think “great”, although only 5 per cent will say so, but the 5 per cent who are opposed will say so very loudly.’

Despite the ruling being attacked by road safety campaigners and environmentalists, Mr Hammond defended the speed limit rise, saying its impact on road safety would be ‘marginal’.

Mr Hammond added that half of drivers flouted the 70mph rule anyway, and most police authorities turn a blind eye if drivers are caught at 80mph. But there are worries that if the official limit is put up to 80mph, many will start to drive at 90mph.

He told BBC News the current limit has ‘lost its legitimacy.’

Department of Transport officials point out vehicles have changed dramatically since the current speed limit was set in 1965.

Technological advances means cars are significantly safer, contributing to a fall of more than 75 per cent in the number killed on British roads since that year.

The limit in France and Italy is 81mph and in Ireland, Spain and Portugal it is 75mph. In Germany there is no speed limit on certain stretches of motorway.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: ‘There are good reasons for making 80 the new 70, and good reasons not to.

‘Drivers travelling that 10mph quicker might reach their destination sooner, but will use about 20 per cent more fuel and emit 20 per cent more CO2.

‘There is also likely to be a slight increase in road casualties.

‘And what about enforcement? If police follow existing guidelines, many people could do 90mph before action is taken.’

 ‘If 50 per cent of the population are routinely breaking the law, it’s actually the law that needs looking at’

He went on: ‘Local authorities already have the power to set 20mph limits, and that’s how it should stay. Local solutions to local problems. Isn’t that what Government favours?

‘The reality is not all urban areas throw up the same issues. For example, child casualty rates are higher in deprived neighbours than in affluent ones.

‘Before you change a speed limit, you have to know whether you are doing it for safety, economic or environmental reasons. Unfortunately not all of these are compatible.’

Increased: The motorway speed limit has gone up from 70mph despite criticism it could lead to more road deaths

Stephen Joseph, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, said: ‘Increasing the motorway speed limit to 80mph would not help the economy and would increase costs for drivers.

‘It would also add to pollution and increase road casualties. Responsible motorists know that driving steadily at or below 70mph is most fuel-efficient, reduces jams and is safer.

‘Opinion surveys show that the public will only support increases if they comes with full enforcement, which is not possible in the current economic climate without a massive increase in the number of speed cameras on our motorways. This is an empty gesture that in the end would not benefit anyone.’

AA president Edmund King said: ‘Eighty miles per hour in a modern car in good weather at a safe distance from the car in front is perfectly safe. Driving at 50mph tailgating the car in front is not.

‘Eighty miles per hour is already accepted by most as the de facto limit so it is better to legalise this limit and enforce it. The best speed limits are limits that drivers understand and respect. If people think they can speed on motorways and get away with it, they are more likely to speed on urban roads.

‘The irony is that with the record pump prices motorists are slowing down, not speeding up.’

An AA/Populus poll in March 2011 of 12,865 AA members showed that 63 per cent felt the motorway speed limit should be increased, 23 per cent felt any new motorway speed limit should be strictly enforced and 39 per cent felt any new motorway speed limit should be enforced as the 70 limit is now.

Motorway speed limit to rise to 80mph

Federation chairman says its relationship with the Home Secretary is at all-time low

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has not held a meeting with a senior Police Federation leader since May

The relationship between Theresa May, the Home Secretary, and the leaders of rank-and-file police officers has deteriorated to such an extent that neither side has spoken to the other for six months, The Independent has learned.

Ms May has not held a meeting with a senior Police Federation leader since May, when more than 1,000 officers greeted her speech to the body’s annual conference in Bournemouth with complete silence.

The Police Federation said that it had tried to arrange several appointments with her – in particular around the time of August’s riots – but were rebuffed by her officials.

The Police Federation chairman, Paul McKeever, said that the relationship was now worse than with any other recent Home Secretary. “We’ve tried to see her, tried to arrange meetings, and keep getting rebuffed,” he said.

“In the past I would have the mobile number of the Home Secretary and we would see them regularly – but with Ms May nothing.”

Ms May is known to have been angry at her treatment by the Police Federation conference, where she endured 40 minutes of hostile questioning, including a live video link-up with PC David Rathband, the officer blinded by the killer Raoul Moat.

“I was paid £35,000 last year. Do you think it was too much?” he asked her.

Mr McKeever said: “It sometimes seems like she is trying to intentionally antagonise officers: Telling them that they’re being paid too much, that they don’t do enough work. There is real anger about the Government’s plans for the police and they should be talking to us about that.”

The Police Federation is particularly incensed by Government moves to reform officers’ pay and conditions. The Home Office, in turn, accuses the federation of exaggerating a planned reductions in police numbers and stoking up public fear about the effects of such cuts. It now holds it in no more esteem than other public-sector unions.

Mr McKeever said the situation had been exacerbated by the absence of Nick Herbert, the police minister, who was on sick leave over the summer. “We don’t have a problem with Mr Herbert at all,” said Mr McKeever. “He has always been helpful and engaged. But you would have thought when he was away that would be more of a reason for Ms May to meet us but… she doesn’t appear to want to listen to us.”

Ms May’s spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Theresa May won’t take our calls now, police complain

See also: Letter to Theresa May

A Scotland Yard officer has been reprimanded after a document detailing Home Secretary Theresa May’s personal engagements was left lying around following an event.

The officer was subject to “local management action” but was not suspended after the weekly diary was left at a Glasgow concert hall on Sunday, a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said.

It comes after Britain’s biggest force launched an inquiry into how the weekly diary went missing, but insisted that security was not compromised.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “Following an investigation, and as part of the MPS misconduct process, an officer has been subject to local management action.”

She added: “The paper was not protectively marked. Security was not compromised.”

It is understood the diary was left at Glasgow Concert Halls on Sunday where Mrs May was attending the National Police Memorial Day to remember fallen officers, which was also attended by the Prince of Wales.

The five-page document was found by Royston Martis, deputy editor of the Police Review magazine, at 5.30pm, after the Home Secretary and her security team had left the event.

It has been returned to the Home Office and no details of specific events were published until after they had taken place.

Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said: “It’s serious that someone with the security importance of the Home Secretary should have her security compromised in this way.

“It is very disappointing that this has happened.”

The diary included a Tuesday morning meeting with Keith Bristow, Chief Constable of Warwickshire Police, who was described in the document as an “NCA (National Crime Agency) candidate” as the Home Office is looking to appoint the agency’s chief, according to Police Review.

Mrs May also held a 30-minute “private meeting” with Strathclyde Chief Constable Stephen House, an unsuccessful applicant for the Scotland Yard Commissioner’s job, as well as meetings with the National Security Council and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in his office later in the week.

The document also recorded at what time and on which days Mrs May would be going to the gym in her Maidenhead, Berkshire, constituency, the magazine said.

Detailed timings and addresses for events Mrs May was to attend in the Maidenhead area, including the opening of Chissock Woodcraft, near Reading, and a charity cabaret evening at Wentworth Golf Club, were also given, along with mobile telephone numbers for Mrs May’s private secretary and key contacts at the events.

The words “News of the World”, the newspaper axed in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, were also scribbled in black pen on its front page.

Officer reprimanded over May diary

A gay police officer apparently targeted for his friendship with television personality Michael Barrymore, a former Labour minister and the ex-wife of rock star Noel Gallagher yesterday became the latest people to lodge damages claims for phone hacking against Rupert Murdoch’s News International.

The three lawsuits lodged in the High Court by Dan Lichters, Claire Ward and Meg Matthews add to the burgeoning list of about 30 damages claims already brought against the defunct News of the World and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire which are now likely to cost Mr Murdoch’s empire far more than the £20m originally set aside to settle.

The new claims, which are being brought by the London-based law firm Collyer Bristow following the disclosure of documents showing that each claimant was targeted by Mr Mulcaire, raise allegations that the private detective was used to hack into the voicemails of a serving police officer. Mr Lichters was working as a plain clothes officer in the Met Police when his relationship with Mr Barrymore was revealed in the months following the death of Stuart Lubbock, whose body was found in the television star’s swimming pool after a party in March 2001.

The openly gay constable revealed later that he had been removed from his undercover duties as a result of the publicity about his friendship with Mr Barrymore, which began at least six months after Mr Lubbock’s death. A story revealing the relationship was published by The Sun on 2 November 2001 along with a photograph of the two men out shopping. Mr Lichters’ lawyer last night declined to comment on whether his lawsuit complained of articles in The Sun, the sister paper of the News of the World.

Ms Ward won her Watford seat in Labour’s 1997 landslide, and was promoted to a junior justice minister in 2009. She lost her seat in 2010. Ms Matthews became a tabloid favourite following her relationship Oasis founder Noel Gallagher. Matthews, now a successful interior designer, divorced from Gallagher in 2001.

Steven Heffer, at Collyers Bristow, last night declined to comment on any details of the claims. News International said last night it was unable to comment on individual damages claims being made against it.

The lawsuits came as Scotland Yard announced it had extended the police bail of a detective involved in Operation Weeting, the Yard’s investigation into phone hacking. The 51-year-old detective constable, who was arrested on suspicion of passing information about the inquiry to The Guardian, will answer bail on 15 December.

Former News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck has dropped an attempt to make News International continue the payment of his wages while he sues the newspaper for unfair dismissal. His case was due to start today but has been put back to a later date.

Police officer who was friend of Barrymore sues over hacking

David Cameron was today accused of having “bugger all” to do with beefed-up policing during this summer’s riots.

The Prime Minister abandoned a family holiday in Tuscany and flew to London as disturbances swept English cities last month.

Chairing emergency meetings in Downing Street, Mr Cameron suggested water cannons and even the Army could be deployed as police took a tougher line following criticism of their initial handling of the widespread looting and violence.

But, addressing the Labour conference today in Liverpool, Birmingham Erdington MP Jack Dromey criticised Mr Cameron for branding pockets of society sick and trying to claim credit for the police’s switch to robust tactics.

Mr Dromey said: “I say this to Mr Cameron: Birmingham is not sick.

“What is sick is Tory politicians returning from sunny climes in Bermuda shorts seeking then to take the credit for the restoration of peace to our streets when they had bugger all to do with it.

“What is sick is crazy talk about baton rounds, water cannon and putting the Army on the streets.”

Birmingham Erdington MP Mr Dromey went on to tell delegates that during the riots West Midlands Police hired 16 ex-police officers because the force was so stretched.

The 16 officers were, according to Mr Dromey, forced out of the constabulary by Government cuts and found work as security guards with private firm G4S.

Mr Dromey added: “When the riots hit Birmingham, the stretched West Midlands Police had to take back on those forced out and who were employed through G4S because they couldn’t cope, costing the taxpayer much more.”

Cameron accused over riot policing

The Shadow Home Secretary says former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens will lead the independent inquiry for the Labour Party looking at how policing can adapt to ‘challenges of the 21st century’

Yvette Cooper announces Labour policing review

See Also: Cooper to announce major review of the police

But the ‘Telegraph View’ says -