Civil liberty campaigners warn Chris Philp’s plans to integrate databases are an ‘Orwellian nightmare’
Britain’s passport database could be used to catch shoplifters, burglars and other criminals under urgent plans to curb crime, the policing minister has said.
Chris Philp said he planned to integrate data from the police national database (PND), the Passport Office and other national databases to help police find a match with the “click of one button”.
Continue reading...Head of Northamptonshire force faces questions over allegations about potentially misrepresenting service record
A chief constable once tipped to lead Scotland Yard is under investigation after being accused of wearing a Falklands war combat service medal despite being a 15-year-old sea cadet at the time of the conflict.
Nick Adderley, 57, who leads Northamptonshire police, has been pictured regularly wearing the South Atlantic medal and rosette, which is awarded to anyone who served in the Falklands combat zone in 1982.
Continue reading...Force apologises to victims, who included a traumatised woman, for Sgt Simon Lythgoe’s ‘inexcusable’ behaviour
A police officer and power-lifting champion has been dismissed after using “extreme” force against two detainees, including a traumatised woman.
Hampshire police described the actions of Sgt Simon Lythgoe, who was based on the Isle of Wight, as inexcusable and apologised to his victims.
Continue reading...Independent Office for Police Conduct orders misconduct hearing into incident in which Jermaine Baker was killed
A Metropolitan police firearms officer who shot dead an unarmed man at point blank range should face a hearing for gross misconduct which could see him sacked, the police watchdog has said.
The officer, known only as W80, shot dead Jermaine Baker, 28, in 2015 as he prepared to try and free a prisoner from custody near Wood Green crown court, in north London.
Continue reading...Councils, police and hospitals endangering women by accidentally revealing details such as addresses, says ICO
Councils, police forces and hospitals are putting women’s lives at risk by accidentally disclosing domestic abuse victims’ addresses to perpetrators, the UK’s information watchdog has said.
John Edwards, the information commissioner, who has reprimanded seven organisations in just over a year for data breaches affecting victims of abuse, said: “This is a pattern that must stop.”
Continue reading...When it comes to investigating police shootings, what all sides agree on is it takes is too long
The Metropolitan police’s firearms command is seen as prestigious to serve in, but Louise Casey’s damning report into Britain’s largest force published in March found it had become dogged by cultural issues.
Some of its virtues can slide into vices. It is close knit, offering strong support for colleagues in trouble, which can turn into an insularity. It’s members volunteer to face extreme danger, rarely open fire, and some can appear to sneer at those who question them, viewing it as doubting their professionalism.
Continue reading...Comments from Paul Johnson of Institute of Fiscal Studies come as Downing Street hints at delay to work on second phase of rail link
Around 20,000 university workers are out on strike this week at more than 50 universities across the UK, despite a dramatic last-minute scaling back of industrial action.
Strikes had been set to go ahead at 142 UK universities this week as part of a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions, but it emerged last week that two thirds of branches of the University and College Union (UCU) had declined to take part.
Davey said the Lib Dem commitment – dating back to 1992 – to raise income tax by 1p to improve public services is unsustainable in the current economic climate. Originally the money raised was earmarked for education, but at the last election the party said it would use it to fund the NHS.
Speaking from Bournemouth to broadcast studios, Davey suggested the burden should instead fall on companies making “huge profits” while people struggle with the cost of living.
Continue reading...PC Cameron Lindley of West Yorkshire police attended incident in which man was already being held down by officers
A police officer has been dismissed after a man complained his head was stamped on during an arrest.
PC Cameron Lindley was called to a disturbance in Bradford in December 2021 after colleagues asked for urgent support, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Thursday.
Continue reading...Scotland Yard says it will take ‘two or more years to root out those who are corrupting policing’
Scotland Yard has said it will take years to root out rogue officers serving in the capital as “the size of a small police force” is suspended or on restricted duties.
Britain’s biggest force revealed that 201 officers were suspended and 860 were on restricted duties, equivalent to the size of Warwickshire or Wiltshire police forces. There are 34,000 police officers in the Metropolitan police.
100 officers have been sacked for gross misconduct in the past year, up by 66% on the normal rate.
201 officers are suspended, up from 69 in September last year.
275 are awaiting a gross misconduct hearing, a significant proportion of which involved alleged violence against women and girls, compared with 136 last year.
The number of reports from the public and officers of alleged misconduct has doubled.
Continue reading...Two men from Worcestershire and the horse were declared dead at scene on A38 north of junction 1 of M50
The two occupants of a horse-and-trap have died after a collision with a car.
Gloucestershire police said the incident happened on Friday night on the A38 north of junction 1 of the M50.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Alfie Meadows underwent brain surgery after being struck by officer at tuition fees demonstration
The Metropolitan police have apologised and agreed to pay a six-figure settlement to a man who needed emergency brain surgery after being hit by an officer’s baton during the 2010 university tuition fees protests.
Alfie Meadows, then a 20-year-old philosophy student at Middlesex University, sustained a brain injury after he was struck on the head during demonstrations against the tripling of tuition fees. He needed more than 100 staples in his head and was left with a large scar.
Continue reading...Details of thousands of officers may have been taken in ransomware attack on third-party supplier
The personal details of tens of thousands of public sector workers could have been breached in a cyber-attack that has hit two of Britain’s biggest police forces, an expert has said.
More than 12,500 Greater Manchester police (GMP) officers and staff were put on alert on Thursday that their private data had been compromised in a hack that also hit the Metropolitan police last month.
Continue reading...The 30-year-old, now awarded damages by the Met police, talks about how a photo made her a target for hate and how she hopes to move on
There is one thing that Patsy Stevenson can’t stand when people see the image of her being pinned down on the ground by police on the night of the Sarah Everard vigil: them saying that she looked good.
“Some people were like, ‘Oh, you look so great’, or ‘Your hair looks amazing in that picture’,” she says, after learning that the Metropolitan police have settled the claim that she and Dania al-Obeid, who was also at the vigil, brought against them. “But that was a really traumatic event for me and I don’t think people always take into consideration that I’m not a picture, I’m a person.”
Continue reading...Apology and ‘substantial’ payouts to Patsy Stevenson and Dania al-Obeid mark major climbdown after years of legal battles
Scotland Yard has apologised and paid “substantial damages” to two women arrested during the vigil for Sarah Everard, in a major climbdown following years of legal battles over the policing of the event.
In a move that the new Metropolitan police commissioner, Mark Rowley, will hope draws a line under one of the darkest periods of the Met’s recent history, the force acknowledged that it was “understandable” that Patsy Stevenson and Dania Al-Obeid had wanted to attend a candlelit vigil at Clapham Common because they felt women had been “badly let down”.
Continue reading...After sightings in the area, teams descended to search gardens with dogs and check vehicles, while helicopters whirred overhead. Now picnics and sunbathing can resume
The Saturday morning news that Daniel Khalife, the terror suspect who escaped from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning, had been spotted in Chiswick caused predictable intrigue in the leafy west London district. Police swiftly mustered in the area. Some drivers were being stopped and others reportedly asked for identification.
A police helicopter had been whirring overhead for much of the night and some residents said they had awoken to find officers sweeping through gardens. Police dog handlers and armed officers were all spotted along one of the area’s main roads by early morning.
Continue reading...IOPC apologises ‘unreservedly’ to Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean died after being restrained in Brixton
The police watchdog has apologised “unreservedly” to the sister of a black man who died in police custody in London 15 years ago.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct apologised to Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean died after losing consciousness at Brixton police station, for delays and police failings. She said she hoped that no other family would have to endure her family’s “never-ending trauma”.
Continue reading...Labour accuses Braverman of focusing on her ‘political obsessions’ as she says officers should focus on crime and avoid ‘contentious issues’
The home secretary has commissioned a review into police activism and impartiality as she tells officers to focus on crime rather than being involved in “political matters”.
Suella Braverman said public confidence had been damaged as a result of police engaging in “contentious issues” such as officers taking a knee and policing gender-critical views on social media.
Continue reading...At the village with the most unsolved burglaries in the UK, shopkeepers are turning to vigilante-style tactics
Within the genteel New Forest village of Lyndhurst, it was considered a crime of almost outrageous audacity.
On a busy Saturday afternoon in February, two vividly painted Moorcroft pottery charger plates were stolen in plain sight from the middle of the venerable antique store.
Continue reading...Police investigating poster put up in bus shelter in County Derry, which follows data breach last month
Police in Northern Ireland have said a poster featuring the personal details of three serving officers was placed on a bus shelter in County Derry.
An investigation has been launched into the incident in Dungiven on Thursday. It follows a data breach last month in which the details of about 10,000 officers and staff were mistakenly released online.
Continue reading...Sgt Graham Saville had been trying to help distressed man on tracks near Newark Northgate station
A police officer has died after being hit by a train while trying to save a distressed man on the tracks, Nottinghamshire police have said.
British Transport Police said they were called to the line near Newark Northgate station at about 7.10pm on Thursday evening after reports of a casualty on the tracks.
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