Category Archives: Police

Covid used as pretext to curtail civil rights around the world, finds report

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Free speech, LBGT+ rights and freedoms to peacefully assemble have deteriorated during the pandemic

The state of civil liberties around the world is bleak, according to a new study which found that 87% of the global population were living in nations deemed “closed”, “repressed” or “obstructed”.

The figure is a 4% increase on last year’s, as civil rights were found to have deteriorated in almost every country in the world during Covid-19. A number of governments have used the pandemic as an excuse to curtail rights such as free speech, peaceful assembly and freedom of association, according to Civicus Monitor, an alliance of civil society groups which assessed 196 countries.

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Police bail reforms left crime victims feeling unsafe, finds report

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Changes intended to benefit innocent suspects kept some attackers at liberty until trial

Victims have been left unprotected and a suspected paedophile left free to strike after government changes to bail plunged parts of the criminal justice system into chaos, an official report has found.

The report from the police and prosecution inspectorates found damage was caused to the confidence of domestic abuse victims, whose alleged attackers were left free without restrictions while cases came to court.

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Police chief unveils radical plans for community panels to monitor race bias

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Exclusive: call for wider scrutiny of stop and search, handcuffing and use of force, and even intelligence

New independent community panels in England and Wales should be given the power to inspect everything police do to root out bias, including their use of force and even where they deploy officers, under radical plans devised by a senior chief constable.

Assistant commissioner Rob Beckley, regarded as an expert on police and community relations, says the sweeping reforms would help law enforcement drag itself out of the race crisis engulfing it.

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Met chief defends ‘strong record’ after claims of race crisis

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Cressida Dick says stop and search has helped save young black lives

Britain’s top police officer has denied her force’s leadership were too slow to realise it had race a problem and said its controversial tactics have not oppressed young black men but saved scores from being stabbed.

Hitting back at months of revelations and criticism, Cressida Dick said the Metropolitan police, who police more than half of Britain’s black population, had a “strong record”.

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Silent victims: the hidden Romanian women exploited in the UK sex trade

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Sex traffickers can make profits of over £1m a year per brothel – and Covid lockdowns have only made it easier for them to operate

Three weeks ago, police entered a brothel in south-east England after receiving intelligence about criminal activity there. Inside, they found eight Romanian women wearing face shields and masks, and laminated Covid-19 health and safety sheets on the wall. An industrial-size bottle of hand sanitiser stood by the front door.

“On the surface, this did not look like a place where criminality and sexual exploitation was taking place,” says Cristina Huddleston, a trafficking victim support specialist who joined the raid that evening.

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Police apologise after officers wrongly bust online church service

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Nine officers broke up legal Milton Keynes event after misunderstanding Covid rules

Police have apologised after a pastor was accused of breaking coronavirus regulations while holding a religious service online.

The Rev Daniel Mateola said he was “treated like a criminal” when officers arrived at Kingdom Faith Ministries International church in Milton Keynes earlier this month.

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What really happened to Edson Da Costa?

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He was 25, a father and a car mechanic. Five minutes after being stopped by police on 15 June 2017, he was lying unresponsive on the ground. After an inquest and inquiry, family and friends are still fighting for justice

They were cruising at speed down Tollgate Road, the stereo turned high. They all knew they shouldn’t be there, not at this time, not after dark. If you’re from London’s Stratford, showing up in nearby Beckton carried its risks.

Jussara Gomes was driving, a fast-talking 23-year-old with an infectious laugh. Beside her, in the passenger seat of the black A-class Mercedes, was Edir Da Costa, known as Edson, a 25-year-old father and car mechanic, swaying exuberantly to hip-hop.

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Protesters launch fireworks at police in Paris – video

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French security forces fire teargas at protesters marching against police violence in Paris on Saturday after masked activists launched fireworks at their lines, put up barricades and threw stones.

Thousands rallied across France after video of police beating a black music producer fanned anger about a draft law that is seen as curbing the right of journalists to report on police brutality

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Harvey Milk’s murder is a stark reminder of the persistence of police brutality

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Few realize Milk and San Francisco mayor George Moscone were killed in part due to their opposition to police violence and abuse

Like millions around the world, last May the image of the Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd sickened and angered me and drove me to the streets to demonstrate in support of Black Lives Matter. It also reminded me of events that occurred in my hometown of San Francisco 42 years ago on Friday.

Many people know who Harvey Milk was, are familiar with his contributions to the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement and remember that he was assassinated on 27 November 1978 after being in office for less than a year. Fewer people are aware that one of the proximate reasons why Milk and San Francisco’s progressive mayor George Moscone were killed was because of their opposition to police violence and abuse.

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Family who fear daughter was killed sue Leeds NHS trust after body decomposes

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Exclusive: pathologist unable to rule out third-party involvement in Emily Whelan’s death because of condition of corpse

The family of a woman who they suspect was killed is suing a health trust that allegedly stored her corpse incorrectly, allowing it to decompose to the point that experts were unable to rule out third-party involvement in her death, the Guardian can reveal.

Emily Whelan, 25, was found unresponsive in her bedroom in Leeds on 7 November 2016 and was rushed by ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary (LGI). Her family was told that Emily, who had epilepsy, had experienced a seizure, but she had never had any significant issues with the condition she had managed since childhood.

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Police let public down on night of Manchester Arena bomb, chief says

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British Transport Police assistant chief constable says officers should have been patrolling site of attack

A senior police chief has admitted that officers who failed to patrol the site of the Manchester Arena bomb “let the public down”.

An inquiry into the terrorist attack heard that two British Transport Police (BTP) officers left the area to take a meal break of more than two hours, involving a five-mile trip to buy kebabs.

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Nine Met officers spied on public anti-war meeting in 1968, inquiry hears

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Undercover officers attended planning meeting of anti-Vietnam war protesters

Nine police officers were covertly deployed to spy on an open public meeting that decided the route of a major anti-war demonstration, a public inquiry has heard.

The officers attended the meeting in 1968 at which about 250 campaigners against the Vietnam war had gathered to draw up plans for a large-scale demonstration.

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Rare stolen books, including works by Newton and Galileo, returned to owners

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Books worth more than £2.5m found in Romania after Mission Impossible-style theft

Hundreds of internationally important and irreplaceable books worth more than £2.5m that were stolen in a daring heist by abseiling burglars have been returned to their rightful owners.

Metropolitan police announced the successful conclusion on Tuesday of a near four-year police operation investigating the Mission Impossible-style theft of books that included rare works by Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo and the 18th-century Spanish painter Francisco de Goya.

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Police watchdog opens investigation after man shot dead in Swindon

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Independent Office for Police Conduct says Wiltshire police officers responded to reports of two men arguing in the street

The police watchdog has opened an investigation into the death of a 57-year-old man who was shot after Wiltshire police were called to an incident in Swindon.

On Sunday, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced it had opened an investigation into the incident.

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Lockdown: Met apologises for arrest threats to journalists covering protest

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Police showed ‘disregard of the the principles of a free media’, says Society of Editors

Scotland Yard has apologised after journalists and photographers covering an anti-lockdown protest were told to leave and threatened with arrest.

Journalists at the demonstration protesting the new national lockdown in England in Trafalgar Square on Thursday were reportedly told by officers they were not seen as essential workers and needed special permission from the Metropolitan police service (MPS) to be present.

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Ex-wives of undercover police tell of marriages ‘based on lies’

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Three women share ‘shattering’ experiences in statement made to public inquiry

The former wives of undercover police officers have told a public inquiry about the “shattering” discovery that their marriages were “imbued with deceit” as a result of their husbands’ covert deployments.

A statement was made to the inquiry on behalf of three women who believed they were making personal sacrifices so their husbands could go undercover to infiltrate political groups during long-term deployments.

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PNG police chief raises fears officers may have been raping women inside station

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New provincial commander says he is concerned by allegations of rape and sexual assault by officers in Alotau Town

Two policemen have been charged with rape allegedly committed inside a police station in Alotau Town, in Papua New Guinea’s south-east, but the city’s most senior officer said he fears others sexual assaults may have been committed by police, with victims too afraid to report attacks.

“I can honestly say that this practice may have been going on for a while,” Milne Bay provincial police commander Peter Barkie told the Guardian. “I’ve heard about it but since taking office I can only confirm two [alleged] cases, who were charged during my time.”

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Met police told to reveal if spies still used in political groups

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Head of undercover policing inquiry says he expects to be told if practice is continuing

The head of the inquiry into undercover policing has insisted that Scotland Yard reveal whether it is currently deploying spies in political groups.

The surprise intervention from Sir John Mitting came on the second day of public hearings in the inquiry into spying operations that targeted mostly leftwing groups for at least four decades.

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Police spying inquiry to examine targeting of UK black justice groups

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Judge will hear evidence on undercover operations against campaigns such as Stephen Lawrence

A public inquiry into undercover policing is poised to reveal details of how police repeatedly spied on black justice groups, including several run by grieving families whose relatives were killed by police or died in custody.

The judge-led inquiry was launched six years ago by the home secretary at the time, Theresa May, after the Guardian revealed police covertly monitored the campaign for justice over the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence.

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Met police criticised for multiple errors in stop and search practice

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London force accepts watchdog advice over flawed tactics undermining community confidence

The Metropolitan police force has been getting its use of stop and search wrong with multiple errors that have undermined its legitimacy, the police watchdog has found.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said police in one case stopped and searched two black men who were innocently fist bumping, because officers wrongly thought they were drug dealing.

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