Policing - new material (41)
01 March 1998
Conviction. Newsletter 18, 1998, pp16. The latest issue of Conviction contains a question and answer piece with the Criminal Cases Review Commission and examines various miscarriage of justice cases including Beverley Shanahan, Samar Ali and Cheri Looker.
"I saw others go mad with rage, but I locked myself away. Now I'm still here and I'm still me", Heather Mills. Observer 29.3.98. p19. This article recounts the story of John Roberts who has been released from prison after serving 15 years for a murder that he did not commit. Roberts, who was a vulnerable young man at the time of his arrest, made a false and totally inconsistent confession after hours of intense police interrogation.
Three lives shattered, Paul Foot. Guardian 24.2.98. Disturbing article on the Bridgewater 3 - Jimmy Robinson, Michael Hickey and Vincent Hickey - who were wrongly convicted for the murder of schoolboy Carl Bridgewater in 1978. In the year since their release from prison two of the men are in hospital while the third suffers from "intense anguish but is gradually coming through."
Pheonix rising, Stewart Goodwin; A national force for an international problem, Patrick Hook. Police Vol. XXX No. 4 (April) 1998, pp6-7 & 12-15. Two pieces on the launch of the National Crime Squad.
No hiding place, John Weeks. Police Vol. XXX No. 4 (April) 1998, pp9-11. This article looks at the National Police Training Specialist Crime Centre, Leicestershire, which was set up to standardise training in conventional surveillance in 1994.
Scrutiny of evidence relating to the Hillsborough football stadium disaster, Rt Hon Lord Justice Stuart-Smith. HMSO Cm 3878 (February) 1998, pp222 ?22.
It's time to stop the rot, David James Smith. Sunday Times magazine 12.4.98., pp22-28. Feature on Stoke Newington police station that reviews an unappealing history - 5 black "deaths in custody" between 1971 and 1987 - including the Operation Jackpot corruption enquiry. It asks whether a new regime at the station can finally win local respect, perhaps overlooking the fact that respect has to be earned.
Offending on bail and police use of conditional bail, David Brown. Research Findings No. 72 (Home Office research and Statistics Directorate) 1988.
Europol und operative Ermittlungsmethoden (Europol and operational investigative methods), Hartmut Aden, CILIP No.58, 1997, pp65-69. The article looks critically at Europol's envisaged operational powers and questions the effectiveness of such investigative methods.
Parliamentary debates
Police Grant Report Commons 4.2.98. cols. 1065-1089
Police Bill Commons 13.2.98. cols. 731-737
Police Disciplinary & Complaints Procedures Lords 23.3.98. cols. 1016-1026