Policing - new material (46)
01 March 1999
Wrong place, wrong time...wrong man, Keith Dovkants. Evening Standard 8.3.99. pp10-11. Article on Stephen Moncrieffe, a young black man stopped and searched by Metropolitan police officers investigating a robbery in north London in October 1998. It resulted in Moncreith being treated for a suspected fracture of his forearm which was in plaster for several weeks. Charges of using abusive and threatening behaviour were dismissed by a jury when witnesses described the police as using "excess force"; one of them told the jury, "a person could have died in that situation."
Stop and search powers: research and extension, Stephen Cragg. Legal Action February 1999, pp6-7. This piece considers the Metropolitan police interim report "Stop and search: reviewing the tactic", two Home Office research papers "Entry into the criminal justice system: a survey of police arrests and their outcomes" and "Statistics on race and the criminal justice system" and the proposed revision of Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act codes of practice.
Hungary's controversial plan to get tough on organised crime, Tamas Orszag-Land. International Police Review March/April 1999, pp20-21. This article looks at the introduction of "one of Europe's toughest law and order regimes" or the "Hungarian experiment". Noting that new legislation will "impose radical curbs on human rights", the author also observes that it "might well be followed by the rest of East Central Europe."
Fair hearing? DCC Robert Ayling. Policing Today Vol 5 no 1, (March) 1999, pp18-25. In this article the police officer who led the Kent constabulary investigation into the racist killing of Stephen Lawrence, which failed to find any evidence of racial discrimination among the officers conducting the initial inquiry, explains why he believes that the Macpherson report "unfairly labelled front-line officers as institutionally racist."
Screen test, John Dean. Policing Today Vol 5 No 1 (March) 1999, pp30-31. Article on an ACPO-backed Gwent police project on a new hand held mobile camera system (Open Circuit Television) "which could revolutionise police surveillance techniques."
Deaths in police custody: reducing the risks. Police Complaints Authority 1999, pp18 ISBN 0 9533157 2X, ú5. This PCA booklet summarises the conclusions of a conference held last year. It focuses on three "areas of concern", suicide and self-harm, drug or alcohol abuse and restraint methods, based on an analysis of 195 deaths in custody between 1994-1998. It concludes with 16 recommendations and calls for a "multi-agency" approach to reducing risks.
The Lawrence report. Police Review 26.2.99. This is a special issue covering the Stephen Lawrence (Macpherson) report and includes interviews with three of the senior detectives (Ilsley, Crampton and Weedon) who headed the investigation into Stephen's murder and with John Barker who led the review of the investigation. It concludes by interviewing Metropolitan police commissioner Paul Condon and head of Scotland Yard's race and violent crime task force, John Grieve, on the lessons learnt from the case.
The 1998 British Crime Survey, Catriona Mirrlees-Black, Tracey Budd, Sarah Partridge & Pat Mayhew. Statistical Bulletin 21/98 (Home Office) 1998, pp93.
Parliamentary debates
Police Commons 4.2.99. cols. 1095-1137
Police vehicles Lords 25.3.99. cols. 1524-1536