Policing - new material (73)
01 September 2005
Police station law and practice update, Ed Cape. Legal Action October 2005, pp.10-14. In this piece Cape considers the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) 2005, Legal Aid and legal advice. The author expresses "most concern" over Section 3 of SOCPA and the "radical changes to police powers of arrest, abolishing the concepts of arrestable and serious arrestable offence, and giving the police power to arrest for any offence providing arrest is "necessary"". These provisions come into force on 1 January 2006.
Got your number, Frank Whiteley. Police Review, 8.4.05, pp.24-25. This article envisages "am imaginary basic command unit in 2008 where Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology is being used to its full potential to catch criminals."
Police the police, Helen Shaw. Labour Left Briefing, September 2005, p. 6. Shaw, the co-director of INQUEST, considers the shoot-to-kill policy that dictated the "execution" of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician who died after seven bullets were pumped into his head by police officers from point blank range as he made his way to work following the 21 July bomb attacks on London. The questions raised by a policy that was never openly debated have only been compounded by the misleading information placed - and allowed to remain - in the public domain by Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, leading to calls for his resignation. www.inquest.org.uk
Police Misconduct and the Law, Stephen Cragg, Tony Murphy & Heather Williams. Legal Action October 2005, pp. 26-30. Among the wrongful acts considered here is the detention of protesters in central London on May Day 2001 and the shooting of James Ashley by Sussex police in January 1988.
Shooting to kill, Daniel Machover. Red Pepper Issue 133 (September) 2005, pp. 17. Article on the comments and reactions by police officers following the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes in July. Machover observes "a stark change in police policy, with shots fired at the suspect's head on purpose, rather than to the biggest body mass. It places an almost certain death sentence on anyone who in the perception of armed officers poses an immanent threat of exploding a device as a suicide bomber." The police also want to change the law to make them immune from possible legal action.
Inspector Gadget, Chris Herbert. Police Review 30.9.05, pp18-19. This article discusses Merseyside's planned "futuristic" police car technology which, when installed, will give police drivers access to the national criminal database, fingerprinting technology, facial recognition software or wireless briefings "at the touch of a button." Described as "a mobile laptop in a car", Merseyside's Inspector Holland foresees a situation where police officers: "While they are sitting in the car, the car's ANPR [Automated Number Plate Recognition] cameras are automatically reading passing vehicles' numberplates and pinging the information back to the Police National Computer. The machine will then speak to the driver: "The driver of the old blue Audi to your right is believed to be disqualified" for instance."