Kent Police Authority have launched an attack on the Government plans for elected police commissioners. Their press release in its headline says the proposals are "naive and disastrous". It says: “There is no place for political interference in policing as recent public spats between ministers and senior police officers have proved,” said Ann Barnes, Kent […]
Cllr Peter Golds, leader of the Conservative opposiiton on Tower Hamlets Council, has written to his bishop As London and later other parts of the country faced riots one could ask where was the Church? The Archbishop of Canterbury found his voice in the House of Lords, five days after the riots commenced. The Bishop […]
According to figures from the Metropolitan Police Authority on March 31st 2008, just before Ken Livingstone was voted out as Mayor of London there were 31,398 police officers. The budgeted figure for this year is 32,320. So there are nearly a thousand more full time police officers with Boris Johnson than there were with Ken […]
Cllr Nigel Fletcher, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition on Greenwich Council, says riots in his borough meant political differences were put to one side Could there be anything worse for a community than seeing violent thugs and looters tear it to pieces, leaving much of it smashed and burnt out? It seems barely possible. […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter Wandsworth Council has become the first to issue an eviction order due to the recent rioting, which has happened across London and much of the country. The eviction notice will be issued to a council tenant in the borough, due to their son’s involvement the disturbances in Clapham junction on […]
Cllr Aaron Kiely, a Labour councillor on Thurrock, has apologised for comments he made on his Twitter account regarding the riots. One tweet said: “Difficult to dismiss people at these protests as 'violent thugs' – there are huge and complex problems with poverty and police racism.” Others tweets made references to "institutionally racist", how "riots […]
The Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has announced some special funding after the riots to re-open shops, rebuild buildings which were damaged and help councils with the cost of cleaning up the mess. It includes: A £10m recovery fund to help councils with the immediate costs of making their areas safe, clear and clean again. This […]
Cllr Brian Silvester, a Conserative councillor in Cheshire East, is calling on the BBC to hand over unbroadcast footage of the recent riots to the Police if it can be used to identify the culprits responsible for the looting and destruction and lead to their prosecution. On the Media Show on Radio 4 the BBC's […]
Andre Walker, a Local Government Advisor who has worked for five local authorities on groups scheduled for abolition running expensive lobbying campaigns to survive Sitting at my desk the other day I read an amusing exchange between Lancashire Police Authority and a Conservative MP. Whilst the MP hasn’t taken out a super-injunction against me, I […]
Tim Montgomerie Via FOI requests to local councils, the BigBrotherWatch campaigning organisation has discovered that a total of £314,835,170.39 was spent on installing and operating CCTV cameras during the 2007 to 2010 period. It compiled a table of the biggest ten spenders with LibCon Birmingham in the number one spot: Alex Deane of BBW commented: […]
The Sunday Express suggests that Council Tax discounts might be offered to Special Constables to boost their numbers. It also indicates the number of PCSOs "plastic policemen" may be cut back due to budgets being squeezed. The Association of Chief Police Officers have called for the discounts in a submission to the Government. They say: […]
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers Alliance urges Home Seceretary Theresa May to reject the vested interests and press on with her plans Last week, I had the privilege of speaking at the Police Federation conference in Bournemouth. It was a privilege because of the admirably straight-talking, good-humoured nature of the audience and because of the […]
The proposals of the CPS localism paper includes devolving beat policing and offender management to local councils. On beat policing it would work the commissioning authority being the local council. It should be responsible for budget setting. In an area outside London, the Government funding to cover the SNTs and PCSOs would be redirected from […]
After something of a struggle, Conservative-run Southampton City Council is going ahead with a 100% Council Tax rebate for Special Constables. These are police officers who work unpaid a minimum of 25 hours a month. Police chiefs in Southampton were enthusiastic about the plan but the Chief Constable of Hampshire, Alex Marshall, had reservations. If […]
Among the many achievements of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London is increasing the number of Special Constables. The numbers are already up to nearly 3,000 and the funding has been made available for training 10,000. Labour have claimed that the number of police officers is going to come down. This is not the case […]