Doctors
Arrested in Failed Bomb Attacks
Eight
people have been arrested in connection with failed bomb attempts
in London and Glasgow.
One man was detained at Brisbane airport in Australia. A number of
detainees are believed to be doctors.
Six of the suspects are being questioned at the high security Paddington
Green police station in London.
In a statement Met DAC Peter Clarke said links between the attacks
were emerging and becoming 'ever clearer'.
DAC Clarke added, ‘I am confident, absolutely confident, that
in the coming days and weeks, we will be able to gain a thorough understanding
of the methods used by the terrorists, the way they planned their
attacks and the network to which they belong.’
He said the forensic examination of the vehicles involved in these
attacks was proving to be 'extremely valuable'.
Detectives are currently trawling through thousands of hours of CCTV
material.
Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has been criticised for his low media
profile throughout the incident and ongoing investigation.
Defending the Commissioner, MPA Chairman, Len Duvall, called the criticisms
'ridiculous'.
‘I want to make it quite clear that the MPA has full confidence
in the leadership and conduct of Ian Blair during these operations.
‘It has been right and proper that Deputy Assistant Commissioner
Peter Clarke, head of the Met's Counter Terrorist Command and national
coordinator of terrorist investigations, has taken the lead role,
together with the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, in informing
the public of these incredibly fast-moving events.
‘The Commissioner and his team are working as one with the incredibly
brave and professional officers and staff at their command to secure
the safety of our communities, both here in London and nationally,
while leading the national drive to apprehend the criminals involved
and collect all the evidence needed to go to court.
These are essential tasks and the MPA is adamant that the entire Metropolitan
Police Service, working with other police services across the UK and
the security services, is doing its utmost. Public safety is our paramount
concern.’
The threat level in the UK now stands at critical which means an attack
is expected imminently. This is only the second time the threat has
been raised to that level.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith thanked the police and other agencies
for their 'extraordinary efforts'
MPA
hosts National Counter-terrorist Seminar
Counter-terrorist
activity, united with active community engagement, must be core business
for all police authorities and constabularies if the UK is to successfully
challenge and defeat criminals intent on destruction and murder said
Toby Harris today.
Lord Harris was chairing a national seminar for UK police authorities
hosted by the Metropolitan Police Authority in central London. This
event was to support and equip police authorities to effectively scrutinise
police counter-terrorist activity in their areas and realise the immense
potential of successful community engagement across the whole country.
Toby Harris said:
The events of the last few days have demonstrated beyond doubt that
terrorism poses a threat to the whole UK. It is a national problem
that demands national solutions and we need to ensure that counter-terrorist
activity is firmly embedded in the business planning of every police
service.
The Association of Police Authorities was keen to join forces with
the MPA to stage today's seminar because of our pioneering work into
the causes and effects of terrorism. 'Counter-Terrorism: The London
Debate' was the MPA's year-long programme of community engagement
that sought the views of over 1,000 London residents and workers.
Taking what we learned from London's communities, the MPA made 73
recommendations for the Metropolitan Police Service, MI5, the Independent
Police Complaints Commission, police authorities, local, regional
and national government, businesses, the media, and communities themselves
to help improve our national response to terrorism.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the MPA's work and stressed
that it was only by all our communities working together in collaboration
with the police that we would defeat terrorism.
Toby concluded:
The MPA, together with other police authorities around the UK, knows
that the national counter-terrorist drive needs to be joined up and
coordinated. Today we shared learning from our important work in this
field, and sought experiences from other police authorities that have
engaged with their communities, to ensure that this duty is firmly
embedded in the planning process of every UK police service.
http://www.mpa.gov.uk/issues/comeng/terrorism.htm
IPCC
Investigates Burnley Death
The
Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is independently investigating
a death in custody at Burnley Police Station on Saturday 30th June.
A man was arrested on Burnley Road, Brierfield on Saturday morning
and taken to Burnley Police Station. He was taken ill at the station
and was transferred to Burnley General Hospital, where he was pronounced
dead at 10.30am.
The man was formally identified as Nadeem Kahn, aged 28, from the
Blackburn area. His family have now been informed.
John Crawley, IPCC Commissioner said ‘Our investigators have
been at the scene throughout the weekend conducting an initial assessment.
They have met members of Mr Kahn's family to explain our role, which
is to provide the reassurance, to family and community alike, that
a fully independent investigation of the police's handling of this
incident is already well underway. I will issue an update on the progress
of our investigation when the post mortem results are known.’
Damilola
Trust Given Cash to Fight Knife Crime
Community
groups including the Damilola Taylor Trust have been awarded £800,000
by the Home Office to tackle crime and gang culture, Home Secretary
John Reid said yesterday.
The Damilola Taylor Trust will receive £300,000 to continue
its ‘Respect your life, not a knife’ campaign that urges
young people not to carry a knife or other weapons.
Other community groups across England and Wales will receive a share
of £500,000 through the Home Office's Connected Fund to support
projects that help to tackle gang culture. With the recent award of
£150,000 to Urban Concepts ‘Don't Trigger’ campaign,
this brings to almost £1 million the amount the Home Office
has given to community groups in recent weeks.
The Home Office is also, in conjunction with the Association of Chief
Police Officers (ACPO), publishing ‘Knife Crime Best Practice
Guidelines’ to help police and crime and disorder reduction partnerships
to tackle knife crime in the most effective way.
On 26th June Home Office Ministers met community representatives and
police in a roundtable meeting to discuss how best to tackle gun and
knife crime, and gang culture.
The Government tackles crime through police, powers and prevention.
That means ensuring police are equipped to deal with crime; giving
police and the courts the powers they need to deal with offenders;
and funding community groups to help prevent young people beginning
a life of crime and anti-social behaviour.
Alf Hitchcock, ACPO lead on knife crime and Deputy Assistant Commissioner
at the Metropolitan Police, said:
‘Police forces across the country have contributed examples of
good practice from themselves and their partner organisations to help
develop the joint police and Home Office best practice guide. We know
that to address knife crime in the long term involves a great deal
more than just policing. However, this guide provides a further tool
in the fight against this area of crime.’
Skills
for Justice Recovers from Floods
Sheffield-based
Skills for Justice is now up and running after being flooded during
last week's torrential rainfall.
The organisation closed its offices last Tuesday and Wednesday to
allow cleaning and repairs.
‘The office re-opened on Thursday 28th June, but flood damage
had also affected our Internet Service provider, meaning that we were
unable to send or receive e-mail externally.’
Skills for Justice is currently consulting on a proposed NVQ in Police
Community Support which has been developed following initial consultation
with a working group.
For further information on the NVQ, please contact Emma Hutchinson
by e-mail at emma.hutchinson@skillsforjustice.com.
Detectives
from the Economic and Specialist Crime Command's Operation Maxim
have arrested five men after uncovering the single largest haul of
fake passports from a counterfeit passport factory.
In an intelligence-led operation, detectives raided the two-bedroom
flat in Poplar Grove, Colney Hatch, London N11 yesterday afternoon.
When police officers entered the property a counterfeit driving licence
was being printed at the time from a printer in the back bedroom.
Three Eastern European men, one Kosovan and two Bulgarian, were arrested
at the address for conspiracy to manufacture identity documents and
remain in custody at a North London police station.
At the property officers discovered two wardrobes, both containing
and one of them full with over 1800 counterfeit passports, the largest
amount of completed passports the team have uncovered which were ready
to be dispatched. These included 200 fake UK passports, which are
often considered by counterfeiters to be too ambitious to convincingly
attempt. There was also associated counterfeit paraphernalia including
between 3,000 and 4,000 fake passport laminates of various denominations,
between 1,000 and 2,000 counterfeit bio-data pages, which are the
pages filled with personal details in a passport and 1,000 blank cards.
Blank cards are commonly used by counterfeiters to produce fake UK
or foreign driving licences.
Equipment found at the property included printers, scanners, two computers
and various fake immigration stamps. Within the haul, detectives seized
from the property over 1800 counterfeit passports comprising of 212
x British, 562 x Finnish, 428 x Portuguese and 62 x Korean. They also
seized a quantity of counterfeit passports from Latvia, Slovenia,
Albania, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Belgium and France.
Following the search, two further men were also arrested. An Albanian
man was arrested in Grantham Road, Goodmayes, Essex and the other
was a Bulgarian man arrested at a property in Ballards Lane in Finchley.
Both remain in custody.
Detective Inspector Nick Downing, from the Met's Economic and Specialist
Crime Command, said:
'This is the largest amount of counterfeit passports that Operation
Maxim and the MPS have ever had and potentially the largest within
the UK. The estimated street value of this seizure is well over a
million pounds.
'Our activity has not only disrupted a well established and organised
criminal network, but as a result it will make London safer. We will
continue to target and disrupt organised crime networks across the
capital seeking to use false documents to facilitate their criminal
enterprise. We do this by working closely with our partners from Border
and Immigration Agency and Identity Passport Service.
'These counterfeit passports have the potential to be sold on to anyone
wanting to carry out criminal activity or illegally enter the UK.
They are sold on recklessly by those producing them without any regard
to who they might be or why they might wish to avoid detection. As
part of the Economic and Specialist Crime Command, we will use the
powers of the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover their assets and maximise
this disruption.'
IPA
Donates Cheque for African Orphanage
A
fundraising night at Police Headquarters has given a school and orphanage
in Kenya a £500 boost.
The International Police Association's (IPA) charity quiz night involved
around 90 persons in 15 teams. The winner for the second year in a
row was a team from the Fire Service.
The Peace Village School and Orphanage Trust in Mombasa was founded
in 2006 by a Scottish couple and has been partially funded by the
pop singer Cher.
Ann Sinclair, an IPA member, visited the project in Kenya and said
‘To see the progress being made is fantastic. Having come from
such destitution we are now seeing the fundraising being put to good
use’.
The IPA was set up in 1950 and offers members a variety of benefits
including exchange trips to other countries and planned charity events.
Motorway
Police 'Professional' Says IPCC
Central
Motorway Police Group officers ‘acted in accordance with their
professional duties’ during an accident that claimed the life
of a teenager, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission
(IPCC).
The IPCC has ended its management of the investigation into the fatal
crash in Hockley, Birmingham in November 2005 in which 19 year old
Kye Lawrence died.
A CMPG patrol car saw two cars travelling at speed, and began to follow
them. The two cars then separated and the patrol car continued to
follow one of the vehicles, a black Nissan Primera.
The Nissan hit a lamp post and a derelict shop. Mr Kye Lawrence, a
19-year-old man from the Highgate area of Birmingham, was pronounced
dead at the scene, and a second man was taken to hospital with serious
injuries. The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Mr Mikael
Henry, fled the scene and a fourth man suffered minor injuries.
Henry, 20, of Alcester Road, Moseley, later admitted causing the death
of Mr Lawrence by dangerous driving, and was subsequently sent to
a detention and young offenders' institution for 3 years.
The investigation which examined the actions taken by police officers
from the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) prior to the fatal collision,
found that officers acted in accordance with their professional duties.
John Crawley, IPCC Commissioner said: ‘Our investigation clearly
demonstrated that the CMPG Police officers who were involved in this
incident acted in a wholly appropriate manner and in no way contributed
to the untimely death of Kye Lawrence.
‘The available CCTV footage quite clearly showed there was a
delay between the time of the collision and the arrival of the police
vehicle at the scene, meaning the police vehicle was not present at
the point that the Nissan Primera collided with the lamp post.’
The Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) was established to patrol
motorways around the West Midlands region. It is made up of specialist
drivers seconded from police forces in the area. Although seconded
to the CMPG, Officers remain under the employment of their own police
force.
Lothian
and Borders Officers Go Wild
Five
wildlife crime officers from Lothian and Borders Police will feature
in a four-part BBC Scotland television series entitled Wildlife Detectives.
The
programme follows a core of police officers, some full-time on wildlife
duties and some also working on regular police work, over the course
of a year from spring, through to summer, autumn and winter.
Scotland's wild creatures are a national treasure, but there is a
hard core of criminals who want to exploit the wildlife for financial
gain, or harm it in the name of sport.
Wildlife Detectives is the story of people who protect our precious
animals, plants and birds.
The wildlife detectives are:
• Mark Rafferty, based in Jedburgh, who started his police career
with the 'Met' in London, with five years on the murder squad. Latterly
working on top level crime with the anti-terrorist branch and then
the National Crime Squad;
• Ruaraidh Hamilton, in Haddington, East Lothian. Ruaraidh is
a keen birder who brings his passion and his work together tracking
illegal bird trappers;
• Finlay Christine, on Mull, looking after eagles and
• Mark Maylin, Glenrothes in Fife. Mark spent time in Africa
in the forces where he developed an interest in wildlife. Now he's
co-ordinating big sightings in Fife.
• Alan Stewart, based in Tayside, who was Scotland's first ever
full-time wildlife crime officer in 1997. He blazed a trail and even
helped mould current legislation;
The case load includes badger baiting and killing, illegal possession
of birds of prey, mysterious sightings of big cats, dolphin harassment,
indiscriminate poisoning of wildlife, illegal hare coursing, shooting
of protected species, bird trapping and even some moss theft.
The
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has launched consultation
on its new Data Protection Strategy which sets out how it intends
to minimise the data protection risk.
The strategy reveals the ICO will focus its data protection resources
on situations where there is the greatest risk of harm through improper
use of personal information.
Launching the strategy, David Smith, Deputy Commissioner, said: 'Our
vision is of a society where respect for personal information is guaranteed;
a society where organisations inspire trust by meeting reasonable
expectations of integrity, security and fairness in the collection
and use of personal information; a society where individuals understand
how their information is used and are aware of their rights and are
confident in using them.’
Organisations processing people's personal details must comply with
the Principles of the Data Protection Act. Failure to comply with
the Act increases the risk that individuals' personal information
is not held secure, is inaccurate or out of date.
The ICO will focus its attention on situations where there is a real
likelihood of serious harm. This could be harm caused to individuals
or to society as a whole. This risk based approach is in line with
good regulatory practice.
David Smith, Deputy Commissioner, will add: ‘Building public
confidence in data protection is key in our approach. We protect people
not just information. Public confidence depends on us taking a practical,
down to earth approach - simplifying and making it easier for the
majority of organisations who seek to handle personal information
well, but making it tougher for the minority who do not.’
Macau
Police Invest in IndigoVision IP-CCTV
IndigoVision’s
complete IP-Video system is providing a comprehensive CCTV surveillance
solution for the Police Service in Macau, one of the two Special Administrative
Regions of the People's Republic of China, along with Hong Kong. The
new system has revolutionised how Macau Police monitor their operation
and has provided them with faster video analysis and improved incident
response. IndigoVision was chosen following a successful test evaluation
of competing systems by technical officers in Macau Police.
The 200+ camera system, installed by IndigoVision’s local partner
TungPo HK, provides surveillance and recording of video and audio
for the HQ and a separate police station located 3Km away across the
city, which is connected via a dedicated fibre LAN. The system is
soon to be expanded to encompass a third police station whose function
will be dedicated to policing the largest casino site in the territory.
Fixed and PTZ dome cameras provide surveillance of the outside of
the buildings as well as the detention cells, booking-in desks, interview
rooms and operation centre. The video and audio can be exported for
evidential purposes using sophisticated encryption and watermarking
techniques to ensure the material is tamper-proof.
Macau Police chose to replace their ageing analogue hardware matrix
and VCR based CCTV system with a solution that provided high-quality
video with the flexibility and scalability of a virtual matrix. This
also allowed them to easily integrate surveillance of remote police
stations that were not covered by the existing system.
'IndigoVision’s video and audio quality is very impressive, which
is an important factor when preparing evidence,' said Kenny Leung,
Director, TungPo HK. 'The flexibility of the system and the advanced
features provided by the ‘Control Center’ software has transformed
the way Macau Police monitor and record their operation.'
‘Control Center’, IndigoVision’s enterprise video and
alarm management software, allows police officers and staff to view
live and recorded video from any of the cameras at either building.
The flexibility of IndigoVision’s IP Video technology means that
any component in the system can be located at any point on the network
– this provides a scalable and redundant solution. Macau Police
have exploited this flexibility by locating ‘Control Center’
workstations both in dedicated CCTV control rooms in each building
and on individual desks as required. IndigoVision’s unique approach
to supplying ‘Control Center’ software as licence-free encourages
users to benefit from the flexibility of IP Video as additional workstations
can be installed anywhere on the network for the cost of a simple
PC - Macau Police are currently using around 20 workstations throughout
both buildings.
High-quality 25fps/4CIF video and audio is recorded using IndigoVision’s
Network Video Recorders (NVRs) which are distributed around the network
to minimize bandwidth and provide fault tolerant recording. Eleven
NVRs with a combined storage of 10TB provide Macau police with about
two weeks of continuous full framerate recording from all cameras.
Each camera is connected to an IndigoVision 8000 transmitter/receiver
module. The 8000 converts the camera signal to high-quality digital
video for transmission over the IP network. IndigoVision’s advanced
compression technology ensures minimum bandwidth usage and helps maximize
the available NVR storage. Additional 8000 modules are also used to
convert the digital video back to analogue for feeds to video displays
in the control rooms. Over 50 of the original CCTV cameras were re-used
as well as some of the control room equipment.
About IndigoVision:
IndigoVision is a leading manufacturer of complete end-to-end IP video
and alarm management solutions. IndigoVision is widely chosen for
applications in airports, city centres, ports, mines, road and rail
systems, education, banking, casinos, prisons, government and the
military. These enterprise-class systems improve organisations' operational
efficiency, enhance public safety and enable timely emergency response.
IndigoVision is headquartered in Edinburgh UK, with local sales and
support offices across the world. IndigoVision partners with some
150 authorised system integrators and installers in 30 countries to
provide local system design, installation and service to end users.
E-mail: info.request@indigovision.com
or visit www.indigovision.com.