Policing - new material (56)
01 May 2001
Policing after Macpherson, I McKenzie. Police Journal, vol 73 no 4, 2000, pp323?340.
Provides an overview and analysis of the Macpherson report and draws out implications for the British police service as a whole and police management in particular.
The search for the Holy Grail, Steve Goodwin. Police Vol XXXIII no 5 (May) 2001, pp9-11.
Goodwin interviews Roland Oullette, president of REB Training International Incorporated, which trains police officers in the use of "non-lethal" weapons in the United States and elsewhere. Oullette says: "We are the biggest pepper spray training company in the United States where we've certified 5,000 instructors", before describing his latest invention, the A3P3. He describes the product as "a socially responsible defence device that incapacitates an attacker without excessive force." It does this by discharging a "highly controlled and debilitating" aerosol plume such as oleoresin capsicum or OC, CS, Mace or Pava for a distance of 20 plus feet. The discharge is calculated by an "onboard computer with an automatic target-range finding system" that uses "a sonic object detection sensor" and a "laser sighting beam" that has a strobe effect designed to "distract" an aggressor. He cites the effects of discharging OC as an example: "The eyes would immediately stream with tears, the lungs close down and blood from the legs is sent by reflex action up to the lungs. This causes the target to literally collapse on the floor..." Oullette concludes by expressing his pride in the weapon which apparently, but hardly surprisingly, has impressed the American National Institute of Justice and is soon to be tested on streets and "in prisons" across the USA.
Sure-fire investment, John Dean. Police Review 13.7.01., pp22-23.
On Durham and Cleveland constabulary's new £6.8m Tactical Firearms Training Centre which "houses some of the sophisticated technology available and is already attracting attention from other police forces and the military..."
Cause for complaint, Gary Mason. Police Review 23.3.01, pp26-28.
Mason interviews Alistair Graham, the chairman of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA). Somewhat belatedly, Graham notes that: "If we [the PCA] are constantly seen just to be accepting the recommendations of senior police officers in discipline matters rather than asserting from time to time the wider public interest then I think confidence in the police complaints system would drop dramatically." Asked, post-Macpherson, if "some complainants are using the focus on racism to make unfounded allegations against police officers", Graham replies that he doesn't have any evidence one way or the other.
Mayday Monopoly game guide: anti-capitalist actions across London on Tuesday 1 May 2001. London Mayday Collective, 2001, pp40.
Handbook to accompany "celebrating Mayday 2001...with numerous autonomous actions centred on locations around the Monopoly board." The booklet was "designed to provide some initial information on the locations and perhaps some ideas..."
Parliamentary debates
Criminal Justice and Police Bill Commons 29.1.01 cols 34-143
Police Commons 31.1.01 cols 325-353
Police (South Buckinghamshire) Commons 31.1.01 cols 112WH-119WH
Policing (East Anglia) Commons 6.2.01 209WH-215WH
Metropolitan Police Commons 1.3.01 cols 1140-1146
Criminal Justice and Police Bill Commons 12.3.01 cols 728-776; 776-792
Criminal Justice and Police Bill Commons 14.3.01 cols 1045-1125
Criminal Justice and Police Bill Lords 30.4.01 cols 1611-1641; 1649-1686
Criminal Justice and Police Bill Lords 1.5.01 1696-1765; 1782-1824
Criminal Justice and Police Bill Lords 8.5.01 cols 2037-2070; 2074-2109; 2131-2156
Criminal Justice and Police Bill Lords 9.5.01 cols 2170-2188
May Day Protests Lords 26.4.01 cols 1452-1456
Police Manpower (London) Commons 9.5.01 cols 93WH-116WH
Criminal Justice and Police Bill Commons 10.5.01 cols 287-304