New Mobile Fingerprint Device lets Police identify suspects in less than a minute

A new mobile fingerprint scanning system allows police to identify a potential suspect in under a minute at the scene of an incident, according to officers testing the technology.

The system involves a small device which connects to smartphones already used by frontline officers and then uses the new Biometric Services Gateway to search records held on both police and immigration databases.

West Yorkshire Police is working with the Home Office on a trial of the system and the force is rolling out 250 of the scanners to officers in the next few weeks.

The Home Office said it expects another 20 forces to be using it by the end of the year.

Demonstrating the device, which looks like a small mobile wifi dongle, Chief Inspector Ian Williams said: "For the first time we can now identify somebody on the street through their fingerprints, through those databases.
"We can get photographs back of the individual, we can get a full PNC (Police National Computer) record of the individual as well which gives us a really thorough identification.
"From the moment we take the fingerprint we're getting results right through to the PNC check and the photograph in less than a minute."

Mr Williams said the speed of the process meant people could sometimes be dealt with on the street without having to be taken to a police station.

An armed response unit using the device - which costs under £300 - took 10 minutes to identify a driver and issue a summons - a process which previously would have detained the team for four hours.

Mr Williams said fingerprints taken by the device will not be added to any database as it does not record and store this data.

 Article by Dave Higgens. Courtesy of www.independent.co.uk 

Big Ben Is About To Fall Silent For Four Years - Here's Why

The chimes of the world’s most iconic clock are to be silenced for the next four years while major conservation works are carried out.

Big Ben’s famous bongs will sound for the last time at noon on Monday, August 21, before they are paused until 2021 - ending more than 150 years of almost continuous timekeeping.

The Elizabeth Tower, home to the Great Clock and Big Ben, is undergoing a complex programme of renovation aimed at preserving the landmark for future generations.

A man with arguably one of the best job titles in the world, Keeper of the Great Clock Steve Jaggs said: “Big Ben falling silent is a significant milestone in this crucial conservation project.

“As Keeper of the Great Clock I have the great honour of ensuring this beautiful piece of Victorian engineering is in top condition on a daily basis.

“This essential programme of works will safeguard the clock on a long term basis, as well as protecting and preserving its home – the Elizabeth Tower.

“Members of the public are welcome to mark this important moment by gathering in Parliament Square to hear Big Ben’s final bongs until they return in 2021.”The works will see the clock dismantled piece by piece, with each cog examined and restored. The four dials will be carefully cleaned, the glass repaired, the cast iron framework renewed, and the hands will be removed and refurbished.

The Great Bell, popularly called Big Ben, weighs 13.7 tonnes and strikes every hour. It is accompanied by four quarter bells, which chime every 15 minutes, which will also cease to keep the workers in the tower safe. 

The clock is operated by a custom built Victorian clockwork mechanism, which relies on gravity to trigger the renowned bongs. To stop the bells, the striking hammers will be locked and the bell disconnected from the clock mechanism, allowing the Great Clock to continue telling the time silently - but it will still chime for important national events, including New Year’s Eve and Remembrance Sunday

Big Ben has marked the hour with almost unbroken service for the past 157 years. The bongs last fell silent for maintenance in 2007, and before that between 1983-5 as part of a previous large scale refurbishment programme. 

Scaffolding for the current conservation project started earlier this year, when scaffolding was put up and the first works will see the Ayrton Light (which shines to show that Parliament is sitting) renovated.

The team will then work its way down the building, removing scaffolding on the way.  Most of the clock faces will be covered with the maintenance is underway, but one will always remain visible.

Article courtesy of http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The Great Bell, popularly called Big Ben, weighs 13.7 tonnes and strikes every hour. It is accompanied by four quarter bells, which chime every 15 minutes, which will also cease to keep the workers in the tower safe. The clock is operated by a custom built Victorian clockwork mechanism, which relies on gravity to trigger the renowned bongs. To stop the bells, the striking hammers will be locked and the bell disconnected from the clock mechanism, allowing the Great Clock to continue telling the time silently - but it will still chime for important national events, including New Year’s Eve and Remembrance Sunday.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The Great Bell, popularly called Big Ben, weighs 13.7 tonnes and strikes every hour. It is accompanied by four quarter bells, which chime every 15 minutes, which will also cease to keep the workers in the tower safe. The clock is operated by a custom built Victorian clockwork mechanism, which relies on gravity to trigger the renowned bongs. To stop the bells, the striking hammers will be locked and the bell disconnected from the clock mechanism, allowing the Great Clock to continue telling the time silently - but it will still chime for important national events, including New Year’s Eve and Remembrance Sunday.

This Green thing !

This has done the rounds before but it still brings a smile to my old face. I hope your sense of humour will appreciate it too !

Checking out at the supermarket, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.  

 The woman apologised to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days." 

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." 

The older lady said that she was right - our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain: 

Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the factory to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. 
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household rubbish bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling. Then we were able to personalise our books on the brown paper bags. 

But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. 
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocers and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. 

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day. 

Back then we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 13 amps. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day
 
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Gloucestershire. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. 

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then. 

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled fountain pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. 

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then. 

Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's £40,000 SUV, which cost what a whole house did before the"green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites out in space in order to find the nearest pub. 

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then? 

Please encourage another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-arsed young person to read this post.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off. Especially from a tattooed, multiple-pierced smart-arse who can't give change without the cash register telling them how much !

Drones flying into prisons to be examined by new Police team

The Prison Service and police are to pool intelligence to stop drones flying drugs and mobile phones to prison inmates in England and Wales.

They will forensically examine captured drones to try to find out who was flying them.
The invention of easy-to-fly, remote-controlled aircraft has caused a huge security headache for prisons.
But critics have called the plan a "red herring" to distract people from "chaos and crisis" in prisons.

• Prisons under pressure - BBC News

The national initiative will see police and prison officers share information about the quadcopters and methods used.
Prisons Minister Sam Gyimah said: "We are absolutely determined to tackle the illegal flow of drugs and mobile phones into our prisons and turn them into places of safety and reform.
"The threat posed by drones is clear but our dedicated staff are committed to winning the fight against those who are attempting to thwart progress by wreaking havoc in establishments all over the country.
"My message to those who involve themselves in this type of criminal activity is clear: we will find you and put you behind bars."

Staff corruption

The Prison Service could not give details about how many officers would be involved, but reports suggested £3m would be spent on the new task force.
John Podmore, former head of the service's anti-corruption unit, said whilst there was an issue with contraband in prisons, targeting this money at drones was a "PR stunt".
"I have seen no evidence that there is a real problem with drones," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "I think the number of incidents last year was 33.
"There are some 10,000 mobile phones found every year in prisons. My question to the Prison Service would be, how many of those were found hanging from drones?"
Instead, Mr Podmore thought the service should be looking the wider issue of contraband smuggling, including the "main route [of] staff corruption".
Mike Rolfe, national chair of the Prison Officers Association, said prisoners had told him that they had seen two or three drones a night delivering packages over the walls.
However, he said he agreed with Mr Podmore that the initiative was an attempt to distract people from "the real issue [of] jails in complete chaos, in a crisis and flooded with drugs, mobile phones and weapons".

Recent successes

BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford says prison walls are now not much of a barrier for those wanting to smuggle contraband into jails.
There have been some recent successes in finding and punishing those who are behind the drone flights, says the Ministry of Justice.
In December, Dean Rawley-Bell, 21, was jailed for four years and eight months after he used a drone in attempts to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into Manchester Prison.
Renelle Carlisle, 23, was sentenced to three years and four months in October after he was caught outside Risley Prison in Warrington with a drone in his bag, trying to smuggle drugs inside.
In July, 37-year-old Daniel Kelly was jailed for 14 months for trying to supply contraband to offenders in Elmley and Swaleside Prison in Sheppey, Wandsworth Prison in London and the Mount Prison in Hemel Hempstead.


Article courtesy of BBC News

Queen's Police Medal Awards

Over half of the Queen’s Police Medals

have been awarded to officers below the rank of superintendent.

Nine rank and file police officers have been 

awarded the prestigious Queen’s Police Medal

by Her Majesty The Queen as part of her 

New Year’s Honours – 3 times the number 

honoured in the 2016 Birthday Honours.

In one of her final actions as Home Secretary,

Prime MinisterTheresa May recommended 

that more officers below senior 

ranks should receive the Queen’s Police Medal, 

to recognise the vital role they play in protecting 

the public and address an imbalance over to 

whom the medal is awarded.

Police leaders responded by putting forward 

a number officers from junior ranks from 

across England and Wales who have shown 

outstanding courage and distinguished 

service in the line of duty. More than half 

of the 17 Queen’s Police Medals announced 

today have been awarded to officers below 

the rank of superintendent.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

These deserving recipients of Queen’s Police

Medals have gone above and beyond 
the call of their duties and it is absolutely 
right that we recognise all of those who serve 
our communities and keep us safe.

I am especially pleased by the response 
from policing leaders, who have made sure 
that a shift in nominations has led to a much 
more representative group of officers
receiving the medal. I look forward to seeing 
many more brave and talented individuals 
at every rank of our police forces being 
honoured in this way in the future.

The Queen’s Police Medal was instituted 

by its royal warrant in 1954 and is awarded 

to officers of any rank for acts of courage 

and/or conspicuous devotion to duty. 

It superseded the King’s Police Medal, 

which was originally created in 1909.

Minister for Policing and the Fire Service 

Brandon Lewis said: There are exceptionally 

skilled, dedicated and professional 

officers in all areas of our police forces, 

from frontline constables to senior leaders. 

Honours such as the Queen’s Police Medal 

have been awarded for over 100 years to 

recognise some of their exceptional individual 

contributions.

I am delighted that more rank and file 

officers have been awarded the medal 

this year, for dedication to their duties and 

acts of exceptional courage. I hope

the example they have set continues to 

inspire the very best from officers and 

police staff in 2017.

The recipients of the Queen’s Police Medal 

are:

• PC Ifor Williams 
• (Avon and Somerset Police)
• Sergeant Timothy Slade 
• (City of London Police)
• PC Jacqueline Oliver
• (Metropolitan Police Service)
• Chief Superintendent Martin Lloyd Fry
• (British Transport Police)
• PC Leslie Roger Eke 
• (Thames Valley Police)
• PC Christopher Smith 
• (Dorset Police)
• PC Louise Pye 
• (Sussex Police)
• PC Shirley Vivienne Lindsay 
• (Avon and Somerset Police)
• Inspector Ian David Hanson 
• (Greater Manchester Police)
• Detective Inspector Carol Ellwood 
• (Humberside Police)
• Chief Superintendent Gordon Briggs
•  (Metropolitan Police Service)
• Chief Superintendent Victor Olisa 
• (Metropolitan Police Service)
• Chief Superintendent Jagdev Singh Atwal 
• (Derbyshire Constabulary)
• Assistant Chief Constable David John Allard 
• (Ministry of Defence Police)
• Temporary Assistant Chief Constable
•  Angela Williams (West Yorkshire Police)
• Commander Simon Martin Letchford 
• (Metropolitan Police Service)
• Chief Constable David Graham Jones 
• (North Yorkshire Police)

May the spirit of this Holy season remain with you always. Wishing for peace in this troubled world.

The Nightmare of Ageing !

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN GUILTY OF LOOKING AT OTHERS YOUR OWN AGE AND THINKING, SURELY I CAN'T LOOK THAT OLD? WELL... YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE!


MY NAME IS ALICE SMITH AND I WAS SITTING IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR MY FIRST APPOINTMENT WITH A NEW DENTIST. I NOTICED HIS DENTAL DIPLOMA, WHICH BORE HIS FULL NAME


SUDDENLY, I REMEMBERED A TALL, HANDSOME, DARK HAIRED BOY WITH THE SAME NAME HAD BEEN IN MY SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASS SOME 40-ODD YEARS AGO. COULD HE BE THE SAME GUY THAT I HAD A SECRET CRUSH ON, WAY BACK THEN?


UPON SEEING HIM, HOWEVER,  I QUICKLY DISCARDED ANY SUCH THOUGHT. THIS BALDING, GREY HAIRED MAN WITH THE DEEPLY LINED FACE WAS FAR TOO OLD TO HAVE BEEN MY CLASSMATE. AFTER HE EXAMINED MY TEETH, I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD ATTENDED MORGAN PARK SECONDARY SCHOOL.


'YES, YES I DID. I'M A MORGANNER!’ HE BEAMED WITH PRIDE. 'WHEN DID YOU LEAVE TO GO TO COLLEGE?' I ASKED, HE ANSWERED, IN 1965. WHY DO YOU ASK?


 'YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!'  I EXCLAIMED. HE LOOKED AT ME CLOSELY.
THEN THE UGLY, OLD, BALD, WRINKLED, FAT ARSED, GREY HAIRED, DECREPIT, ASKED


                                     " WHAT SUBJECT DID YOU TEACH?’