The Power of Words

Please watch this two minute video clip. It reminds us to watch our words. I suspect it is, of course, stage managed but the message is nevertheless very true. Almost 2 million people have viewed this powerful statement on YouTube.

Police Campaign For Wounded Troops - Help For Heroes

The Sun Newspaper Backs Police Campaign For Wounded Troops (Sat, 26 March 2011)
Courtesy of: Karen Thomas - Police Oracle. The Sun has thrown its weight behind a Police Service campaign to Raise £1m for Help for Heroes after rallying A-list celebrities to their cause.

TV presenter Lorraine Kelly and glamour model Peta Todd are among the high-profile names that are now firmly behind police efforts to boost funds to support wounded Armed Forces personnel and their families.

Troops of all ranks, many of whom have been assisted by the charity, have also praised big-hearted officers for starting the campaign.



As reported on Police Oracle yesterday, personnel are being urged to contribute through a number of different channels from payroll giving, organising or participating in sponsored events and buying specially-commissioned items.

An official lapel pin - ACPO-approved to wear with the uniform - is available through Police Oracle and all the proceeds from each sale will go towards Help for Heroes.

AC Ian McPherson of the Metropolitan Police, who started the Service campaign to support the charity in 2009 while CC of Norfolk, urged officers and staff at the launch of The Sun initiative "to do their bit".

Click play to watch AC Ian McPherson explain why officers should "give an hour"



Supporting the initiative, a dedicated website - www.policeoracle.com/helpforheroes - will keep a tally of all the money raised by individual forces and monitor progress towards the £1m target.

Mark Elliott, the Head of External Operations for Help for Heroes, praised The Sun for getting involved with the campaign – and said the police had set an outstanding "benchmark" with the Raise £1m campaign.


He said: "Thank you for what you have done and what you are going to do. An hour is not a lot of time but it is invaluable to Help for Heroes.

"It is simple and something that we all can do - please spread the word."

Although many individual officers have already put a lot of time into raising almost £100,000 for the charity, a national committee has been formed to coordinate the grass-roots efforts.

This will ensure the police commitment to the cause is more widely recognised by colleagues and the public.

Click on the Help for Heroes logo anywhere on www.policeoracle.com/helpforheroes for all the details on how to get involved in Raising £1m for the brave men and women injured while serving their country.

Ex-US Police Pro: Direct Election 'Unsuitable'

Government ministers and law enforcement analysts have clashed in their views on the introduction of Directly Elected Police and Crime Commissioners.

Addressing the Policing 2011 conference in London Jessica de Grazia (pictured), a former Chief Assistant District Attorney in New York, said the proposed system of governance would be unsuitable for the UK – and could pave the way for corruption.

She also admitted surprise at comments made by Policing and Criminal Justice Minister Nick Herbert, who said the introduction of direct election was not inspired by the American model.

Mr Herbert had pointed towards London – where the mayor is accountable for law enforcement – as the example of success in which the policy had its roots.

But Ms de Grazia said: "This is the first time I have heard that this model has not come from the USA – I am not aware of any other jurisdiction that uses it.

"The question is whether the Directly Elected Police and Crime Commissioner can remain independent and politically neutral – the short answer is no. This is a person who is going to have a huge amount of power over the police.

"Let us make this clear – this is not a police authority, it is a person who, with modest checks and balances is going to be able to appoint and fire the chief constable, the deputy chief constable and the assistant chief constable.

"On top of this they will be responsible for making sure a force is run effectively and efficiently – and we do not yet know who is going to run for office."

Ms de Grazia asserted that the cost of election campaigns would immediately preclude some would-be candidates from putting themselves forward. And she argued that the risk of an undesirable individual making it into the position needed to be countered by a robust package of checks and balances.

She also stressed that – in the US model – the prosecutor had far more power in deciding whether complex cases of organised crime should be investigated in the first instance, a check that did not exist in the proposed British model.

However, the views of the former Chief Assistant District Attorney were challenged by Lord Wasserman, a government advisor on policing and criminal justice who also has considerable practical experience of the American system.

The peer maintained that the policy of directly elected individuals "is not as radical as it sounds" and that chief constables would retain operational independence.

He also highlighted that senior officers are "not pushovers" and that there would be trouble if a directly elected commissioner needlessly overstepped the mark.

Lord Wasserman added: "I could not disagree more with Jessica – I believe that we are going to have Directly Elected Police and Crime Commissioners and they will be people who already have a standing in policing."

Meanwhile the debate also attracted strong views from Richard Kemp, Vice-Chair of the Local Government Association. He believed the policy of introducing the individuals was unsuitable and they would ultimately be scrapped in years to come.

Article courtesy of Cliff Caswell-www.policeoracle.com

Brain Scans 'To Predict Future Criminals'

Courtesy of: Ananova and www.policeoracle.com

Scientists may soon be able to identify potential criminals using developments in brain research on children as young as six months, an expert has claimed.

Psychologist Dr Adrian Raine said recognising problems in a child's limbic system, which controls emotion, will allow scientists to predict future offenders and psychopaths.

"Seeds of sin are sown quite early in life," Dr Raine told a science conference in the US.

“People would have to decide whether or not to intervene at an early age to stop crime despite possible mistakes in predictions”
The British scientist, who is at the University of Pennsylvania, said three year olds with a poorly-functioning amygdala, a key part of the limbic system, were more likely to commit crime 20 years later.

Further research presented at the conference showed emotional problems, like "callous-unemotional" (CU), were hereditary.

CU traits are associated with a lack of emotion, empathy and guilt and are linked to persistent bad behaviour in young children.

After assessing more than 9,000 twins between the ages of four and 12, Dr Nathalie Fontaine concluded that genetics played a fundamental role in the emergence of CU traits, especially in young boys.

Dr Raine said that a time would come when "we are going to be able to predict reasonably well which individuals at a modest age say eight to 10 years old are predicated to become criminal offenders".

The scientist added people would have to decide whether or not to intervene at an early age to stop crime despite possible mistakes in predictions.

Omega 3 - a fatty acid that helps build brain cells - was identified as being able to reduce aggressive behaviour in children based on studies that have shown giving supplements to prison inmates cut serious offending by a third.

"Its very simple - bad brain, bad behaviour... improve brain functioning and you will improve behaviour," Dr Raine said.

The Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin on Freemasonry

Clampdown On Rogue Clampers

Rogue firms face huge fines and even jail in a crackdown on wheel-clamping.

The Government will unveil plans this week to make it a criminal offence to clamp or tow away cars on private land.

Cowboy clampers rake in £55million a year from motorists.

The new law due to come in early next year will see them fined up to £5,000 by JPs.

Repeat offenders will be clobbered with unlimited crown court fines. If they refuse to pay they could be put behind bars.

Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone told The Sun: "For too long motorists have fallen victim to extortion and abuse from rogue clamping companies.

"I have been outraged by cases of drivers being frog-marched to cash points late at night or left stranded by rogue operators.

"This Government is committing rogue clampers to history and putting an end to intimidation and excessive charges once and for all."

Official figures show some 500,000 cars are clamped each year on private land. It costs drivers an average £112 to free their vehicle but some have been forced to fork out up to £500.

Ministers also plan to tighten up regulations for dishing out parking fines on private land to stop cowboys from simply switching tactics.

The measures will not affect the police or official bodies like the DVLA who will still have the power to clamp or tow away untaxed cars.

Last night a driver who beat car clampers with a 30-hour sit-in hailed the plans as "excellent news".

The Sun – which has exposed a string of rogue clampers – told last August how Haroon Zafaryab, 27, became the people's champion when he refused to budge from his clamped Toyota Prius for more than a day.

Clampers plastered his car with 40 orange "fine" stickers and the bill mushroomed to £4,000. But the stand-off ended when they caved in.

Mr Zafaryab – who had failed to spot a tiny "no parking" sign on private land in Wembley, North West London, said: "Mine was a single victory for the little man. This is a giant victory for the whole motoring nation.

"Drivers have been held to ransom by these parasites for years."

Article courtesy of and www.policeoracle.com

Deadly 'War On Cops' Sparks US Tactic Review

Dept of Justice reviews whether training, behaviour or budget cuts are responsible for massive rise in killing of police officers...

US government officials are set to review a spate of deadly attacks on police officers that has been dubbed a "War on Cops".

A series of shootings has left 15 officers dead in January alone - with 11 killed in one 24-hour period alone.

The US Department of Justice said it will study whether the behaviour of officers, deficits in training or financial cut-backs could have contributed to the number of fatalities.

The crisis has been highlighted by extraordinary CCTV footage from a police station in Detroit showing a man opening fire on officers, injuring four.

The gunman, who was subsequently killed, struck because he was angry at a search of his home.

The shootings have taken place across the US and follow a dramatic rise in the number of officers killed in the line of duty last year.

Officer David Moore died after being shot in the head during a routine traffic stop on one of his first day shifts with the Indianapolis police department.

His mother Jo said: "What he didn't realise is that the day shift is more hazardous because, when something happens on day shifts, it's usually pretty ugly. Unfortunately, he met evil."

She said her son's organs were being donated: "Someone's getting a darn good heart."

Craig Floyd, of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, said: "I have never seen anything like it. These violent events have been detrimental to America's peace officers.

"We must do everything in our power to stop these senseless and heinous crimes against our law enforcement personnel."

The attacks, along with shootings earlier this month in Tucson, Arizona, have thrown the focus on the easy availability of firearms in the US.

It was noted that US President Barack Obama avoided the subject in his State of the Union address.

The right to bear arms, enshrined in the US constitution, remains an issue that divides Americans.

Some officers have voiced concerns that they are increasingly being "outgunned" by criminals desperate to avoid jail and armed with more high-power weapons - but unions point to a more familiar theme.

Rich Roberts, spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations, said: "There's so much violence on entertainment media, internet, movies, TV, that people are less sensitive to it and more inclined to be confrontational."

Article courtesy of www.policeoracle.com