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New Law on Filming Meetings of Local Government Bodies
On the 25th of October 2013 the Minister for Local Government, Eric Pickles MP, announced a “new press freedom law to open up town halls”. Very rapidly after that announcement, on Monday the 28th of October MPs in the House of Commons agreed to instruct the Local Audit and Accountability Bill Committee to add a […]
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Heroin Users in Cambridge Hostels Issued Injectable Antidote Kits
Users of opiates (eg. heroin) living in Cambridge’s homeless hostels have been provided with naloxone injection kits, and have been trained to use them. Naloxone is a drug which counters the effects of opiates. The scheme aims to reduce the number of deaths from opiate overdoses. The papers for the 29 October 2013 Cambridge Community […]
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Councillors to Step Up Police Scrutiny
Cambridgeshire County Council are considering getting more involved in scrutising the work of Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright and Chief Constable Simon Parr. Councillors on the police scrutiny committee, which they call the Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee are to discuss their future work programme at their meeting on the […]
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Arrested Suspected Drug Dealers Held Until They’ve Defecated Three Times
Cambridge’s East Area Committee on the 25th of July 2013 was told that Cambridgeshire Police have adopted a policy of keeping arrested suspected drug dealers in custody until they have defecated three times so the police can recover any swallowed drugs. Two days earlier the city’s Community Safety Partnership had also been briefed on the […]
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Ecstasy Alternative Benzofuran Linked to Cambridge Drug Deaths
A public meeting of Cambridge’s Community Safety Partnership on the 23rd of July 2013 heard that the recent deaths of Kim Reid and Jimmy Sinclair on the banks of the River Cam, opposite Jesus Green, were due to “benzofuran” a drug of the amphetamine class which was marketed as legal form of MDMA (ecstasy). It […]
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Cycling Police to Patrol Cambridge
Detective Chief Inspector Neil Sloan of Cambridgeshire Police told a meeting of Cambridge’s Community Safety Partnership on the 23rd of July 2013 that Cambridge is about to see many more police officers patrolling on bikes. DCI Sloan said that the officers will largely be new officers, who don’t know the city, and getting out on […]
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Cambridge Criminals Queuing Up to Volunteer for Police GPS Tags
Cambridge’s Community Safety Partnership meeting on the 23rd of July 2013 received a report from Detective Inspector Mick Birchall of Cambridgeshire Police which revealed some of Cambridge’s prolific offenders have been volunteering to wear police GPS tracking tags. The detective told the meeting demand was so great criminals were queuing up to receive the tags […]
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Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel Annual Meeting 12 June 2013
On the 12th of July 2013 I observed Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel’s annual meeting. The only substantive item of business was a review of decisions made by the Police and Crime Commissioner. The meeting turned into a total farce as it emerged the panel was under the impression it was to scrutinise the decisions […]
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Responding to Cambridgeshire Police Plan to Issue TASER to Non-Firearms Officers
On the morning of Wednesday the 1st of May I went on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire with Paul Stainton to discuss Cambridgeshire Police’s roll out of TASER weapons to non-firearms officers including neighbourhood, traffic and response officers. Presenter Paul Stainton reported Cambridgeshire’s Chief Constable Simon Parr had been invited on the show but had declined saying […]
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Rewards for Anti-Social Behaviour in Cambridge
A meeting of Cambridge’s Community Safety Partnership held on the 30th of April 2013 decided to spend £5,000 on rewards for people, primarily teenagers, responsible for “anti-social behaviour” in the city. The rewards may include boat trips and trips to residential activity centres. One of the stated aims of the project is: Decrease in offending […]