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Councillors Say Ombudsman Ought Strike Down Unfair Parking Permit System in Cambridge
Cambridge’s bizarre, unfair and unclear rules on parking permit eligibility might now be shaken up following a public question from resident Emma Chin raised during the open forum section of the West Central Area Committee on the 1st of November 2012. One problem is that some properties on a street have become ineligible for parking […]
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Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel – Volunteering to Join
On the 26th of October 2012 I submitted an application to become one of the two independent, non councillor, members of Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Panel. I am making the application, and covering email, which I submitted available publicly below. Dear Sarah Swift, I am writing to volunteer to serve as one of the non-councillor […]
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Cambridge City Council Covert CCTV Deployed In Someone’s Home
A report on Cambridge City Council’s use of covert surveillance is to be taken to the council’s Strategy and Resources Committee on Monday the 15th of October at 17.00 in the Guildhall. The key message from the report is simply: [The council] has not authorised the use of RIPA powers in the period covered by […]
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Policing Histon, Milton, Impington, Cottenham, Oakington and Waterbeach – October 2012
On the 9th of October 2012 I attended the police priority setting meeting for the area covering Histon, Impington, Cottenham, Milton, Chittering, Oakington and Waterbeach. The priorities were not set by democratically elected representatives, but by mob rule, anyone who turned up would have been given a vote. A number of councillors were present, but […]
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Cambs Police Still Holding Back Phone Answering Data
On the 13th of September 2012 I observed, and was unexpectedly invited to participate in, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Police and Crime Scrutiny Committee. In December 2011 the committee had requested detailed statistics from Cambridgeshire Police on their failure to answer non-emergency 101 phone calls in a reasonable amount of time in many cases. In June […]
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Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel Meeting in Secret
Police and Crime Panel Members Key Points Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Panel met for the first time, in shadow form, in secret, behind closed doors, on the 12th of September 2012. The panel is called a shadow panel until it formally becomes the Police and Crime Panel following election of Police and Crime Commissioners. The […]
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Million Pound a Year Personal Office for Cambs Police and Crime Commissioner
One Million Pounds (as seized by West Midlands Police [licence]) The chair of Cambridgeshire Police Authority, Ruth Rodgers, was called to appear before Cambridgeshire County Council’s Police and Crime Scrutiny Committee on the 13th of September 2012. Rodgers was asked to explain why the authority was not giving notice to its staff despite its impending […]
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Graham Bright
Graham Bright (Source) On the evening of Friday the 7th of September 2012 Cambridgeshire Conservatives held an event at which they had a second go at selecting a candidate for the role of Police and Crime Commissioner. They were trying again as the person they had previously selected in a postal ballot of their membership, […]
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Penultimate Meeting of Cambridgeshire Police Authority – September 2012
I observed the penultimate full meeting of the Cambridgeshire Police Authority on the 7th of September 2012. Key and Notable Points The Chief Constable urged the public to be “patient and persistent” when trying to phone the police. I thought this astonishing as he, and the authority, should be getting the phones answered promptly. No […]
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Cambridge Court Usher Defies Lord Chief Justice on Transparancy
Inside Cambridge Magistrates’ Court (source) In December 2011 the Lord Chief Justice reportedly said “Twitter as much as you wish”, when issuing Practice guidence on live, text-based forms of communications (including Twitter) from court for the purposes of fair and accurate reporting. However in practice it does not appear to be possible to routinely report […]