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 [...]
On Wednesday the 21st of August 2013 the Cambridge News carried an article: “Concerns as private security firms seek police powers in Cambridge“. This refers to handing out police powers to those who are not police officers under the “Community Safety Accreditation Scheme” (CSAS). This article arose from the “Operational Update” provided by Cambridgeshire Police [...]
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 [...]
I observed Cambridge Community Safety Partnership meeting on the 23rd of July 2013. I have written dedicated articles on three aspects of the meeting: Ecstasy Alternative Benzofuran Linked to Cambridge Drug Deaths Cycling Police to Patrol Cambridge Cambridge Criminals Queuing Up to Volunteer for Police GPS Tags Other notable points include: The meeting was told [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Sgt Jim Stevenson of Cambridgeshire Police told councillors and members of the public at Cambridge’s South Area Committee on the 15th of July 2013 that the “Romsey Beach” is a practically no-go area for police. The committee heard the “beach” and lakes near Burnside, the Tins path and Spinney School in South Cambridge had been [...]
Prior to Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright attending Huntingdonshire District council on the 26th of June 2013 I suggested the lack of arrangements for local police priority setting, and holding the police to account for their performance against local priorities in Huntingdonshire was an important issue that I would like to see raised. In [...]
Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright used the June 2013 Police and Crime Panel meeting to announce a new technology system for Cambridgeshire Police, called: “ALERT”. Commissioner Bright told the panel that the system would enable neighbourhood watch groups to: know the very next morning whether there’s been a burglary, whether there’s been some [...]
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 [...]