Juxtaposing two interesting articles from the Telegraph. They are great for giving associated links that are like rabbit warrens -- comes in handy when the antis talk about the gun-free "paradise" in the UK.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000141109560173&rtmo=0i0i0sKq&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/2/13/ncrim13.html
ISSUE 1724 Sunday 13 February 2000
Police are given five years to cut crime
By Joe Murphy and David Bamber
THE police are to be told tomorrow that they must slash the number of burglaries and muggings within five years.
Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, is to give each police force its own target to cut crime, rather than just set a national average. His action follows the release last month of fig- ures showing that crime is rising for the first time since 1992.
Tomorrow, Mr Straw will say that robberies and muggings must fall by 15 per cent and house burglaries by a quarter by 2005 nationally. The Home Office has already said it wants car crime to fall by 30 per cent by 2005.
The individual targets will be toughest for forces in large cities, where 70 per cent of crimes occur. Last year there were 1,720,241 car thefts, 74,843 robberies or muggings and 935,423 burglaries.
Titles of associated links:
19 January 2000: Robbery up 19pc in first crime rise for six years
13 October 1999: Violent streak in new crime figures
11 October 1999: Statistics shake-up shows rise in crime
'I'm sorry we can't come, we just have not enough police officers'. You gotta love it.
How are the police to implement the first story when: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000141109560173&rtmo=VPVP5jZx&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/4/2/nine02.html
ISSUE 1773 Sunday 2 April 2000
Police shortages leave 999 calls unanswered
By David Bamber, Home Affairs Correspondent
SHOPLIFTERS caught by store security staff are being allowed to go free because of a shortage of police officers to attend 999 calls and make arrests.
Responses to other emergency calls, including burglaries, are also being delayed by the staffing crisis in the Metropolitan Police. Last night, David Lidington, the shadow Home Office minister, said the situation was "disgraceful". It was a result of the large fall in police numbers since the general election, he said.
Mr Lidington said: "Jack Straw is the police authority for London and Londoners will be amazed and appalled at these revelations. Ministers should hang their head in shame." A serving sergeant at a central London police station has disclosed to The Telegraph that he is routinely unable to send officers to respond to 999 calls that a few years ago they would have attended.
He said: "A number of times we have to phone back and say, 'I'm sorry we can't come, we just have not enough police officers'. Twice in recent weeks I have had to phone shops back and tell them that they will have to let shoplifters go free.
"In cases of burglary we have to say that we just haven't got the officers to come round, instead we'll come round later. We have to attend such calls, but householders are not getting the service they require." His disclosures about the effect of the manpower reductions in London come after Mr Straw, Home Secretary, admitted last week that police numbers had declined.
In the six months to September last year, there was a drop of 632 officers to 125,464 in England and Wales. In that same time, 188 officers have been lost and not replaced by new recruits in the Metropolitan Police alone. Seven years ago there were 28,500 officers in the force, now there are 26,100.
Despite this the pressure on the police is increasing. In 1998, the Met received two million 999 calls and the figure is rising by six per cent a year. A 999 call is received every 17 seconds. The situation is so serious that the police are to monitor officers who have retired because of stress or on medical grounds and recall them to service if doctors believe they have made a recovery.
All retirements for ill-health in the police contain the provision for a return to work if a recovery occurs. However, until now the clause has rarely been enforced. As well as boosting falling police numbers, senior officers want to send out a strong signal that only genuine ill-health retirements will be allowed.
The policy has already resulted in officers returning to duty with the Met. Other forces around the country are joining the campaign. Even former officers who have gone overseas are being tracked down by the Met to undergo health checks by local doctors to see if they can return to frontline duties.
Linda Van den Hende, Scotland Yard's director of occupational health, has confirmed that, already, one officer has been recalled after retiring on ill-health grounds and another was in the process of resuming active work. The initiative has been welcomed by Home Office ministers, who are concerned that too many police officers are retiring early on ill health grounds on large pensions.
Each early retirement costs an average of £35,000 in pension payments every year. In the five years to 1997, 49 per cent of police retirements were on the grounds of ill health.
Titles of associated links:
28 March 2000: Straw Budget cash will not increase bobbies on the beat
17 March 2000: Drop in police figures weakens new Crime Bill
12 March 2000: Met police seek £6,000 pay rise to stem exodus
9 March 2000: Police are improving but public want more patrols
15 February 2000: More cash needed to cut crime, say police
16 January 2000: Met is failing to meet target set for ethnic minority jobs
24 October 1999: Police in disarray as demoralised officers quit force in droves
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000141109560173&rtmo=0i0i0sKq&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/2/13/ncrim13.html
ISSUE 1724 Sunday 13 February 2000
Police are given five years to cut crime
By Joe Murphy and David Bamber
THE police are to be told tomorrow that they must slash the number of burglaries and muggings within five years.
Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, is to give each police force its own target to cut crime, rather than just set a national average. His action follows the release last month of fig- ures showing that crime is rising for the first time since 1992.
Tomorrow, Mr Straw will say that robberies and muggings must fall by 15 per cent and house burglaries by a quarter by 2005 nationally. The Home Office has already said it wants car crime to fall by 30 per cent by 2005.
The individual targets will be toughest for forces in large cities, where 70 per cent of crimes occur. Last year there were 1,720,241 car thefts, 74,843 robberies or muggings and 935,423 burglaries.
Titles of associated links:
19 January 2000: Robbery up 19pc in first crime rise for six years
13 October 1999: Violent streak in new crime figures
11 October 1999: Statistics shake-up shows rise in crime
'I'm sorry we can't come, we just have not enough police officers'. You gotta love it.
How are the police to implement the first story when: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000141109560173&rtmo=VPVP5jZx&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/4/2/nine02.html
ISSUE 1773 Sunday 2 April 2000
Police shortages leave 999 calls unanswered
By David Bamber, Home Affairs Correspondent
SHOPLIFTERS caught by store security staff are being allowed to go free because of a shortage of police officers to attend 999 calls and make arrests.
Responses to other emergency calls, including burglaries, are also being delayed by the staffing crisis in the Metropolitan Police. Last night, David Lidington, the shadow Home Office minister, said the situation was "disgraceful". It was a result of the large fall in police numbers since the general election, he said.
Mr Lidington said: "Jack Straw is the police authority for London and Londoners will be amazed and appalled at these revelations. Ministers should hang their head in shame." A serving sergeant at a central London police station has disclosed to The Telegraph that he is routinely unable to send officers to respond to 999 calls that a few years ago they would have attended.
He said: "A number of times we have to phone back and say, 'I'm sorry we can't come, we just have not enough police officers'. Twice in recent weeks I have had to phone shops back and tell them that they will have to let shoplifters go free.
"In cases of burglary we have to say that we just haven't got the officers to come round, instead we'll come round later. We have to attend such calls, but householders are not getting the service they require." His disclosures about the effect of the manpower reductions in London come after Mr Straw, Home Secretary, admitted last week that police numbers had declined.
In the six months to September last year, there was a drop of 632 officers to 125,464 in England and Wales. In that same time, 188 officers have been lost and not replaced by new recruits in the Metropolitan Police alone. Seven years ago there were 28,500 officers in the force, now there are 26,100.
Despite this the pressure on the police is increasing. In 1998, the Met received two million 999 calls and the figure is rising by six per cent a year. A 999 call is received every 17 seconds. The situation is so serious that the police are to monitor officers who have retired because of stress or on medical grounds and recall them to service if doctors believe they have made a recovery.
All retirements for ill-health in the police contain the provision for a return to work if a recovery occurs. However, until now the clause has rarely been enforced. As well as boosting falling police numbers, senior officers want to send out a strong signal that only genuine ill-health retirements will be allowed.
The policy has already resulted in officers returning to duty with the Met. Other forces around the country are joining the campaign. Even former officers who have gone overseas are being tracked down by the Met to undergo health checks by local doctors to see if they can return to frontline duties.
Linda Van den Hende, Scotland Yard's director of occupational health, has confirmed that, already, one officer has been recalled after retiring on ill-health grounds and another was in the process of resuming active work. The initiative has been welcomed by Home Office ministers, who are concerned that too many police officers are retiring early on ill health grounds on large pensions.
Each early retirement costs an average of £35,000 in pension payments every year. In the five years to 1997, 49 per cent of police retirements were on the grounds of ill health.
Titles of associated links:
28 March 2000: Straw Budget cash will not increase bobbies on the beat
17 March 2000: Drop in police figures weakens new Crime Bill
12 March 2000: Met police seek £6,000 pay rise to stem exodus
9 March 2000: Police are improving but public want more patrols
15 February 2000: More cash needed to cut crime, say police
16 January 2000: Met is failing to meet target set for ethnic minority jobs
24 October 1999: Police in disarray as demoralised officers quit force in droves
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.