Smith offers police job to critic / BBC, 17 July 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7510849.stm
"Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has offered a job to the police officer who called for her resignation in a pay dispute. Former head of the Police Federation of England and Wales, Jan Berry, has been asked to be "bureaucracy champion" for the police, BBC News has learned.
A drive to cut red tape will feature in a Green Paper on policing."

Police force launches Cop Swap cards to boost community relations / 24dash, 15 July 2008
http://www.24dash.com/news/Communities/2008-07-15-Police-force-launches-Cop-Swap-cards-to-boost-community-relations
Jon Land
"A police force is handing out Cop Swap cards featuring its own officers for children to collect to boost community relations.The cards show a picture of a police officer, police community support officer (PCSO) or a community warden, their rank and identity number.The game is played in the same way as Top Trumps with four categories; pedal power, problem solving, agility and strength.The person has scored themselves for each of these categories and everyone's total is 100.Hampshire Police trialled the cards in Cosham last year and has now introduced them to the Fratton Safer Neighbourhoods Teams."

Video Sharing Site Offers Training Videos, Crime Footage for Police / GovTech, 9 July 2008
http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/375769?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=new%20JPS_2008_7_9
Jim McKay
“BLUtube, a new online video sharing platform from San Francisco-based PoliceOne.com, is helping to ensure more messages are shared among the police officers who stand to learn from them. "It sounds horrific, but if you break it down step by step, it's actually incredibly important that it's there where officers can see it," said Robert Dippell, PoliceOne's online director. "There are a lot of videos that are useful as situational examples where something went drastically wrong."

Whole Force Run From A Laptop / Police Oracle, 10 July 2008
http://www.policeoracle.com/news/Whole-Force-Run-From-A-Laptop_16737.html
“Policing operations in Northamptonshire can now be run from a single laptop computer from any location in the event of a widespread network failure. The Force has invested heavily in business continuity preparations and can now call upon a mobile policing system – to which the laptop is integral - if there is a system failure at Force Headquarters, Wootton Hall. Senior officers in the Force Communications Centre (FCC) have tested the system, using emergency facilities elsewhere in the county, and the tests have shown that Northamptonshire Police can maintain a full service to the public in almost any eventuality.”

Metropolitan Police enlists IT to transform HR for entire service / Public Technology, 10 July 2008
http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16556
“Steria has won a new contract with London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) to transform the MPS’s Human Resources (HR) function. The contract will support a significant improvement in the delivery of the MPS’s HR service, and will drive cost savings through the creation of a new HR Service Centre in Central London and implementation of HR business partnering.”

Calgary taking break from experiment in recruiting U.K. bobbies / The Canadian Press, 28 June 2008
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080628.wbobbies0628/BNStory/National/home
Nadia Moharib
“For the Calgary police force, an experiment in recruiting bobbies from the United Kingdom to the city's police force has proven overwhelmingly successful. So successful, in fact, that police brass are taking a break and closing the gate on officers from across the pond, at least for now, said recruiting Staff Sgt. Craig Skelton. The force has been inundated with interest, with dozens of experienced officers from the British Isles continuing to apply. “Right now my staff is managing 124 applications from international [contenders] being processed right now,” Staff Sgt. Skelton said. “We found we were successful, more than we even imagined. Right now, we're taking a moment to slow down and catch our breath”.”

Metropolitan Police's proud boast sets off police alarm in Glasgow / Times, 4 July 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4265475.ece
"The Metropolitan Police has been ordered to withdraw its claim to be “the oldest police service in the world” after the advertising watchdog ruled that the Glasgow force had been around longer. A complaint was made to the Advertising Standards Authority after the Met advertised for royal protection police in newspapers last month, stating: “We’re not just the oldest police service in the world. We’re also the most modern.” The complaint, which is believed to come from a long-serving Glasgow officer, said that the City of Glasgow Police were set up in 1800 - 29 years before the Metropolitan Police force was formed under Sir Robert Peel. "

Knife crime to replace terror as police priority/ Times, 5 July 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4269818.ece
Adam Fresco
"Knife crime has overtaken terrorism as the No 1 priority for the Metropolitan Police, one of Britain’s most senior officers said yesterday. Deputy Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson announced the form-ation of a special knife-crime unit to address the recent spate of fatal stabbings in London as he admitted that moves to stop teenagers carrying weapons were not working. The unit, featuring specialist officers from across the capital, will target known gang members and their associates who may be carrying or supplying knives. It will also conduct random searches."

Sniffer dogs to wear ‘Muslim’ bootees / Sunday Times, 6 July 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4276489.ece
Stuart MacDonald
"Police sniffer dogs will have to wear bootees when searching the homes of Muslims so as not to cause offence. Guidelines being drawn up by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) urge awareness of religious sensitivities when using dogs to search for drugs and explosives. The guidelines, to be published this year, were designed to cover mosques but have been extended to include other buildings. Where Muslims object, officers will be obliged to use sniffer dogs only in exceptional cases. Where dogs are used, they will have to wear bootees with rubber soles. “We are trying to ensure that police forces are aware of sensitivities that people can have with the dogs to make sure they are not going against any religious or cultural element within people’s homes. It is being addressed and forces are working towards doing it,” Acpo said."

Cost of crime '£275 per person' / BBC, 4 July 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7489877.stm
"Funding the police to tackle recorded crime costs £275 per person a year, according to a lobby group report. The Taxpayers' Alliance put the cost at £15bn annually for forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The campaign group, which used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain crime data from the police, called for red tape and targets to be reduced."
The cost of crime: PDF - http://tpa.typepad.com/home/files/the_cost_of_crime.pdf

Police mobile devices move closer / Computing, 30 June 2008
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2220293/airwave-supply-police-mobile
Tom Young
"Police forces in England and Wales will be able to procure pre-packaged systems to give frontline officers handheld computers as part of framework deals with suppliers Airwave Solutions and Cable & Wireless. The framework agreement was signed by the National Policing Improvement Agency – the central body which procures new technology for the police - and give forces the choice of the two systems. Forces will still be able to procure independent systems should they wish, though the Airwave and Cable & Wireless deals are likely to be cheaper and faster to implement. The deal also gives forces a choice of networks, devices, applications and support services."

New sponsored police car will make streets 'as safe as houses' / 24Dash, 30 June 2008
http://www.24dash.com/news/Housing/2008-06-30-New-sponsored-police-car-will-make-streets-as-safe-as-houses
Jon Land
"Housing associations working in Sedgley and Gornal have got together to pay for a new police car. The partnership will show residents that making the community a better place is a team effort and that agencies are working together to achieve this. The car will be used in the community rather than for 999 calls. To distinguish it from emergency vehicles, it has a slightly different look to a traditional police car and includes the sponsors’ logos on the doors along with the traditional police crest."

Police face shortage of handcuffs as manufacturer shuts up shop / Times, 30 June 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4237515.ece
Sean O'Neill
"Police officers may have to be a little more restrained about restraining prisoners, because of a looming shortage of handcuffs. The company that makes cuffs for the majority of Britain's police forces is closing down this week, prompting something of a short-term supply problem. Hiatt & Company, which has been making handcuffs, leg-irons, manacles and other gruesome devices to shackle humans for more than 200 years, will shut its Birmingham workshops within days."

New DVD 'to educate police and young people' on stop-and-search powers / 24dash.com, 23 June 2008
http://www.24dash.com/news/Communities/2008-06-23-New-DVD-to-educate-police-and-young-people-on-stop-and-search-powers
Jon Land
"The Metropolitan Police Authority has launched an innovative educational DVD about the police use of stop and search as a tactic to combat crime, to debate why it's a controversial tool and explore what young people think about it."

Ministers float border force plan / BBC, 23 June 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7469619.stm
"The proposal for a 3,000 strong force, put forward by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), will be in a police reform Green Paper."

Honour for 1857 police sergeant / BBC, 24 June 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7470673.stm
"A hero policeman buried in a common grave more than 140 years ago has been honoured at a ceremony in north London. Sgt Robert Grant was awarded the Victoria Cross after saving a wounded soldier during the 1857 Indian mutiny. He joined the Metropolitan Police but died at the age of 30 and was buried in a grave with nine others as his wife could not afford a full funeral."

Officer's Home Burgled And Warrant Card Used / Police Oracle, 20 June 2008
http://www.policeoracle.com/news/Officers-Home-Burgled-And-Warrant-Card-Used_16578.html
"A Cheltenham woman has been sentenced to 11 months for conspiracy to commit burglary and two counts of impersonating a Police officer in Gloucester Crown Court ... She was using PC Martin-Jones’ warrant card as identification, which had previously been stolen during a burglary at the officer’s home."

'Cut Out Bobby' In Bid To Reduce Crime / Police Oracle, 19 June 2008
http://www.policeoracle.com/news/Cut-Out-Bobby-In-Bid-To-Reduce-Crime_16573.html
"A cut out police officer is to join the staff of a Northampton book shop in a bid to further reduce the instances of shop theft."

Public 'has no faith' in crime figures / 24Dash, 19 Jun 2008
http://www.24dash.com/news/Communities/2008-06-19-Public-has-no-faith-in-crime-figures
John Land
"Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has admitted that there is "almost no public faith" in crime figures. The New Scotland Yard head said the way crimes are categorised has been changed "so frequently they are bewildering". He suggested that British authorities adopt the same system as in New York where crimes are recorded in a more straightforward way."

Police in crackdown on 'massive' immigration racket / 24Dash, 19 June 2008
http://www.24dash.com/news/Communities/2008-06-19-Police-in-crackdown-on-massive-immigration-racket
John Land
"Police and immigration officers swooped to close down a massive immigration racket today with a series of dramatic raids on bent solicitors and bogus colleges. But the operation - part of a new Home Office crackdown on immigration offenders - was marred by a break-out at an immigration detention centre. The embarrassing security breach at the Campsfield detention centre in Oxfordshire (pictured) led to seven escapes, three of whom were later re-captured."