I am Police Community Support Officer Suresh Kumar RETNASINGHAM (Sid) with West Midlands Police Service curentley with Alumwell Neighbourhood Policing Team. I am single point contact for Walsall Manor Hospital and Dorothy Patterson Psychiatric Hospital, in Walsall. I have been with WMP 21 years. The towns of Brownhills, Aldridge, Bloxwich, Willenhall, Darlaston and Walsall make up the Borough, which is home to an estimated population of 254,500 people (2007). Walsall is a diverse and multi-cultural borough, with over 180,000 residents aged 16 to 74 and over 41.7% of the population in employment. Traditionally an industrial area and famous for its leather and lock industries, Walsall Borough is now recognised for its art gallery, state of the art College and a brand new hospital which is scheduled to open this summer (2010). Policing in the borough is based on local authority Neighbourhood Management Area (NMA) boundaries, and each team consists of a sergeant and a number of police constables, police community support officers and special constables. Together their sole objective is to tackle crime and address issues of greatest concern to residents, particularly anti-social behaviour. Set up your own Neighbourhood Watch Set up your own Neighbourhood Watch, a proven way to reduce crime. Households in active neighbourhood watch schemes tend to experience less crime as they are more aware of their personal and home security and pay more attention to what is going on in their street. Regular contact with neighbourhood policing teams brings greater awareness of what is going on in their area. In addition, being part of neighbourhood watch brings other benefits, for example: ‘Relay’ messages – the relay system is a free automated messaging system that is used to send out crime prevention and other messages to neighbourhood watch co-ordinators. Regular newsletters. These can also be sent out be e-mail Access to other services, offered by the Home Office, Safer Walsall Partnership and West Midlands Police Cheaper home insurance! Neighbourhood watch street signs available free of charge You can be assured of plenty of support from the police and fellow co-ordinators. The amount of work involved is minimal, and setting up a scheme is very easy. To find out more or to arrange a face to face meeting ring Kevin Pitt on 01922 439103 or email him at the Walsall community Safety team on n_walsall_cst@west_midlands.pnn.police.uk. You can also visit the Neighbourhood Watch website at http://www.neighbourhoodwatch.net for more information. Priorities Drug Dealing and Anti Social Behaviour Thicketts Close area. Residents have been complaining about groups of youths hanging around the flats and on the canal bridge smoking drugs and being intimidating due to their numbers. Officers from the Alumwell NPT will patrol the area on a daily basis and will speak to and encounter youths in and around that area and make any arrests as is necessary. Street pride have already been contacted and have cleaned the area of drug paraphenalia and also condoms and alcohol. Prostitution and kerb crawlers in Scarborough Road and Woodwards Road. Residents have complained of prostitutes being in Scarborough Road and Woodwards Road which in turn has seen an increase of traffic including kerb crawlers in the area. Officers from the Alumwell NPT have been working half nights to tackle the issue and have reported several females for loitering and have targetted males who have visited the area looking for these girls. Several males have since been arrested and charged. We are dedicated to stopping this issue in Alumwell. Parking Issues Moat Road and Ida Road. Residents and Hospital visitors and patients have complained to Officers regarding poor and inconsiderate parking in and around the Manor Hospital Site. Alumwell Team have dedicated patrols to this area and have issued a large number of tickets to those that are ilegally parked. Warning notices have also been placed on other vehicles. Officers have been working closely with the NHS Trust and have encorporated this issue into the monthly street watch which we do with local residents.
Canada hands over Command of CTF 150 to France
The French Navy has taken command of Combined Maritime Forces counter-terrorism operations in the Middle East and Indian Ocean regions after conducting a handover ceremony with Canadian Navy personnel.
Vice Admiral John Miller Commander Maritime Forces looks on as Commodore Brian Santarpia Royal Canadian Navy hands over command to René-Jean Crignola
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THE CONGO: A NEW PIRACY TARGET?
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has never been envisioned as a maritime nation, nor has it been described as especially ‘fraught’ with pirate attack groups. Indeed, the DRC is virtually landlocked. It boasts a mere 37 kilometre (km)-long coastline, a diminutive size considering the entirety of the nation’s borders stretches to more than 10,730 kms in length. But with an increasing interest in regional development projects initiated largely by resource-hungry China, and prospects of greater integration with the DRC’s neighbour to the north, Congo-Brazzaville (also known as the Republic of the Congo), is this all about to change? In other words, could greater investment, combined with cooperation along the maritime front between the two “Congos” move the West African piracy target further south near the DRC?
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There is a “right to be forgotten” by internet search engines – European Court of Justice
Case C-131/12 Google Spain SL, Google Inc. v. Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) and Mario Costeja González – read judgment
The CJEU has declined to follow Opinion of AG Jääskinen in this case involving a challenge under the 1995 Data Protection Directive by a lawyer who objected to a newspaper reference referring to old bankruptcy proceedings against him in a Google search. See my earlier post on the opinion. Lorna Woods’ excellent report on the CJEU’s reasoning can be found on Inforrm’s blog so I won’t replicate her effort here. Suffice it to say that the outpouring of indignation in the press, the references to “hundreds” of requests from celebrities and other people who want to stop harmful information about them appearing, suggests that this ruling has opened a can of worms, not to mention the byzantine difficulties of enforcing the ruling by requiring search companies to become…
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“A gilded cage is still a cage” – Supreme Court on deprivation of liberty for the mentally incapacitated
Surrey County Council v P and Others, Equality and Human Rights Commission and others intervening [2014] UKSC 19
(March 19, 2014) – read judgment
Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel QC, Henry Witcomb and Duncan Fairgrieve of 1 Crown Office Row represented the AIRE Centre, one of the intervening parties, in this case. None of them have anything to do with the writing of this post.
Mentally incapacitated people have the same rights to liberty as everyone else. If their own living arrangements would amount to a deprivation of liberty of a non-disabled individual then these would also be a deprivation of liberty for the disabled person. So says the Supreme Court, which has ruled that disabled people are entitled to periodic independent checks to ensure that the deprivation of liberty remains justified.
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Nedap looks ahead during the 2014 ASIS European Security Conference
As Gold Sponsor, the company was closely involved in the organisation of the ASIS Welcome Party. In addition, Nedap’s CEO Ruben Wegman took part in Wednesday’s opening plenary panel discussion on ‘The Future of Security Technology’.
Six months after the decision taken by ASIS and Nedap to add an informal networking event to the conference programme, the ASIS Welcome Party – powered by Nedap – took place at The World Forum in The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday 1 April. 350 enthusiastic security professionals caught up on developments in the security sector.
ASIS International president Richard Widup at the Welcome Party
At the beginning of the evening, the multi-talented Niek Boes played the role of his spectacular character, which party attendees soon referred to…
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No duty to investigate in respect of civilian deaths in Malaya in 1948
Keyu and Others v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office and another
[2014] EWCA Civ 312, 19 March 2014 – read judgment
After an interesting analysis of the time limits for claims under Convention in response to a claim made in relation to actions by British soldiers in Malaya in 1948, the Court of Appeal dismissed all their human rights, customary international law and Wednesbury arguments. There was no obligation in domestic law for the state to hold an inquiry into the deaths of civilians killed by British soldiers in colonial Malaya in 1948, even though the Strasbourg Court might well hold that such a duty ensued.
Background
After the defeat of Japan in WWII and their withdrawal from Malaysia, there ensued a bitter conflict between Malaysian civilians Chinese-backed communist insurgents. In 1948 Commonwealth forces got involved and there ensued a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the…
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CA says Prince Charles’ advocacy letters should be produced
R (o.t.a Rob Evans) v. Attorney-General, Information Commissioner Interested Party, 12 March 2014 – read judgment
The Court of Appeal (reversing a strong court including the former Lord Chief Justice – see my previous post) has decided that correspondence between the Prince of Wales and various government departments should be released. A Guardian journalist had made a request under the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations to see these documents. The Upper Tribunal had agreed that they should be disclosed.
At that point, the Attorney-General intervened and signed a certificate saying “no”.
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Mormon Tax, Posthumous Procreation and Stephen Lawrence Spying – the Human Rights Roundup
Welcome back to the UK Human Rights Roundup, your regular spring harvest of human rights news and views. The full list of links can be found
here
. You can find previous roundups
here
. Links compiled by Adam Wagner, post by Celia Rooney.
In the human rights news this week, Theresa May calls for a public inquiry into undercover police officers after the publication of the independent review into spying on the family of Stephen Lawrence. Elsewhere, Mormons take on the taxman, the High Court considers how to interpret the law on storing embryos and gametes after death and a House of Lords Committee publishes a major report into the operation of the Mental Capacity Act.
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Evidence to Parliament on Criminal Justice and Courts Bill
I will be giving evidence tomorrow at around 3pm to the Public Bill Committee scrutinising the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill.
I will be giving evidence along with Nicola Mackintosh, Nick Armstrong and Michael Fordham QC, on the potential impact of the Bill on Judicial Review. The session should be available to view online live here. The full programme, which should be very interesting, is listed here.
For more on the Bill, see this recent post by JUSTICE’s Angela Patrick and this one by David Hart QC.
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Police have “Osman” duty to investigate in date rape cases
DSD and NVB v The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2014] EWHC 436 (QB) – read judgment
The police have a duty to conduct investigations into particularly severe violent acts perpetrated by private parties in a timely and efficient manner. There had been systemic failings by the police in investigating a large number of rapes and sexual assaults perpetrated by the so called “black cab rapist” amounting to a breach of the of the victims’ rights under Article 3 of the ECHR.
The claimants were among the victims of the so called “black cab rapist” (W), who over a six year period between 2002 and 2008 had committed more than 100 drug and alcohol assisted rapes and sexual assaults on women whom he had been carrying in his cab. Both DSD and NVB complained to the police, who commenced investigations, but failed to bring W to justice until 2009. Under the…
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