The Guardian (Free subscription) | yesterday
Is stop and search having a positive effect on knife crime? The Islington Gazette reported recently that "nearly 9,500 young people under 18 were stopped and searched by Islington police in 2008...an average of 180 a week." The paper added that this was the sixth highest rate across London's 32 boroughs and represents a rise of 250 per cent compared with 2004. This gives a pretty clear idea...
JURIST (Free subscription) | yesterday
[JURIST] London's Metropolitan Police Service (Met) and the family of Jean Charles de Menezes on Tuesday announced an end to litigation stemming from de Menezes' death, caused by two Met officers in 2005. No details were given about the compensation awarded to the family:n view of the physical and mental distress caused to the members of the family by these events and the understandable publicity and...
PoliticalHackUK (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
Sir Hugh Orde, currently in charge of the Association of Chief Police Officers, spoke for his colleagues when he said that he would rather resign than face direct political control from an elected commissioner. He's absolutely right - nobody should be enthused by the pressure brought to bear on Sir Ian Blair by the newly-installed Mayor in London . As Bob Piper mentioned at the time , fans of The Wire...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
Sir Hugh Orde, president of Acpo, says it is absolutely critical that forces stay free of political influence Chief constables could resign if a Tory government enacted plans to put police forces under the control of directly elected local commissioners, the senior officers' leader warned today. Sir Hugh Orde, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said this morning that...
Hansard Society (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009
Tuesday December 8, 6.30pm - 8pm, Portcullis House. This Democracy Forum will look at whether what can be viewed as our traditional British ‘apathy’ is allowing the state to pass legislation that scrutinises and controls us. Or, is such a dystopian view a wildly exaggerated response to what is merely the use of modern tools to tackle 21st century crime and terrorism? The speakers are:...
Miscellania (Free subscription) | 14/11/2009
Private 'police' provoke concern The growing number of private security companies policing UK streets is a worrying development, senior police figures say. The Police Federation of England and Wales said there is "huge concern" over their powers and accountability. Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has also said there should be no role for the private sector in Britain's...
The Telegraph (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
Sir Ian Blair the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner has been appointed head of a local crime prevention group.
BBC News (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
Former Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair is appointed head of a voluntary crime prevention group in the Thames Valley.
Martin Kelly (Free subscription) | 10/11/2009
This is a bit of a time-delayed post. On November 5 2009, Sir Ian Blair, former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, mounted a sterling defence of immigration and diversity on the BBC's 'Question Time' show. He stopped short of calling Robert Kilroy-Silk a racist at just the right moment, and praised the competence of Polish plumbers to the skies; although his comment that the Poles were 'the best...
Tory Bear (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
Sir Ian Blair is the finest policeman this country has seen in modern times - veritably the heir to Sir Robert Peel. His support for ID cards, 42-days detention for terrorists, the DNA database, and the arrest of Damian Green speak for themselves. -Commenter "Proud to be Labour" during TB's Live Chat last night. Dave's quote to the National Curry Awards on Tuesday was a close second. He told...
Mark Reckons (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
Remember, remember that it's #bbcqt day again and as usual the Live Chat on this blog will start tonight at 10:30pm. It's in Reading tonight about 15 miles from where I live but they didn't invite me on. Still at least that means I can host the chat! The panel will include the Welsh Secretary Peter Hain MP, the shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert MP, the former Metropolitan Police commissioner...
The Telegraph (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
Sir Ian Blair: police officer numbers 'should be cut to save money'
Labourlist (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009
By Simon Fletcher The latest installment of Sir Ian Blair’s memoirs, Policing Controversy , was published in the Mail on Sunday last weekend. Inevitably, the controversy surrounding Blair's removal as Commissioner by Boris Johnson tends to focus on the constitutional issues and the question of the politicisation of the police. Yet Blair’s autobiography also shows that Boris Johnson clearly...
Harpymarx (Free subscription) | 02/11/2009
Just had the misfortune of reading the Grauniad’s interview with Sir Ian Blair. Some choice quotes to pick from…..And I can’t think of anything constructive to write without resorting to swearing in describing this insensitive, crass, incompetent and establishment-friendly muppet! On the G20 protests and the death of Ian Tomlinson It is a dreadful tragedy when something like that...
Boriswatch (Free subscription) | 02/11/2009
One man unlikely to be including the Mayor on his Christmas Card list this year is ex-Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair. With no reference to his memoirs that have just gone on sale for the Christmas market in all good bookshops (and some bad ones), Blair has been giving various interviews in which he reaffirms [...]
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