Friday 30 December 2016

Police Don't Want The Public To Surrender Weapons

After tomorrow (31st December 2016) it will be illegal to keep or own an airgun in Scotland without a licence. Anyone caught with an unlicensed weapon will face a fine and up to two years in prison.

This law is not only most welcome but it is absolutely essential for public safety, especially after the deeply shocking case of two-year-old Andrew Morton who was tragically killed by an airgun pellet in Glasgow in 2005.

It's pretty disgraceful that it took them more than 10 years to outlaw these dangerous weapons but I suppose that's another story for another time. The wheels of justice move slowly as they say.

Anyway, thankfully the ban on these weapons is about to become law now, and not before time.

And in anticipation of the new law, Police Scotland have set up an 'air weapons surrender scheme' where anyone who wants to hand in their weapon can do so.

It's supposed to be a very simple process - as you'll see from the Police Scotland informational video at the end of this post - but as I have found out, it is NOT quite as simple as police claim it to be.

The process is most definitely NOT the same as police described in their video. They have not been honest with the public at all about how they're conducting the 'air weapons surrender scheme'.

I know.

Because today, 30th December 2016, I telephoned Police Scotland on 101 to inform them that a family member (who has since sadly passed away) owned an airgun that I would like them to dispose of.

The officer I spoke to on the 101 number, Katie, was very pleasant and informative. She asked me to wrap the weapon up in a black bin bag (just as they show in the police video) so as not to alarm members of the public as I transport it to my nearest police station (Shettleston police station in Glasgow's east end).

She also advised that if I didn't feel comfortable walking in to a police station with an airgun in my hand(!) I should leave it in the boot of the car, locked, safe, and out of sight, while I go in to the police station and inform them about it. Officers would then simply come out to my car and get the weapon and dispose of it for me.

Good sound advice. So far, so good.

So off I went a few minutes later, down to Shettleston police station in Glasgow with the weapon safely wrapped up in a couple of black bin bags in the boot of my car, just as PC Katie had advised.

However when I arrived at the station, the process turned out to be NOT quite as straightforward as you'd think. It was most certainly NOT the easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy way of surrendering a weapon you see police describe in their video.

Heres' what police really do when you try to surrender an airgun weapon to them.

First, as soon as you walk in to the police station and tell them you would like to surrender an airgun they ask you for ALL your personal details, your name, your address, your date of birth, and your telephone number. Hmmm, no mention of that in the police video. How strange.

They then ask you to take a seat in the reception area and disappear in to the back office of the police station for a few minutes, no doubt to run your name, address, date of birth, and telephone number  through their police computer to see  who's handing this weapon in and if you may be a 'person of interest' to them.

Now if you're like me and have had very unpleasant dealings with untrustworthy Police Scotland in the past, you'll know from experience that when a copper disappears in to the back office of a police station with a bit of paper on which he's written your name, address, date of birth, and phone number (especially when you've just turned up there to surrender a firearm), he's probably not adding you to his Christmas card list!

No, it's a no brainer - he's checking you out and entering your info in to the police 'intelligence' database. So now police have, forever more, a 'note' on their intelligence files that you are someone who used to possess a weapon in the past (and I'll go on to tell you exactly why they do that a little further down the page).

Finally, they return from the back office and ask you to put your signature at the bottom of a blank form. Yip, you read that correctly - a blank form.

All the other questions/details on the form are to be left blank and you're not given any opportunity to fill any of them in, except for your signature. So let's be frank here. This means police can, if they so wish, fill out the other details on the form themselves afterwards with whatever information they want...and it will have your signature at the bottom of it.

Not good.

It's all very suspicious indeed, especially when - as in my case - I have a rich 'history' with my local police station. Remember, I was the victim of a false accuser some years ago, falsely arrested by police who didn't bother to check my false accusers story. I was completely cleared in court yet I still had to fight for justice from them every step of the way. I made official complaints against police officers who are or were based at that very same Shettleston police station where I handed the weapon in to today so I'm not Mr Popular down there. Oh dear.

I have grave concerns and a very uneasy feeling deep down in my gut that by doing the correct, honest, and responsible thing today, it may not have been to my best advantage! Just look at the stories I publish on this blog about corruption in Police Scotland. Police Scotland don't like my criticism of them and they are very vindictive people. Very vindictive. That has been my experience.

So, dear readers, if you are thinking of popping in to see Police Scotland to take them up on their so-called 'air weapons surrender scheme', you now have it in black and white from the horses mouth exactly how you'll be treated - and it's NOT the way police tell you in their video.

Police Scotland have falsely lead the public to believe that this is some sort of amnesty type of scheme. It's not. By asking for all sorts of personal information from you Police Scotland have been very dishonest.

The scheme is a chaotic shambles and all it has done is prompted good people to hand in weapons.

The bad guys out there will NOT have handed in their weapons - not under those circumstances anyway, I guarantee.

It's been a disaster.

Police have only succeeded in taking thousands of airguns off the streets that were never on the streets to begin with!

These are mostly old airguns which were stuck away and largely forgotten in peoples garages and in their lofts (or in my case, I found my family members airgun stuck at the back of a cupboard that no-one ever goes in to which houses the central heating boiler)!

So why would untrustworthy Police Scotland act in a way which effectively encourages good people to hand in their weapons but dissuades bad people from handing in their weapons?

I have a couple of ideas why this may be:

1. Police don't really want members of the public to surrender their weapons, even though they say they do. They are secretly quite happy for many of these weapons to remain out there on the streets - especially with the baddies - so that when the new law comes in to effect on 1st January 2017 they can then arrest everyone who still has a weapon.

Police believe that more arrests makes it look - to the wider public - like they are doing a good job. Every time they successfully target and arrest a member of the public it's yet another feather in the cap for a police officer. Don't believe police target the public? When you look in your rear view mirror and you see a police car behind you, do you feel safe or do you feel anxious? Yip, thought so. 'Nuff said.

So by encouraging baddies to keep their weapons it gives police an excuse to arrest them at a later date (after 1st Jan 2017) which helps them to achieve future arrest targets.

Of course, pity the poor public who Police Scotland are quite happy to put in harms way by these weapons being on our streets in the hands of baddies. But hey, protecting the public has always been of much less importance to Police Scotland than targeting the public.

2. Police Scotland are simply using the 'air weapons surrender scheme' to gather intelligence information about innocent members of the public to add to their already bulging database (which also includes road camera pics of 800 million innocent Scottish drivers going about their daily business which police keep for no reason).

And how do they justify all this intelligence gathering against members of the public who have done absolutely nothing wrong?

Well, in police's eyes if you have a weapon you're probably some sort of a baddie or, at the very least, 'a person of interest' to them for even having one in the first place. Police Scotland just love to arrogantly mistreat members of the public and are always happy to brutally ride roughshod over every single legal right that the public have. They don't care. They view everyone with suspicion - it's their default setting. You are guilty until proved innocent as far as they are concerned instead of the other way round as it should be. So in their warped minds, why would you own a weapon? You must be up to something if you have an airgun.

In reality what they're really doing is covertly garnering as much information about you and logging it for future use against you.

And here's how they make it all work:

You see Police Scotland are very vindictive people and are infamous for using a little trick called 'bundling' - a process where they add lots of little snippets of information to your 'intelligence file' over a period of time. The idea is that some day in the future when they eventually manage to arrest and charge you for something silly or insignificant (like being drunk in charge of a fish supper or whatever), they can 'bundle' together all the little tid-bits of intelligence they have collected on you in the past to embellish the case against you and make it in to a bigger case than it would normally be.

A piece of intelligence in your file which says you used to own a firearm in the past is akin to evidential gold for someone like untrustworthy Police Scotland, especially when they're trying to push their boss, the Procurator Fiscal, to prosecute you.

The idea is that when the evidence against you is insufficient, all these little tid-bits of intelligence from the past are 'bundled' together to help tip the balance of flimsy evidence a bit more in their favour. It's all there, in their intelligence database, just sitting waiting for them to use against you any time they need to in the future.

It's designed specifically to help their buddies in the corrupt Crown office get a successful conviction against you for what would normally be an otherwise minor or even a false charge. And these little tid-bits of intelligence can often make the difference between the Procurator Fiscal going ahead with a prosecution against you in an otherwise evidentially flimsy case as opposed to 'penning' it as would normally happen due to lack of evidence.

 In short, 'bundling' evidence helps inflate and falsely fabricate 'a sufficiency of evidence' where it did not exist before.

It shouldn't happen but it does.

It's no secret that Police Scotland have illegally spied on journalists in the past. The investigation in to the Emma Caldwell scandal is still ongoing (her murderer is still out there) and we still haven't had any satisfactory answers from Police Scotland about their illegal spying escapades even though they have now accepted and fully admitted that they did indeed spy illegally. In fact, very recently we have seen very high ranking officers in Police Scotland contradicting each other publicly as one by one they squeal on each other to try and save their own skins while running to the hills for cover.

So it has been proved beyond any doubt that the intelligence police collect on us is not always collected legally.

It has also been proved beyond any doubt that the intelligence police collect on us is not always correct or reliable. Nor do they use it properly or efficiently or for the right reasons.

It's also no secret that Police Scotland don't like me, my journalism, and the information I publish about them on this blog.

I get stopped by police in my vehicle on a fairly regular basis. Oh yeah, they always claim it's just routine, they check my details, and then let me continue on my way, so it's nothing more than a minor inconvenience to me.

The problem is, it's an inconvenience that I never used to experience from police - until of course I took on the might of untrustworthy Police Scotland and the corrupt Crown office in court and won against them - they don't like you doing that, I can assure you! Perhaps it's just co-incidence. Or, as I suspect, police still have some old false and outdated intelligence on me on their files which has me wrongly tagged as still being 'a person of interest' to them.

Their botched case against me a couple of years ago when I was the victim of a false accuser resulted in Sheriff Douglas Brown being quoted as saying "Mr Campbell should never have been brought before a criminal court". That's a very damning criticism of Police Scotland if ever I've heard one from a senior judge. Police's case against me was thrown right out of court, so I'm an innocent man and should be of no interest to them whatsoever.

Funny thing is that I drive more than one vehicle but police only ever stop me when I'm in one particular vehicle, never the others. Hmmm. They even stopped a family member who was driving the vehicle one day and seemed surprised that it wasn't me - they even asked the family member "does anyone else drive this vehicle?". Strange eh?! Do you think perhaps police have the registration plate of that vehicle on their intelligence files and are just being vindictive? I'll let you decide.

Either way, you can understand why I am deeply suspicious about Police Scotland's 'air weapon surrender scheme' and very curious as to why Police Scotland would purposely lie in their informational video about the scheme (and why they wanted so much personal information from me today and made me sign a blank form)?

And I'm worried.

Worried because police don't care that it wasn't my weapon, it was someone else weapon that I surrendered, so I'll perhaps see yet another re-invigorated little flurry of negative activity from police towards me and my journalism now.

Trust me, police are very dishonest and extremely untrustworthy. You can bet your pension that the weapon has now been 'earmarked' against me personally with my name, my address, my date of birth, and my telephone number. Goodness knows what they've added to my intelligence file now and goodness knows what they wrote on the blank form after I left the station today (which I've signed at the bottom)!

Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence does it?

Of course there is one way I could have avoided all this potential hassle and there's a way you too can avoid all this hassle.

If you have a weapon, don't take it to the police, just throw it in to the nearest wheelie bin.

There will be no police enquiries in to who you are.

You won't have to give your name, address, d.o.b, and phone number.

You won't have to expose yourself to the potential risk of becoming a targeted name on their intelligence database.

You'll be free to go about your every day business as normal without any hassle or problems from the police...

But stop, wait, hang on. No, no, no, please don't do that - I'm being facetious of course!

I'm obviously NOT advocating that you do that!

God forbid some hooligan or worse, a child, could fish it out of the wheelie bin and try to use it wth disastrous or even life threatening consequences.

Please, please think of little two-year-old Andrew Morton and dispose of any weapons responsibly just as I did today.

The point I'm making here to untrustworthy Police Scotland (should they choose to listen) is that they need to be honest with the public if they ever hope to have the support of the public in getting these weapons off our streets.

The Police Scotland video, their very own video from their own 'air weapons surrender scheme' page on their own website (which I've embedded in to the end of this post), is not honest. Go watch it.

To conclude, today I acted with propriety, rectitude and responsibly. I got well-rid of a very dangerous weapon belonging to a deceased member of my family who obviously had no opportunity to dispose of it himself...so I did.

It wasn't my weapon, I didn't own it, I've never used it (and wouldn't know how to anyway). In short, it wasn't my responsibility. It had nothing to do with me...yet still, I did it.

I acted the way I would hope and expect every decent member of the Scottish public who cherishes public safety to act.

Just as important, and as a bit of an aside, it is my understanding from others in my family, that the weapon probably hasn't been used or fired in 20 or 30 years. Can you imagine if I'd just dumped it in to any old wheelie bin in Shettleston Road to avoid untrustworthy Police Scotland taking down all my details and to prevent them abusing the act of responsibility I showed today in order to to harm me and use it to my detriment in the future (which, hey, who knows, they may still do)?

Not only could the weapon possibly be used to kill someone, a person who tries to fire that weapon could very possibly be injured or killed themselves. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the damn thing blows up when someone tries to pull the trigger, because if it hasn't been fired in 20 or 30 years it probably hasn't been cleaned or maintained in 40 or 50 years!

So today I did the correct, proper, honest, and responsible thing. And yet I've probably done myself no favours in doing so.

How ironic.

Police Scotland had a duty to me today - and a duty to every other member of the Scottish public - to make the 'air weapons surrender scheme' easy, but they didn't. Police Scotland have failed.

Instead, they lied to me and the Scottish public about the disposal of these weapons.

That leads me to have grave suspicions about their motives.

Police Scotland should have made the process happen in exactly the same way they show it to be in their informational video below. But they didn't. That concerns me greatly and it should concern every member of the Scottish public who value their safety and who, like me, wants to see ALL of these dangerous weapons completely off our streets.

How many of these weapons are still out there just because the people who own them don't trust Police Scotland enough to hand them in?

According to recent press reports, tens of thousands of honest members of the public - like me - have taken advantage of the 'air weapons surrender scheme' and handed in weapons to police for disposal.

That's good.

What's not so good is that the 'baddies' out there will have very quickly learned that Police Scotland demand to know all your personal details such as your name, address, date of birth, and telephone number when you hand a weapon in.

The baddies will NOT have handed all their weapons in, that's for sure!

So it's highly probably that right now all the weapons belonging to good, honest, decent members of the public which have been kicking around lofts, garages, and cupboards, untouched and unused for years are now in police possession...while the 'baddies' out there still have their weapons and will continue to use them to commit criminal acts, day in and day out, for the foreseeable future.

That's a serious concern for public safety and the Scottish public should be appalled at how Police Scotland have handled this debacle.

Mind you, knowing untrustworthy Police Scotland as well as I do, it would not surprise me at all if they've purposely done all of this by design rather than by accident...







Police Cars Held Together With Duct Tape

This is the shocking story that Police Scotland's patrol cars are being held together by 'duct tape'.

This is a terrible waste of duct tape and I must protest most strongly.

The 'duct tape' would be far more usefully employed if they would use it to tape over the mouths of all those lying Police Scotland officers who, every day, take an oath to tell the truth in the witness stand yet then proceed to lie through their teeth in courts of law up and down our country (read my shocking story about a police officer lying under oath here).



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37654995

Tuesday 27 December 2016

Twisted Police Twisting Words

Let's just cut to the chase here. The one-size-fits-all Police Scotland project has been an abject failure on EVERY level.

So it's no surprise that the Scottish Government are getting a wee bit concerned about the state of Police Scotland.

So concerned in fact that the Justice Secretary Michael Matheson has urged Police Scotland to "focus on local communities."

Of course, in their twisted minds, Police Scotland would argue that they do focus on local communities. Because untrustworthy Police Scotland love to boast about how great a job they're doing in local communities, how they're making lots of arrests, locking up lots of bad guys etc.

In reality though, what's really happening is that police make lots of arrests - and their buddies over at the COPFS make lots of prosecutions - which they then point to as 'proof' that they're doing a good job.

The fact that these arrests and prosecutions are made against the most vulnerable members of the public - easy targets, 'wee guys', who come from our poorest communities - is ever-so quietly ignored.

The poorest and the most vulnerable in our society are an easy peasy lemon squeezey victim for police and the Crown office to get a successful prosecution against. The 'wee guy' doesn't have the education or the money to fight against the combined might of Police Scotland and the Crown office.

The Crown office are Police Scotland's boss. The Crown office have their pick of 17,000 police officers - all willing to back each other up in court - to help the Procurator Fiscal get a successful prosecution. It's your word against two coppers - who's the court gonna believe? Yeah.

The Crown office have a £112 million per year budget at their disposal they can dip in to at will to ensure any charges the police make will succeed in court.

The Crown office have a large team of legal professionals to work on cases against the 'wee guy' including hundreds of backroom staff and experienced fiscals and advocates who all work within the courts every day and know how to game the system.

In contrast, the 'wee guy' from a poor community who finds himself up against the law has nothing anywhere near those resources. The system is rigged against the 'wee guy' right from the very start.

He does not have police officers on his side to help him. In fact police are there to pursue him, charge him, and give evidence against him in court to help the Procurator Fiscal convict him, not help him.

Nor does he have £112 million in his pocket to pay for his defence.

He does not have a team of top legal advisers and hundreds of backroom staff at his disposal to help with his defence.

In fact, knowing very little or nothing about the law, the 'wee guy' will more than probably walk in to the nearest estate agent office and employ a 'solicitor' from there, not realising that the Perry Mason he thinks he's getting is better suited to notarising title deeds than conducting a proper professional criminal defence in a court of law.

The poor 'wee guy' doesn't realise he's being shafted from both sides and the only reason Perry Mason has advised him to plead guilty to something he didn't do is because he's only really experienced at writing wills and selling houses so is incapable of actually performing in court of law, calling witnesses, and preparing a proper legal defence for him.

By the time the 'wee guy' also learns that Perry Mason will actually earn exactly the same money from the legal aid certificate no matter whether he had pleaded guilty or innocent (and therefore only advised him to plead guilty so he could trouser the legal aid money without doing any work), it's all too late.

Make no bones about it, the most vulnerable people in our poorest communities get railroaded regularly by Police Scotland, the Crown office, and too many of these 'bottom of the food-chain' solicitors.

The 'wee guy' has no voice and no chance.

None.

It's not right.

And it all begins when untrustworthy Police Scotland barge in to the poorest areas of our communities and make arrests just so they can achieve arrest targets.

So I suspect that when Justice Secretary Michael Matheson urged Police Scotland to "focus on local communities" he probably didn't mean for them to focus on targeting local communities.

But I damn well know which way untrustworthy Police Scotland will be taking his words...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37562789

Saturday 24 December 2016

Police Refuse To Arrest A Murderer

Oh dear, another couple of top cops are contradicting each other over leaks (and I don't mean winter burst pipes at the local nick).

Chief Constable Phil 'Gormless' has written to MSP's stating that the bungled investigation into the unsolved murder of prostitute Emma Caldwell had not been "live" in the month officers carried out an illegal spying operation against journalists reporting on the case.

But the former deputy chief constable Neil Richardson gave evidence to MSP's saying that at the time of the leaks, it was a "live murder inquiry".

So one of them is telling porkies.

But which one?

Actually, it doesn't matter.

Because this murder will never be solved. Never.

You see, the poor sods that the police were so desperate to 'fit up' and 'do' for this murder didn't actually do it. The police got it wrong. Very wrong. And the police don't like being wrong. No siree.

So police will allow the real murderer to remain free and at large just so that they can stick like glue to their original (wrong) opinions on who they thought committed this crime.

Hey, better a murderer roam our streets than police admit they are wrong.

Yes, I know, it's not very good for the Scottish public to know that we have a murderer out there in our midst who is on the loose and roaming free.

But on the plus side, the police can't be accused of making a mistake as long as the real murderer never gets caught.

Nighty night folks. Don't have nightmares now, y'all.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14766879.Chief_Constable_contradicts_former_deputy_on_Police_Scotland_spying_scandal/

Tuesday 20 December 2016

Police Anti-Corruption Unit Under Investigation... For Corruption!

It's a well known and accepted fact that Police Scotland are corrupt to the core (as are their bosses and buddies in the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service).

It's also well known that they also investigate themselves when there are any allegations of corruption in their ranks so no prizes for guessing how that usually turns out!

Police Scotland have a special anti-corruption unit set up to investigate in to police corruption and you probably won't be surprised to learn that there have been more than 100 allegations of wrongdoing against Police Scotland.

But what you WILL be surprised to learn is that those 100+ allegations of wrongdoing against Police Scotland are actually complaints against officers who work IN the anti-corruption unit.

The anti-corruption unit is full of corrupt officers itself!

As they say, you couldn't make it up.

Rotten to the core, the lot of 'em.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/28/more-than-100-allegations-of-wrongdoing-against-police-scotland/

Saturday 17 December 2016

SPF Use Your Money To Help Fellow Labour Councillors

I have always disagreed with politicians having any control over the money in our pension funds.

That money is important. It's for our retirement, not for them to play with.

When members of the public work hard and pay in to a pension fund, they have an absolute right to demand that their money be invested wisely to give a good return that will ensure a healthy pension pay out when they retire.

Put simply, when you hand over that very large chunk of your wages each month you expect that your money will be invested wisely by financial experts to provide for your retirement - you don't want a bunch of sticky fingered politicians playing with it.

But they do.

And when politicians get their grubby little hands on your money and politicians decide where it gets 'invested' then you just know it's gonna end up getting channeled in to 'investments' that benefit them, not you.

A story about Strathclyde Pyramid Pension Fund - and where they have decided to make an investment of your money - has sparked my interest.

It seems SPF have made a new investment in a Port Glasgow retail park.

Nothing wrong in that at all, as long as it is a good investment which will deliver high returns for our pensioners.

But councillor Philip Braat - chairman of SPF - has curiously said that the development would deliver real benefits to Port Glasgow and Inverclyde as well as pension fund members.

My interest was piqued by the 'order' he placed the benefits of this SPF investment in his statement above. Because if I didn't know any better I would think he had placed the benefits to Port Glasgow before the benefits to the pension money (which he should be investing wisely to give the pensioners a good return on their money).

It becomes a little bit more suspicious when he goes on to gush that "The expansion of the retail park will not only be welcomed by local shoppers, it will boost employment and keep more money in the local economy."

Perhaps I'm overthinking this and worrying about nothing but let's look a bit closer at this...

Councillor Philip Braat is a labour councillor. Surely he wouldn't be over generously throwing a few quid of other peoples pension money over to the Port Glasgow area to help boost a fellow labour councillor in a labour area would he? That would, in effect, be saying something like hey, look what a great job your local councillor is doing for you here in Port Glasgow - vote our party back in at the next election please.

Hmmmm. Well, I just checked, and deary, deary me. Turns out the leader of Inverclyde council is a gentleman by the name of Stephen McCabe...and he's a labour councillor (see here).

What an amazing co-incidence. Who'd have thunk it.

Mr McCabe is also quoted as saying that "it is a very welcome show of confidence in Inverclyde and Port Glasgow as retail locations."

Perhaps he should have added "...by a fellow labour councillor using pensioners money".

Hmmm. Move along now, nothing to see here.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14771479.Jobs_boost_for_Port_Glasgow_as_mall_expansion_brings_in_Marks___Spencer_and_TK_Maxx/


Wednesday 14 December 2016

Police Won't Lift A Finger To Help The Public

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) have launched an investigation in to the way police responded to reports of concern about a man's welfare in Glasgow (article here). They are also investigating in to another recent police response to the death of a woman in St Andrews too (article here)

As yet we don't know what happened in either of these cases, nor do we know the circumstances (and we won't know until the investigations have been completed).

But that's not the focus of this particular blog post.

The problem with these stories and the PIRC investigations is that these are not isolated incidents. The PIRC are increasingly having to investigate in to police failings when it comes to responding to the public. It's almost becoming daily news now.

So what's the problem?

Why are our police so unwilling to help the public these days?

Easy.

Police Scotland have developed a 'jobsworth' culture in which they will only respond to situations which involve crime. If it doesn't involve some sort of criminality, they don't want to know. "Not my problem guv', I'm just here to arrest criminals" and all that kinda stuff. They are no longer willing to help the public and it's a national disgrace.

Those of us of a certain age will fondly remember when the police used to be polite, helpful, respectful and responsive to the public. Ah the good old days. Back then, police saw their role as being there to help, support, and protect the public...plus they would put the bad guys away for us too.

But today untrustworthy Police Scotland are only interested in arresting as many members of the public as possible - because lots of arrests mean they can 'claim' they are doing a good job.

Helping, supporting, and protecting the public doesn't add to their figures.

So...if you find yourself collapsing in the street with a heart attack, don't expect anyone in untrustworthy Police Scotland to lift a finger to help you.

Unless your heart attack takes place when your TV licence is overdue for renewal. Oh yeah, they'll soon step in to 'assist' then.

But they're more likely to handcuff you to the defibrillator than use it to save your life.

Monday 12 December 2016

Police Failings Let Serial Killers And Rapists Walk Free

POLICE Scotland have serious flaws in their crime reporting system which is helping to create situations where opportunities are being missed for police to catch serial killers and rapists.

And it's not me who's saying this.

The warning comes from one of Police Scotland's top officers, Chief Superintendent Gill Imery.

An investigation has revealed that the number of officers who are failing to record crimes within the stipulated 72 hours period is rapidly on the increase. Just 83.9% of sexual crimes - a large number of which involve children - are recorded within 72 hours, in essence, preventing detectives from being able to link serious crimes and causing dangerous offenders being at large for longer than necessary.

A big public thank you must go out to CS Imery for bringing this to our attention.

However her colleague, Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick, on the other hand says that "incident and crime recording complies with the Scottish Crime Recording Standards" and that "we have effective processes in place to record information about crimes and incidents so that we can deliver the right service to individuals and communities".

Hmm. So, two very high ranking Police Scotland officers with very different views.

Which one should we believe? Chief Superintendent Gill Emery or Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick?

Take your pick, it doesn't really matter.

Because we all know which one will get further promotion after these comments - and which one's career has just hit the skids for what she has just revealed...

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/713064/serial-killers-rapists-missed-police-Scotland-reporting-system

Friday 9 December 2016

Police Scotland Should Be Scrapped - So Say Police Scotland!

You could be forgiven for thinking that I and my fellow campaigners are a small bunch of lone voices in the wilderness who are alone and isolated in our calls for Police Scotland to be disbanded and rebuilt from scratch.

But we're not.

Even police officers themselves (or to be exact, the few honest and fine upstanding officers who are still left in Police Scotland) agree that the force is not fit for purpose and should be disbanded.

More than a dozen officers and former officers from north and north-east Scotland have signed a change.org petition - set up by James Montgomery - calling for the failed project that we call Police Scotland should be scrapped.

It's good to know that there are a few good, decent, honest coppers out there who recognise that public confidence in police is at an all-time low and that serious steps are needed to save Police Scotland from imploding and descending in to farce (if it hasn't already).

But astonishingly, instead of the top brass at Police Scotland listening to the genuine concerns from their very own officers - perhaps even thanking them for bringing these crucial issues to their attention - Phil 'Gormless' and his high-hied-yins are warning that the officers will face disciplinary action for speaking out!

You couldn't make it up.

One Police Scotland worker from Aberdeen is quoted as saying "The single force is not working. Many of my colleagues are losing their jobs and those that are left are doing the work of four or five. It wasn’t thought out correctly and rushed through."

Another says "I left Grampian Police before the amalgamation as I could see the writing on the wall. Having worked in other industries before and since I can hand on heart say had they not created one force I would still be in the job now."

An officer from Bonnyrigg, Midlothian is quoted as saying "Police Scotland, worst decision ever. Used to love my job, not anymore. Bring back Lothian and Borders."

Yet another has called Police Scotland "disgraceful" and an "utter shambles".

A constable from Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, says "I’m a serving police officer and feel our community is not receiving the care/support it used to have with legacy forces."

Another says "I am a police officer under increasing pressure from an organisation that is failing on a daily basis."

One former Lothian and Borders officer who served the force for 28 years said: "Former colleagues now cannot believe how much things have changed and are constantly working against the tide, embarrassed to be part of a monster that is simply too big and not functioning. Please reinstate the former forces."

Another ex-Lothian and Borders employee now living in Drumnadrochit, Highlands, wrote: "I have seen the disgraceful slide of efficiency into the utter shambles that is Police Scotland and the broken morale of the longer serving officers who actually knew their job."

And Police Scotland's response to their concerns?

Discipline them. Show them who's the boss, put them back in their place, and make an example of them so that no other officers will dare try to criticise Police Scotland ever again.

These whistle-blowing officers now know what we, the public, have had to put up with from Police Scotland for years.

When we, the public, dare to criticise untrustworthy Police Scotland, vindictive and corrupt Police Scotland hunt us down like dogs in the night and target us for doing it.

When good, honest, and decent Police Scotland officers themselves dare to stand up and criticise Police Scotland, they get thrown out the door quicker than you can say "illegal spying".

And the top brass sit and wonder why the public have no confidence in untrustworthy Police Scotland and don't want to help them.

Sheeez!

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/1035604/aberdeen-force-staff-among-those-to-sign-petition-calling-for-police-scotland-to-be-scrapped/


http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2016/09/22/serving-cops-openly-back-petition-scrap-police-scotland/

Tuesday 6 December 2016

Disgusting Glasgow City Council Conning Pensioners

If you are a pensioner living in Glasgow and you are over 80 years old you can apply to Glasgow City Council for what's known as the "Affordable Warmth Dividend".

Basically it's a £100 payment the council give to pensioners over 80 to help them with their winter heating bills to hopefully stop many of our old folks getting hypothermia during our harsh Scottish winters.

Charity organisations say that many pensioners - especially older pensioners in their 80's - find themselves having to choose between eating and putting the fire on to keep warm during the winter so the £100 Affordable Warmth Dividend from Glasgow City Council is an absolute God-send to these poor pensioners.

So, Glasgow City Council should be applauded for this wonderful and kind act of generosity to our old folks, right?

Eh, well, not quite.

Because there's a catch (good old Glasgow City Council, there's always a catch to everything they do eh)!

You see the application form that the old folks needed to fill in to apply for the 'Affordable Warmth Dividend' last year told them where to return the completed form to. But the letter they received this year asking them if they would like to apply for it again does NOT say where it should be returned to.

In fact it doesn't even tell them to return the form (and if they don't return they don't get the £100).

So picture the scene. A pensioner in his or her 80’s receives a letter from Glasgow City Council asking if they would like the £100 Affordable Warmth Dividend again, and if so, they should complete the section on the back of the letter.

But…

They are not told to return the form.

They are not given any address or indication where the form should be returned to.

There isn't even an addressed envelope enclosed for them.

Nothing.

So the pensioners (and remember we're talking about people in their 80's) are expected to:

- Guess that the form should be sent back to Glasgow City Council.

- Guess where it should be sent back to.

- Go out and buy an envelope.

- Go out and buy a stamp.

Oh yes, certainly, there is an address on the letterhead which has the usual generic Glasgow City Council address on it but that address is just a PO box and not labeled to any department in particular so gives no indication that this is where the form should be sent back to.

So why would Glasgow City Council offer our oldest, poorest, and most vulnerable pensioners £100 to help heat their homes and keep them warm in the winter but then stack a host of obstacles in front of them and make them leap over hurdles to get it?

Oh that’s an easy one.

Glasgow City Council don’t really want to give £100 to pensioners in their 80's to keep them warm in the winter.

Glasgow City Council only want to give the illusion that they are giving pensioners in their 80's £100 to keep them warm in the winter.

Here’s how it works.

Councillors need to be re-elected to keep their power and their cushy jobs and all the lovely wee “extras” that comes with being an elected official ;-)

When it comes to election time, they need to be able to stand up and tell you, the voter, what wonderful people they are and how they gave our poor pensioners money to help keep them warm in the harsh Scottish winter.

Yes folks, our hearts are supposed to melt at the sheer generosity of these wonderful elected officials who care so much for our grannies and grandpa's (hey councillor, watch that halo doesn’t slip and choke you).

But what they don’t tell you is that the council is facing unprecedented budget cuts and they really don’t want to be giving anyone £100 if they can possibly avoid it.

So they purposely make it difficult and confusing for the poor and vulnerable old folks to claim the £100 in the hope that many won't do it.

See how it all works now?

The councillors get to make themselves out to be heroes who are doing wonderful things but in fact are doing very little or nothing.

Politics eh!

And as per usual, when they read this post and realise they've been found out, you can guarantee that their PR department will go in to overdrive. They will, no doubt, shriek in mock horror and profuse that they honestly didn’t realise the form didn’t tell the old folks to return it, they didn’t realise the form didn't tell them where to return it to, they didn’t realise there was no return envelope enclosed, and it was all just an innocent and unfortunate error...and they'll apologise for it.

Job done.

But in reality, all our councillors ever apologise for is getting caught out.

Glasgow Crooked City Council has been a hotbed of corruption for as long as I’ve lived in this great city. We all know that their corruption will continue no matter which political party leads the council - it’s too engrained in their culture to change any time soon.

But come on folks, trying to con pensioners in their 80’s - the poorest and most vulnerable in our society - out of warmth for their homes in the winter just so they can make themselves look good and get re-elected has to be a step too far.

This is a seriously new low - even for Glasgow City Council.

Friday 2 December 2016

Sir Stephen House's Atrocious Legacy

They say history will judge you.

In 2013 the former Scottish Chief Constable Sir Stephen ‘I’ve got an ego as big as a’ House was responsible for a series of raids by police on Edinburgh saunas.

This halfwit and abomination of a man stood on his high horse and, like all jobsworths of his ilk, proclaimed "The law is the law" and ordered his officers to target the saunas.

As far as Stephen House was concerned, these saunas were merely fronts for prostitution and police had turned a blind-eye to their going-ons for far too long in his book.

But what the idiot Stephen House didn't bother to do first was look in to WHY police and prosecutors in Edinburgh had turned a blind-eye to the saunas and their prostitution for so long.

If he had, he would have realised that there had been an alarming rise in HIV and Aids in the city so a policy of turning a blind-eye to prostitution in Edinburgh saunas was actually a conscious and official attempt to try to minimise the impact of HIV and Aids in the city.

It was an essential public health issue.

Saunas were (rightly) deemed to be far better and safer places for the girls to work than being on the street. Saunas were providing workers with condoms and critical health advice so for important public health reasons, they were allowed to operate without interference from police.

Even the local Procurator Fiscal in Edinburgh knew that the local authority, health bodies and officers of Lothian and Borders Police were working closely together to further these vital public health measures. He purposely turned a blind-eye to cases that fell on his desk and refused to prosecute many of them (and rightly so).

However Sir Stephen House and his big one-size-fits-all failed Police Scotland project had NO local knowledge of the critical public health situation in Edinburgh...so he told his officers to go raid the saunas and lock 'em all up. The law is the law and all that etc.

So, not only was Sir Stephen House an idiot, but a dangerous one at that.

Look folks, none of us are comfortable with the subject of prostitution. But let's be grown up about it here. They don't call prostitution 'the oldest profession in the world' for nothing. So whether we like it for not, prostitution is here to stay. The police, the crown office, and the courts have and always will fail to change this sad fact of life and it takes no stretch of the imagination to suspect there's more than a few members of our police, crown office and courts who probably even use these services themselves.

But if police, the Crown office and the courts want to claim that they work in the public interest (as they do), then they need to do what's best for the public here.

And in the interests of public safety and public health, the old Procurator Fiscal in Edinburgh's decision that saving lives and protecting the publics health (plus the safety of the girls who work in this profession) was the right decision.

Sir Stephen House and his politically correct brigade chose, on the other hand, to take the moral high ground at the expense of peoples lives. He was wrong. Plain and simple.

I'm sorry, but the protection of human life exceeds all else in my book.

In a very short space of time, history has already judged Sir Stephen House as the most arrogant, most corrupt and worst Chief Constable this country has ever seen.

The news of how he played around with peoples lives and endangered the health of the public just adds to his atrocious legacy.

Let's hope and pray that the failed project which is Police Scotland can be dissolved some day soon and a proper fit-for-purpose, honest police service put in its place.

And if by some stroke of bad luck our new police service still ends up lumbered with a few left-over cronies and jobsworths from the bad old Sir Stephen House days, at the very least let's make sure we give them a little bit of schooling in the ancient art of common sense.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14763875.Crown__Edinburgh_saunas_policy_was_to___39_minimise_impact_of_prostitution__39_/