Police News

Home Secretary Theresa May will give a keynote speech at the Police Federation conference today. Last year, she was heckled, booed and faced calls to resign.

Mrs May is to unveil proposals to to ensure people who kill police face minimum whole-life jail terms.

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The Government risks making it harder to catch criminals like fugitive Andrew Moran with its stance on Europe, the shadow home secretary expected to say today.

Moran, 31, from Greater Manchester, was arrested in the Spanish resort of Calpe in Alicante on Friday after being on the run for more than four years.

Yvette Cooper will tell the Police Federation annual conference that a proposal to withdraw from the European Arrest Warrant agreement plays into the hands of criminals and ties the hands of police.

Ms Cooper will say Moran, who agreed to return to the UK to face sentencing at a hearing in a Spanish court yesterday, was arrested under the "very warrant the Government wants to rip up" and "abandon".

"The Tory party's hysteria over Europe risks tying themselves in knots. More worryingly it risks playing into the hands of criminals and tying the hands of the police.

"By trying to sound tough on everything with Europe in the title, the Government will end up being soft on crime".

• Politics
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Cleveland Police has agreed to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a solicitor who was falsely imprisoned.

James Watson, a senior partner in the Middlesbrough law firm Watson Woodhouse, was wrongfully arrested in June 2009.

He was taken to Northallerton police station and held in a cell for nearly 30 hours.

No audio tapes were made of the interviews in custody; police blame a mechanical fault for the master and back-up tapes failing to record.

Mr Watson's wife, Rita, and their two sons were held at the family home in Middlesbrough for several hours, while the property was searched.

The law firm's offices were also searched, and boxes of sensitive documents seized.

Cleveland Police began the investigation after a trial involving one of Mr Watson's clients collapsed.

The defence lawyer was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Watson was never charged with any offence, and the investigation into him was eventually dropped.

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Crime continues to fall - recorded crime is down by more than 10% under this Government and the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales shows crime is at its lowest level since records began.

It isthe responsibility of Chief Constables to ensure that community resolutions areused appropriately. Through crime maps and Police and Crime Commissioners, the public now have the means to hold them to account.

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• Police
• Labour

A Freedom of Information request by the Labour party has found an increase in the number of violent crimes being dealt with community resolutions:

• In 2012 community resolutions were used 33,673 times for violent crimes, including 10,160 offences of serious violence involving injury
• In 2012 police used community resolutions 2,225 for offences of domestic violence

• Community resolutions were used nearly 1,000 times in 2012 for hate crimes, 2,000 times for harassment and stalking and 100s of times for offences involving weapons and knives

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• Labour

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said figures on the number of violent crimes dealt with by community resolutions are "extremely serious".

There has been a massive increase in the number of serious and violent crimes dealt with just by community resolution ever since the police cuts started - breaking all the expert guidance and promises from Ministers.

Offenders who admit to serious and violent crimes - including knife crime, domestic violence, and serious assault - are increasingly being let off with no criminal record, no justice, and not even a caution.

That's bad for justice, bad for victims, and goes against all the evidence.

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• Labour

Police forces are dealing with up to 14% of violent crimes against the person through "community resolutions", as police cuts bites and the number of officers falls, Labour party research has found.

Community resolutions, where criminals apologise to victims, are being used to deal with serious offences including domestic violence and knife crime, a Labour Freedom of Information request found.

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The Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into an incident which left 32-year-old Andrew Pimlott with serious burn injuries is now an investigation into the circumstances leading to his death after he died in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, on 23 April.

My condolences go to Andrew’s family and friends for their loss. This must be a very difficult time for them and we have appointed a family liaison manager who is ensuring the family are kept informed.

Our investigators have already carried out a number of actions, including interviewing the two police officers who attended the incident and ensuring relevant evidence has been secured.

A post-mortem was carried out yesterday and further forensic analysis will be carried out. The IPCC had informed the coroner of our investigation and we will share our report in due course.

Our investigation will be looking at what information was known to the officers attending the scene; the officer’s rationale for discharging a Taser on a person known to be doused in flammable liquid; whether the discharge of the Taser caused the fuel to ignite; and we will look at training and policies.

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