Author Archives: markdowe1

Government, Scotland, Society

Police stations in Scotland face threat of closure to save £190m…

POLICE BUDGET CUTS

POLICE station offices across Scotland face closure or reduced opening hours following a major national review.

Victims of crime may have to report to police officers in libraries or housing association offices if a cost-cutting strategy by Police Scotland is agreed.

Some police in rural areas already speak to members of the public in the officers’ own homes because of a lack of police buildings.

Police Scotland needs to cut its budget by £190 million over the next two years as a result of the unification of regional forces which took place on April 1.

The single national force is reviewing its office buildings ‘in light of the challenging budget’, according to a letter sent by Police Scotland to politicians.

Consideration will now be given to cutting the force’s costs by sharing space with councils, housing associations and other public agencies.

Police Scotland is also assessing the traffic warden service, which could see parking enforcement transferred to the control of councils. This would allow local authorities to keep parking fines which at present are transferred to the UK Treasury.

Lib Dem justice spokesman, Alison McInnes, responding to the police review, said:

… In many communities the local (police) station is the most visible police presence and the easiest way for people to access justice.

… For people in rural areas in particular the prospect of reduced opening hours of public counters will be a real concern. Coming so soon after the SNP’s court closures this would come as another blow to locally delivered justice in Scotland.

South of the Border, Scotland Yard has plans to move its officers into post offices and supermarkets as part of a £500 million budget cutting programme.

Police Scotland already has officers in civic centres and other community buildings, such as Drumbrae Library in Edinburgh, where a safer neighbourhood team is based. Others could be moved into libraries and housing associations to make officers more visible and accessible.

Police Scotland’s letter to MPs, MSPs and councillors states:

… Recent experience has shown there is a decrease in the volume of visitors who actually attend at public counters at police stations.

… Taken in the context of an increasingly challenging financial climate and the need to make best use of all our staff, it is now prudent to examine this aspect of service delivery to the public.

Police Scotland has guaranteed a consultation to give the public a say when the review is published.

Taken together, the review of the 230 police front counters (with some facing closure) along with a review of the traffic warden service, are expected to be the first in a huge overhaul of the police force in Scotland.

Police Scotland is reviewing its policing operations across the service to deliver efficiencies. By doing so it aims to have the right structures in place to deliver local priorities. It is understood that any significant changes will be subject to local engagement.

The letter from Police Scotland concludes:

… Policing continues to face unprecedented financial challenges, with a requirement to find savings and provide best value for public services.

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Arts, Britain, Culture, Government, Media

Plans for a tough new Press watchdog following the Leveson Inquiry…

PRESS STANDARDS

Following the Leveson Inquiry into press and media standards, Britain’s newspaper and magazine publishers have revealed the details of a tough new Press watchdog.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) will have the power to impose fines of up to £1 million for systemic wrongdoing and require editors to publish upfront corrections ‘whether proprietors like it or not’.

The Media and Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, has said she is ‘glad’ that progress is being made following months in which talks on Press regulation have stalled.

The watchdog will have far tougher rules than the previous toothless Press regulator, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC). It is understood that Ipso will incorporate a standards and compliance arm, with strict investigative powers to call editors to account. The majority of members of the new body will be independent and the industry itself will have no veto on appointments, but proper processes for public appointments and scrutiny will be in place.

Report: The Leveson Inquiry highlighted ethical failings in the press

Report: The Leveson Inquiry highlighted ethical failings in the press

The public will be able to call a hotline number if they want to ask media organisations to leave them alone. And a whistleblowers’ hotline will also be set up for journalists if they are asked to do anything they believe is unethical.

The details were released ahead of a meeting today of the Privy Council at which a Royal Charter to govern the rules surrounding Press regulation will be discussed.

Newspaper publishers appear to hold a common consensus in that the Independent Press Standards Organisation will be a ‘complete break with the past’ and will deliver all the ‘key recommendations’ made by Lord Justice Leveson.

The Culture Secretary said:

… We have been urging the newspaper industry for several months to set up a new self-regulator, and are glad that they seem to now be making progress.

… We all want to see the principles of the Leveson report implemented and the self-regulatory body is a key component of that.

Most in government will welcome that the Press are forging ahead with the establishment of a new regulator. Ipso will go a long way to remedying the deficiencies of the PCC and in fulfilling the recommendations of Lord Justice Leveson.

Though it may take several months for the new body to be operating, the proposals offer a route map out of the deadlock eight months after Leveson reported. That deadlock is mostly attributable to the lobby group Hacked Off which has tried to stitch up a deal for political control of newspapers.

A watchdog with teeth is needed. The public have a right to expect a resolution to this matter sooner rather than later.

PROPOSALS

  • Maximum fines of £1 million for systemic wrongdoing by the Press
  • Upfront corrections when stories are wrong
  • A phone hotline for the public to complain about harassment by the Press
  • A whistleblowers’ hotline for journalists who are concerned they are being asked by bosses to do something unethical
  • A standards and compliance arm, with investigative powers to call editors to account
  • The Press have no veto over appointments to the new regulator
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Egypt, Foreign Affairs, Government, Middle East, United States

Egypt is on the brink of sliding into civil war, but the U.S. is best placed to help…

TENSIONS RISING IN CAIRO

There is a grave prospect that Egypt will descend into a bloody civil war and insurrection following the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi. The situation in Egypt is fast moving but another significant step has occurred with the military being accused of killing 51 protestors on Sunday. The fatalities include women and children, as well as hundreds of others injured.

The army said it opened fire after a group it described as ‘terrorists’ tried to storm a barracks on the outskirts of Cairo, where the deposed Egyptian president is believed to be detained under house arrest in the Officers Mess.

Television footage beamed across the world did identify a number of hooded men in the crowd brandishing weapons and firearms, but the large number of fatalities and wounded casualties will inevitably lead to an increase in tensions in a country that is now on the brink of collapse.

‘Egypt on the edge’: Egyptian military soldiers stand guard atop armoured personnel carriers near Cairo University, where supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi have installed their camp in Giza, southwest of Cairo. [Photo-credit Manu Brabo]

‘Egypt on the edge’: Egyptian military soldiers stand guard atop armoured personnel carriers near Cairo University, where supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi have installed their camp in Giza, southwest of Cairo. [Photo-credit Manu Brabo]

To add to the already simmering tensions the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood has called for a ‘public uprising’ to protest against last week’s military takeover. The Brotherhood is urging Egyptians to revolt against ‘those trying to steal their revolution with tanks’. Supporters of the intervention, however, claim it was necessary to prevent Mr Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political organisation, from mounting an Islamist takeover of the country by stealth.

If Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, is to be spared the catastrophe of succumbing to a Syria-style civil war, urgent action will be required. Britain has called for ‘calm and restraint’, but the country best-placed to help is the United States. It donates at least $1.5 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Cairo each year.

Washington was supportive of Egypt’s first democratically elected government and has, understandably, been dismayed by the military’s conduct. The Obama administration, though, must now overcome its reservations and provide the support to the interim administration of Adly Mansour. Mr Mansour has the difficult task of not only changing the constitution and mandating for new elections, but for steering Egypt back to the path of democracy.

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