Policing

People from Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland, are often typecast by the British media as violent drunks.

The stereotype has truth to it. Or had. Just like Australians, Scotsmen love to drink and punch people. Glasgow’s got one of the highest rates of alcohol-related violence in the world. Someone having their face slashed from the corners of their mouth to their ears is known as the “Glasgow grin”, which says a lot about the industrial city’s problem with knife crime.

And in 2004, the UN found it to be the murder capital of Europe. Not really a title you want your city to have when you’re a top cop with the local police, as Karyn McCluskey was at the time. Ms McCluskey has been key in turning Glasgow’s fortunes around – and as king-hit violence leaves young men clinging to life around Australia every weekend, there’s plenty we can learn from what this city has achieved.

Continue reading "How a city infected by violence took back the streets" »

Welcome to this week’s I Call Bullshit, a regular column that looks at deceit and disingenuousness, spin and fabrication. Now, let’s talk about Tasers.

The latest news on Roberto Laudisio, who died after police tasered him in the back because the unarmed young man was running away and suspected of stealing a packet of bikkies, is that he’d been “partying” and may have been exhibiting signs of paranoia.

Police and Taser spin merchants want to blame ‘excited delirium’ for Taser-related deaths.

Continue reading "ICB: Poor widdle Tasers are just misunderstood" »

There has been a lot of bad press about police use of Tasers (or electronic control devices) by police. The recent death of Roberto Laudisio has brought it back to the headlines and numerous pieces have been written about it.

As a serving police officer I feel it is necessary to clear up a lot of what has been written as they are factually incorrect. I won’t go into this incident in any depth as it is under investigation, but the purpose of this article is to help clear up a lot of misconceptions about the use of the X-26.

Firstly: The Taser was introduced as a replacement for police using their firearms: This is incorrect.

Continue reading "A cop tells: the not-so-shocking truth about Tasers" »

Imagine heading off to Christmas lunch in a few weeks, having a few soft drinks and a big chunk of brandy-soaked Christmas pudding, only to have to get a taxi home because you’re over the drink driving limit.

Sounds a little stupid but that could be the reality considering the new drink-driving discussion points from the Australian Transport Council. And if you’ve been taking cough medicine at the same time then you’re really in trouble.

In the new National Road Safety Strategy it’s suggested that the legal limit for alcohol in drivers be reduced to either 0.02 or even zero. Not that there’s really any difference between the two.

Continue reading "How far is too far when fighting drink driving?" »

One night recently on a suburban Melbourne train, several young teenagers—some reportedly as young as 13 or 14 years of age—terrorised a carriage full of innocent passengers who were returning from a day out at the football.

Purportedly this bunch of pimple-faced brats pelted rocks at the windows of the train and threatened the frightened passengers, including elderly people and young children. 

Meanwhile, on another suburban train, a young woman was smashed over the head with a bottle in an unprovoked attack by a group of hostile teenage girls, resulting in several stitches to her head. What is wrong with these kids?  And why should innocent people have to put up with this?

Continue reading "The law must step in where parents have failed" »

He’s one of our most misunderstood and maligned public figures - and today, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has confirmed he will be quitting the job on September 2, thirty-five years to the day he joined the force.

Keelty was reviled by the Left for his pursuit of exonerated terror suspect Dr Mohammed Haneef, and vilified by the Right for daring to suggest that the 2005 Madrid bombings were the direct result of the then conservative Spanish Government’s commitment to the war in Iraq.

The Madrid episode was a low point for the Howard Government - and was only defused when John Howard, who’s never been great at saying the s-word, invited Keelty to a secret dinner at Kirribilli House where he apologised to his face.

Continue reading "The day John Howard said sorry to Mick Keelty" »