Give me two seconds with the Police National Computer and I can tell you who owns most vehicles on the road, barring exceptions where the record has been lost (sometimes accidentally, usually deliberately). Those cars are invariably being driven very quickly away from the scene of a ram raid.
All my cars have been cheap old bangers, as I'd rather spend my money on fun stuff than car loans, so I don't tend to think of cars as being very valuable items and yet tracking their ownership is easy.
The real headache is tracking down stuff I actually consider valuable. This week I've spent what feels like an inordinate amount of time trying to find out who is responsible for: a private road, a piece of rural land, a large derelict building, a dog and two horses. That's plus the small bits of property - bicycles, those electric thingies that old people get around on, lost bags...
I don't own a lot of stuff, but my valuable electrical items are marked, and my dog is microchipped.
Bring on the day that everything - and I do mean everything - wears a numberplate.
Tuesday 20 July 2010
Wednesday 14 July 2010
National press talks rubbish. Again.
My attention was drawn to this story by a friend in London who saw it on the local TV news there.
It is, as I have come to expect from the press in general, a load of absolute bollocks.
I can't comment on exactly how the LAS are using Airwave, but I will claim an expert knowledge of the system itself.
Airwave doesn't work in the rain? Absolute stuff and nonsense. There is anecdote and rumour to suggest all sorts of things - it doesn't work in the rain, sets close to each other cancel each other out, it works best if you lie down... I've heard the lot from our officers and I'm sure Ambulance crews have come up with equal amounts of toss to scare each other with. I'm surprised that the HSE fell for it though.
The handheld terminals are very sturdy and I'd be extremely surprised to hear of a panic button not working. I've known sets to still work after a pretty comprehensive beating, and even a dip in a swimming pool. Anecdotally, the transmit button seems to wear out first - guess what, it's the button that gets used the most. Even if a panic button were to fail, the user should realise that immediately from the way his set reacts and start yelling for help with his normal transmit button - that should get a pretty swift response from a professional control room!
As always, the response you get will depend on the training level of control room staff and other officers. I remember the first time I got an emergency activation, in training. All the awoogas and flashing lights went off and I didn't have a clue what to do, so my tutor immediately took over and got that officer the help he needed.
Apparently on the TV news report there was criticism of the old LAS pre-Airwave radio system because it didn't work in the tunnels during the 07/07 incident. Well, duh... An advantage of Airwave is that it can be made to work in tunnels through a system of repeaters along a cable, given a fairly hefty investment. If the will and the cash are there, it can be done. If not, we're reduced to yelling - no kind of radio signal will ever be made to penetrate solid rock.
Airwave is not perfect. It is also not new. It's tried and tested, and if it's used properly it's a damn sight more effective than the old-fashioned radios. It's not cheap to implement, and staff using it need to be properly trained. It all costs money.
I use the thing for 36 hours every week and I'm highly trained on it. I know what its strengths and weak points are, and how to work around them should it become necessary.
Suggesting that there is a fundamental problem with the system itself is irresponsible and wrong. Shame on you, BBC.
----------
In addition, Reynolds has just posted something about this on his most excellent blog.
It is, as I have come to expect from the press in general, a load of absolute bollocks.
I can't comment on exactly how the LAS are using Airwave, but I will claim an expert knowledge of the system itself.
Airwave doesn't work in the rain? Absolute stuff and nonsense. There is anecdote and rumour to suggest all sorts of things - it doesn't work in the rain, sets close to each other cancel each other out, it works best if you lie down... I've heard the lot from our officers and I'm sure Ambulance crews have come up with equal amounts of toss to scare each other with. I'm surprised that the HSE fell for it though.
The handheld terminals are very sturdy and I'd be extremely surprised to hear of a panic button not working. I've known sets to still work after a pretty comprehensive beating, and even a dip in a swimming pool. Anecdotally, the transmit button seems to wear out first - guess what, it's the button that gets used the most. Even if a panic button were to fail, the user should realise that immediately from the way his set reacts and start yelling for help with his normal transmit button - that should get a pretty swift response from a professional control room!
As always, the response you get will depend on the training level of control room staff and other officers. I remember the first time I got an emergency activation, in training. All the awoogas and flashing lights went off and I didn't have a clue what to do, so my tutor immediately took over and got that officer the help he needed.
Apparently on the TV news report there was criticism of the old LAS pre-Airwave radio system because it didn't work in the tunnels during the 07/07 incident. Well, duh... An advantage of Airwave is that it can be made to work in tunnels through a system of repeaters along a cable, given a fairly hefty investment. If the will and the cash are there, it can be done. If not, we're reduced to yelling - no kind of radio signal will ever be made to penetrate solid rock.
Airwave is not perfect. It is also not new. It's tried and tested, and if it's used properly it's a damn sight more effective than the old-fashioned radios. It's not cheap to implement, and staff using it need to be properly trained. It all costs money.
I use the thing for 36 hours every week and I'm highly trained on it. I know what its strengths and weak points are, and how to work around them should it become necessary.
Suggesting that there is a fundamental problem with the system itself is irresponsible and wrong. Shame on you, BBC.
----------
In addition, Reynolds has just posted something about this on his most excellent blog.
Tuesday 13 July 2010
No more Pledge!
Hurrah! No more Policing Pledge - we now exist only to fight crime.
Or do we?
Does this mean that we stop looking for teenagers who've gone "missing" because their parents can't be bothered to discipline them and look after them properly? Picking up drunks and mad people from the street? Dealing with verbal-only domestics? How about all the welfare checks on confused little old ladies that we do?
Yet another example of a politician spouting out a nice soundbite without actually having any understanding of the situation. Why do I even sound surprised?
Or do we?
Does this mean that we stop looking for teenagers who've gone "missing" because their parents can't be bothered to discipline them and look after them properly? Picking up drunks and mad people from the street? Dealing with verbal-only domestics? How about all the welfare checks on confused little old ladies that we do?
Yet another example of a politician spouting out a nice soundbite without actually having any understanding of the situation. Why do I even sound surprised?
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