Five senior British police officers, with expertise in counter-terrorism, hostage situations and firearms, begin work this week reviewing the actions of NSW Police Force during the deadly Lindt Cafe siege, ahead of the inquest’s final hearings. Continue reading Senior British Police Team To Start Review of Lindt Cafe Siege Response
After weeks of mourning, solemn commemorations and debate, France is finally turning its attention to the alleged shortcomings of its police response on the night of terror in Paris on November 13 when Islamist gunmen killed 130 people and injured several hundred. Continue reading French Police Admit Mistakes In Response To Paris Terror Attacks
Britain’s Counter-Terrorism Command is investigating the stabbing of at least three people at a London Underground train station on Saturday.
Multiple people were attacked at the Leytonstone underground station including one man who suffered serious knife injuries and two others who had minor injuries, police said. Continue reading Counter-Terrorism Command Investigates London Stabbings
This weekend, the world watched in shock as terrible events unfolded in Paris. The terrorist attacks left at least 129 people dead and hundreds more wounded after a shootout in a popular restaurant in the city, multiple explosions near the Stade de France national stadium and a massacre at the Bataclan concert hall. Continue reading Watching News Coverage of Paris Attacks May Take Toll On Viewers
The government’s planned large budget cuts to the police in the UK will make it easier for Islamic State to stage a terrorist attack, Britain’s former head of counter-terrorism has warned.
Former Scotland Yard chief Robert Quick told the Guardian that the supply of intelligence from communities that identifies suspects and stops violent extremists inflicting carnage also risks being choked off.
“It will make Britain more vulnerable to terrorism. It will damage the police’s ability to counter terrorism if neighbourhood policing is cut. It will lead to a loss of intelligence, a loss of confidence and trust,” Quick said.
As Scotland Yard’s Assistant Commissioner, Quick was head of counter-terrorism for the UK from 2008 to 2009.
His comments came as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for cuts to the police budget to be limited to 5%, with police chiefs braced for the Conservatives to inflict cuts of at least 25%.
Since the Paris atrocities police chiefs have intensified their lobbying over the planned cuts, arguing that they would lead to a large loss of community officers, and the intelligence they generate from the public.
Read more in The Guardian.
Australia needs a national database containing the criminal and bail histories of every offender in the country if prosecutors and police are to avoid the type of oversight that allowed the Sydney siege gunman to remain at liberty, the coroner’s court has heard.
In the year leading up to the attack on the Lindt Cafe in December last year, gunman Man Haron Monis was granted bail on a string of serious charges, including accessory to murder and 40 counts of sexual and indecent assault.
The inquest into the siege has heard that on each occasion investigating police and solicitors did not realise that some of the offences Monis had been charged with occurred while he was on bail for sending offensive letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers – a Commonwealth offence.
While counsel representing the families of two siege victims have suggested that police could and should have simply “put two and two together”, the inquest heard on Tuesday that there was a nation-wide problem with the flow of information between law enforcement agencies across state boundaries and between the state and Commonwealth jurisdictions.
Experienced DPP solicitor Larissa Michalko told the court it was “very, very difficult to get that kind of information”.
“In NSW it’s difficult to get interstate criminal histories and difficult to get Commonwealth histories,” she said.
“It’s the same in the ACT, and slightly worse in Victoria. There are differences between histories in different states – often criminal histories don’t include the bail conditions applying to the accused person. A bail report will have that information, but they’re often not admissible [in court].”
Read more in Camden Courier.
A drop of blood found on a piece of cardboard at a crime scene more than 30 years ago gave detectives the vital breakthrough which led to the arrest of alleged Family Court bomber Leonard Warwick on Tuesday.
Coupled with new DNA techniques, the blood found on a fragment of cardboard at the 1985 bombing of a Jehovah’s Witness hall in Casula has allegedly linked the long-time suspect to the spate of four murders and five bombings that terrorised Sydney in the 1980s.
Former fireman Warwick, 68, was arrested at a gym in Campbelltown while teams of specialist police swooped on his home at Douglas Park, where he lives with his new family.
He is due to appear at Campbelltown Local Court this morning where he will face 32 charges including four counts of murder, attempted murder and two counts of damaging buildings with intent to murder.
Read more in The Advertiser.
Source: www.adelaidenow.com.au
Persistence by NSW Police Force detectives leading to an arrest in a 30-year-old case is why anyone involved in murder should never think their case is closed, says Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas.
As Leonard John Warwick was being questioned by detectives at a south-western Sydney police station over a series of attacks he allegedly carried out three decades ago, Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas wanted to send a message.
“If you have been involved [in] … a murder that may be historic, you need to realise the door will never be closed on an investigation,” Mr Kaldas, a former homicide chief, told reporters.
Wednesday’s charging of Mr Warwick, 68, followed three years of intensive detective work by the NSW police’s elite homicide squad led by Detective Superintendent Michael Willing.
Within that squad exists the unsolved homicide unit, guided by Detective Chief Inspector John Lehman, that was established in 2004 to review cold case investigations.
Read more in The Age.
Source: www.theage.com.au
The UK’s most senior counter-terrorism police officer says up to 50 deadly terror attacks have been foiled since the 7 July bombings a decade ago.
On 7 July 2005, 52 people died when four bombs were detonated in London.
The Met’s Assistant Commissioner, Mark Rowley, said the plots had been different, but all could have resulted in fatalities.
He also accused the so-called Islamic State (IS) of trying to create a “wicked” cult.
Mr Rowley said: “Fifty is the order of the number of plots that have been confronted over the past decade.
Read more on BBC News.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Ten years on, to fully comprehend the shock of 7/7 on Britain, the wound it inflicted on the country’s psyche, you’ve got to remember the context.
In July 2005 the G8 summit had just opened in Gleneagles in Scotland, and the British government had promised historic help for struggling African nations – a global call to action against poverty.
Hundreds of thousands joined the Make Poverty History marches. In Hyde Park, the optimism-fest Live 8 concert was beamed (it was claimed) to two billion people around the world.
U2 played Beautiful Day. Coldplay followed, and Gwyneth Paltrow sat with adorable baby Apple in the front row as Chris Martin played Bittersweet Symphony with Richard Ashcroft.
There was Elton John, Bill Gates, Dido, REM, Brad Pitt, Madonna, Sting, The Who, Pink Floyd.
At the end, Paul McCartney led 200,000 people in Hey Jude, taking a sad song and making it better.
To top it all off, London won the right to host the 2012 Olympic games.
An almost dreamlike haze of euphoria swept the city.
And the next day this summer of love was torn apart by hate…
Read the full article in The Age.
Source: www.theage.com.au
