New paedophile rules threaten Scout Jamborees in the UK.

News 11 10 2009: New rules threaten Scout Jamborees in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />UK. Organising criminal record and other checks on thousands of foreign Scout leaders entering the UK was "just not possible", a spokesman said. Volunteers who fail to register face the prospect of criminal prosecution and a fine of up to £5,000.

Issues:-

(1) Bichard inquiry - Report states there should be a CLEAR CODE of PRACTICE on record-keeping by ALL Police Authorities.

(2) POLICE MERGER - follows a report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate (HMI) of Constabulary - 25 11 2005 Debate scrapped; 03 03 2006 HO Clarke – Its going to happen; 19 06 2006 HO Reid – delays; 12 07 2006 HO McNulty – NO merger.

(3) Police forces under pressure to increase performance in filling prisons by hitting targets while being given more paperwork to complete.

(4) Key Central registration/vetting agencies come into existence.

It certainly does appear that HMI desires one thing while the Police Regional Authorities prefers to remain as they are but what of ordinary taxpayers caught-up in the battling over “standards”. Is it sensible that innocent people register in being prospective problems or simply the problems themselves onto central registers in payment of a fee to support an army of data inputters. Of course such central databases do overcome a need to align misalignment on standards yet while restoring confidence from past failure they also provide a new symptom – that the “onus” is now upon YOU to ask for information on people that you come into contact with. Back in February 2008 the Home Office announced that single mothers vet potential boyfriends before starting a relationship and/or family members and neigbours whom look after their children and in March 2009 it was stated that where information be given it’s to remain confidential else the “enquirer” face civil or criminal proceedings against THEM!. Sadly though what defence will any parent now have in a UK Court of Law against anyone whom is found to have abused their child(ren) if “they” haven’t personally checked-out the character of that person prior - whether it be a Politician, Policeman/woman, Doctor, Nurse, teacher, etc etc!. No blame can now be apportioned to Policing unless their information be wrong which makes you entirely responsible for Policing as to yourself!.

 

OLD News

00 06 2004 Soham Murders - Bichard inquiry Published. Report severely criticised the Chief Constable of Humberside Police for ordering the destruction of criminal records of child abusers / Mr Blunkett (HO) suspended Westwood but lifted it in him retiring a year early.

The Cambridgeshire Police was criticised in failing to contact Humberside Police while the Chief Constable couldn’t be bothered to cut short a holiday after the investigation had become the largest in the force's history!. Two Cambridgeshire Police officers involved with the families were already being investigated a month before Huntley’s crime in which one pleaded guilty to child pornography offences while the other, although cleared of charges of indecent assault and child pornography offences through poor evidence, was later convicted of a charge of perverting the course of justice after it was proved that he had given a false alibi to clear himself of the charges, and he was given an eight month sentence.From the Bichard inquiry Report it stated that there should be a CLEAR CODE of PRACTICE on record-keeping by ALL Police Authorities.

25 11 2005 POLICE MERGER - Geoff Hoon (Commons Leader) scraps debate. Proposals to cut the number of Police Forces in England and Wales from 43 to possibly NINE have sparked furious opposition. The Police re-organisation, thought to be the biggest such restructuring for 30 years, follows a report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularywhich said that forces with fewer than 4,000 Officers were not equipped to fight sophisticated modern Crime.

03 03 2006 POLICE MERGER - HO Charles Clarke- plans are to go ahead. Mr Clarke said he hoped to amalgamate forces in Wales, the North East, North West and West Midlands by April next year. The plans came after a report from the Inspectorate of Constabulary concluded larger forces would be better able to deal with terrorism and serious crime. The Association of Police Authorities has accused ministers of trying to "bribe" forces into submission by offering extra cash to those who submit merger plans quickly.

13 03 2006 POLICE MERGER - Tories back Labour to fight police merger Plaid Cymru today condemned a Labour Minister's request for a 12 month delay to the merger of police forces in Wales as 'a desperate attempt to save face.'

19 06 2006 POLICE MERGER - Reid delays controversial police merger plans. Shortly after taking over as Home Secretary last month, Mr Reid told the Association of Chief Police Officers that he hoped to have started the mergers by the July 25 recess. Began after a report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary which said the current set-up was unable to deal with the demands of 21st-century policing. The mergers could lead to the current 43 forces being cut to 17.

12 07 2006 POLICE MERGER - HO Minister Tony McNulty– NO MERGER!. Lionel Barnard, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection said "We consistently opposed the proposal because it has always been our view that enforced and unnecessary mergers were not the way to deal with top level policing.”.

27 06 2007 Blair resigns as prime minister.

17 02 2008 Home Office – Police to sanction relationships in case paedophile. It will allow single mothers to ask police whether potential boyfriends have child sex convictions before they start a relationship. And family members or neighbours who regularly look after children could also be checked.  18 02 2008 Parents get paedophile check powers. Home Office Smith told BBC1's The Politics Show: "If there were any sex offences recorded against the individual in whom they are declaring an interest, there would be a presumption that they would be disclosed to that person.

21 04 2008 Unit arrests dozens of paedophiles. Almost 300 child sex offenders have been arrested in the last 12 months by officers from a dedicated unit. Results published by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection(CEOP) Centre show 297 offenders have been arrested and 131 children protected from further abuse.

23 07 2008 Apology over to pool photo pensioners.A female Southampton City Council worker ordered Betty Robinson (82) and Brenda Bennett (69) to stop taking pictures of a parks deserted paddling pool over fears about child protection!. Mrs Robinson said: "It's pathetic, bureaucracy gone mad."

15 09 2008 Paedophiles' details made available. Parents in some areas will be able to ask police if anyone with access to their child is a convicted paedophile. Under the new scheme any parent sharing the information given to them could face civil or criminal penalties.

06 11 2008 Jean Charles de Menezes's - Blair 'aware of IPCC block'. Tony Blair was well aware that police were preventing the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) from entering Stockwell Tube station after Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by armed police. Dr Kenneth Shorrock (post-mortem examinationer) told how he was wrongly informed that the Brazilian "vaulted" over a ticket barrier before he was shot dead. On Tuesday a jury heard how the train driver fled into a tunnel as police shot dead the Brazilian because he believed firearms officers were terrorist "fanatics".

10 02 2009 Schools highlight internet dangers. Events are taking place across Europe to highlight the potential dangers young people face while exploring online. Meanwhile, more than 100 trained volunteers from three international companies were visiting primary and secondary schools to speak to pupils about internet safety. Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) is the UK's dedicated police organisation focused on tackling the sexual exploitation of children, particularly online.

16 03 2009 Child sex offenders - parents can check with police. A pilot scheme allowing parents to check with police if someone close to their children has a history of child sex offending is being expanded.  Where information is given, parents and carers are asked to keep it confidential, and could face civil or criminal action if they do not.

20 03 2009 Anti-paedophile moves hit by further delays. Parts of the Vetting and Barring Scheme, due to come into force last October, will now begin more than two years late, in November 2010. The Home Office said it wantedto ensure the IT system was "fully tested". It emerged after school caretaker Ian Huntley killed 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman that police knew he had earlier been accused of rape and indecent assault. It is estimated that 11.3 million people in England could be required to register with the body.

17 07 2009 Police admit abuse 'negligence'. The Cardiff family of a three-year-old girl assaulted by a paedophile say police have apologised and stopped opposing a civil claim for negligence after the paedophile on early release snatched her from their home!. A series of errors by South Wales Police meant XXXX was only caught several hours later in January 2006 by another police force. They said, an "incredible series of errors by South Wales Police" meant XXXX was only arrested three hours later when Wiltshire Police traffic officers saw a car with no lights on drive through red lights. They launched a civil action against the force for negligence and failing to protect her daughter from inhuman and degrading treatment. "South Wales police should have backed down as soon as we started the claim so that we did not have to go through the court process. "It is very difficult to forgive given the callous way in which we as a family were treated.

11 09 2009 Volunteer parents face record check. Parents who regularly ferry groups of children on behalf of sports or social clubs such as the Cub Scouts will have to undergo criminal record checks - or face fines of up to £5,000, it has been disclosed. Registering / Vetting by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). All 300,000 school governors, as well as every doctor, nurse, teacher, dentist and prison officer will also have to register because they come into contact with children or "vulnerable" adults at work. Around two hundred case workers based at the ISA in Darlington will collect information passed to them by the police, professional bodies and employers and rule on who is barred. It will be the biggest of its kind anywhere in the world and involve unprecedented delving into the subject's personal and employment history. All of this results from the Bichard report into the Soham murders – of the failures the Police in One Authority misinterpreted the “Data Protection Act” thus erasing data for access by other Police Authorites.

22 09 2009 Lib Dems tackle Tories over crime. The Tories will be branded "the party of crime" as the Liberal Democrats seek to burnish their own law and order credentials.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne - He will draw on Home Office statistics showing a 81% rise in recorded crime between 1979 and 1997,