Police and crime commissioner Tony Hogg: 'I can halt police cuts ...

The major decline in police officer numbers in Devon and Cornwall ? caused by Government cuts and blamed for a recent rise in crime ? could be halted. Police and crime commissioner Tony Hogg is still weighing up his budget proposals for 2013-14 with no word yet on whether the public will be asked to pay more for policing. But Mr Hogg, who published his police and crime plan yesterday , told the Western Morning News he may be able to maintain the current strength of 3,100.

"What we may be able to do is protect the numbers," Mr Hogg, who was elected in November, said. "If there is one thing people want to know it is that we are doing our damnedest to arrest the decline from 3,500 to 2,810.

"I think (Chief Constable) Shaun Sawyer has got a good idea that he doesn't want to go down to the bottom number. My job, with him, is to protect those numbers and that will be the basis for parts of the plan and the budget decision."

Devon and Cornwall Police has been faced with making budget savings of ?50 million in the four years to 2015 to meet Government cuts.

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Police numbers had been forecast to drop by 700 to a low of 2,810 ? a number last seen in the early 1980s. About 500 police staff were also expected to lose their jobs.

But while hundreds of police officers were being forced to retire, crime in the two counties spiked by 7%.

The pensions regulation, which compulsorily made officers retire after 30 years' service, was suspended last September after greater savings were achieved than had been expected ? a trend which is thought to have continued.

Council tax Band D properties in Devon and Cornwall currently pay ?159.66 a year for policing. Mr Hogg may choose to increase that by up to 2%, above which he would be forced to hold a referendum.

He also has the option of accepting a one-year Government grant to freeze council tax levels although the cash is not built into the baseline.

Meanwhile, the fledgling police and crime panel in Devon and Cornwall has complained of the "very short time scale" available to consider possible tax rises.

The panel, which is made up of local councillors and some independents, met for the first time in Plymouth on Thursday.

It is charged with holding Mr Hogg to account and has the key power to veto decisions, including over the appointment of the chief constable and the level of tax precept set for local policing.

But it has emerged that the panel's chairman, Devon County Councillor Roger Croad, had already written to the Home Office to complain about the lack of time it would have to examine budget proposals.

"The timetable leaves a minimum of just one week between notification by the police and crime commissioner of the proposed precept, and the deadline for the panel to respond," his letter said.

"The same period applies to the arrangements for a revised precept following any veto.

"This very short timescale appears to be arranged to allow maximum time for the commissioner, at the expense of the panel's time to respond, and does nothing to promote effective democratic oversight and scrutiny of the issue."

In his reply, Police Minister Damian Green conceded that the February 1 deadline for PCCs to announce their council tax plans was "challenging" but that he was "confident" it would be achieved.

Mr Green also said he would "give consideration" to how the process had worked and whether it should be revised in future.

The committee agreed that it would meet on February 8 to discuss the appointment of Shaun Sawyer as the force's new chief constable.

Mr Hogg's council tax plans will also be debated on that date.

Source: http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Police-crime-commissioner-Tony-Hogg-halt-police/story-17902661-detail/story.html

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Apple is losing its hip...!

A very nice reality check from John Moltz's Very Nice Web Site:

Victor Keegan, writing for the Guardian, thinks all the cool has gone out of the iPhone and that smartphones from other vendors have already overtaken it:

The punchline is sublime. Go read it.

Source: Very Nice Web Site

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Q4KK0ZE789U/story01.htm

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Lode Runner Classic de retour sur iPhone/iPad et Android

[Pockett.net] - Lode Runner est un jeu de plates-formes d?velopp? par Douglas E. Smith et ?dit? par Broderbund en 1983. Il a vu le jour sur Apple II, Commodore 64 et Vic-20, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX, etc. Pour f?ter ses 30 ans, Tozai Games lance un remake sur iPhone/iPad et Android sous le nom de Lode Runner Classic.

Graphiquement, le jeu original ne payait pas de mine avec un ?cran ? fond noir, un petit bonhomme qui courrait pour rammaser des objets, quelques briques bleues (qu'on pouvait creuser pour y faire tomber ses poursuivants) et des ?chelles blanches. Une fois les objets rammass?s, il fallait trouver la sortie du niveau, et ainsi de suite.

La pr?sentation ne change pas, mais cette nouvelle version propose les 150 niveaux d'origine avec de nouvelles fonctionnalit?s, selon deux modes (Expedition et Time Attack), la possibilit? de zoomer l'action, d'acc?l?rer ou de ralentir l'action. Au niveau des r?glages, on pourra ?galement changer les couleurs (pas toujours pour le meilleur...). Enfin, les joueurs compareront leurs scores sur Facebook.

Lode Runner Classic co?te 2,99 dollars. Notons que le jeu est disponible depuis juillet dernier sur Windows Phone 7.

---

Partager sur ??
Voir la discussion sur le forum

Post? par P. ? 09:39 le 18/01/2013

Source: http://www.pockett.net/news.php?id=15880

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New Taser plan to equip all London police response teams despite misuse and human rights concerns

? Press TV

The London Metropolitan police are splashing out ?800,000 a year to arm officers with the hugely controversial Taser stun guns amid mounting worries over their use and breach of human rights.

The London mayor's office has revealed that they are allocating an annual ?817,864 to equip the police with more than 6,500 Taser guns so that all police response teams in the capital are armed with the weapons.

The revelations made after a question by Jenny Jones, Green Party London assembly member, from the mayor's office for policing and crime, follow several cases of Tasers' misuse by officers including on totally innocent people.

"Last October police in Lancashire Tasered a 61-year-old blind man after mistaking his white stick for a samurai sword," Jones said.

A few weeks earlier, James McCarthy, a 22-year-old man from Liverpool, was left critically ill in hospital following a disturbance at Albert Dock after a night out with friends.

The incident came after Flying Squad officers also used a Taser on a 17-year-old boy by in Turnpike Lane in September.

The user of Tasers into everyday weapons for unarmed British police officers has been a pet project of the current Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe.

The police are now planning to increase the total number of officers using Tasers from 12,000 to 36,000 across England and Wales.

This comes as activists including lawyers have launched their own efforts to pressure officials into limiting the use of Tasers.

Sophie Khan, a solicitor-advocate who is the director of the first legal action group in England and Wales helping people take action against the police, has announced her organization named Police Action Centre (PAC) is investigating the user of Tasers by British police since they were first issued to non-firearms officers in 2008.

Khan has so far revealed embarrassing Taser uses, which are left unreported, including a case in which the police hit a mentally ill man on a roof with a Taser and the muscle spasms led to him falling off the roof as well as a case in Birmingham where a disabled man was Tasered after police demanded him to leave his mobility vehicle that he couldn't.

"Their use is too wide and too loose. There needs to be more control and restraint; training needs to be looked at, otherwise we are in a situation where police are breaching article 3 of the Human Rights Act and the state is responsible for such breaches," Khan said.

Latest figures show police force in England and Wales have used their Taser guns more than 1,500 times in the year to March 211.

Source: http://www.sott.net/article/256542-New-Taser-plan-to-equip-all-London-police-response-teams-despite-misuse-and-human-rights-concerns

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House GOP may seek short-term debt limit extension

FILE - This Nov. 28, 2012 file photo shows House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. walking on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Republicans say they may seek a short-term extension of the government's debt limit in the next few weeks, a move that would avoid an immediate default by the Treasury. Ryan provided no details on the duration of any extension or conditions that might be attached as he appeared at a news conference during a break at a three-day retreat of the rank and file in historic Williamsburg, Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - This Nov. 28, 2012 file photo shows House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. walking on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Republicans say they may seek a short-term extension of the government's debt limit in the next few weeks, a move that would avoid an immediate default by the Treasury. Ryan provided no details on the duration of any extension or conditions that might be attached as he appeared at a news conference during a break at a three-day retreat of the rank and file in historic Williamsburg, Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) ? House Republicans may seek a quick, short-term extension of the government's debt limit, a move that would avoid an immediate default by the Treasury as the party seeks to maximize leverage in negotiations over spending cuts with President Barack Obama this spring, officials said Thursday.

"All options are on the table as far as we're concerned," Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said at a news conference during a three-day retreat of the rank and file. He said private discussions focused on how best to "achieve progress on controlling our deficits and controlling our debt."

Ryan declined to say how long an extension of the government's borrowing authority is under consideration, or what conditions might be attached. Obama has said repeatedly that he favors additional deficit savings yet he will not negotiate spending cuts as part of an agreement to raise the current $16.4 trillion debt limit. Some Republicans have suggested they may seek unspecified reforms rather than reductions, perhaps trying to force the Democratic-controlled Senate to approve a budget.

The debt limit is one of three deadlines that Congress and the administration will confront this spring. Across-the-board spending cuts begin in early March, and the government runs out of funding for many agencies and services on March 27. By contrast, there is no fixed date for raising the debt limit, since the Treasury has not yet notified Congress when it will exhaust all other measures to stay current with its bills.

Republicans gathered for their retreat at a secluded golf resort a two-hour-plus drive from the Capitol after an awkward beginning to the new Congress.

On Jan. 3, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio drew dissenting votes from nine fellow Republicans in winning a new term as speaker, while one voted present and two abstained. Two days earlier, he had infuriated Republicans as well as Democrats from New York and New Jersey by postponing a vote on emergency relief aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Last Friday, the party's rank and file overwhelmingly opposed the aid bill when it came to a vote, unhappy that it did not provide for cuts elsewhere in the budget and as a result added to deficits. The $50 billion measure cleared on the strength of Democratic support, a highly unusual event given that Republicans control the House.

At his news conference Thursday, Ryan sidestepped when asked which would inflict the most harm on the economy ? implementation of across-the-board cuts, a partial government shutdown or a default.

"The worst thing for the economy is for this Congress and this administration to do nothing to get our debt and deficits under control," said the party's 2012 vice presidential candidate, back in Congress now as House Budget Committee chairman. "We think the worst thing for the economy is to move past these events that are occurring without any progress."

Passage of a shorter-term increase in the debt limit would essentially shuffle the order of the looming deadlines. Rather than flirt with a first-ever default to get their way on spending cuts ? a strategy unlikely to win favor on Wall Street ? Republicans might threaten a partial government shutdown or allow across-the-board cuts to remain in effect.

Neither is without potential political fallout.

In particular, Republicans paid a heavy political price for a pair of government shutdowns in the 1990s. Yet the economic impact of a brief interruption in some federal services appears far less daunting than the risk of an unprecedented default that could destabilize financial markets at a time the economy is remains short of full strength after the worst recession in decades.

One Republican, Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana, told reporters there had been several proposals in the private discussions to advance the Republican goal of cutting spending while renewing the government's borrowing authority.

Among them is a requirement for approval of a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, a condition the Democratic-controlled Senate would almost certainly reject, or perhaps a watered-down requirement for a mere vote on an amendment.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-17-US-House-GOP/id-e070310d50d843cca537d399a82ab2cf

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NBA Trade Rumors 2013: Leandro Barbosa has reportedly asked the Boston Celtics to trade or release him

Leandro Barbosa has asked Celtics GM Danny Ainge to either release or trade him, according to ESPN Brazil. You can follow the link for the whole interview but here?s the most relevant part (admittedly?butchered by Google Translate but you get the gist):

?I will not lie to you, I tried to get out several times, but Danny Ainge (general manager of the franchise) does not want to let me go.?He?s a guy that comes admiring my basketball for many years.?I was supposed to have got a good contract with the Boston Celtics, but did not.?He will not let me go so no, ?said the Brazilian.

I?m not sure what Barbosa expected when he signed with the Celtics, who were already very deep at guard. As the fourth shooting guard on the Celtics, minutes were going to be hard for Barbosa to come by after Bradley?s return, and since so many of these guards are undersized its hard for Doc to utilize them in three-guard lineups. While Doc admitted that he should have given Barbosa more run in last night?s game to spark the offense, his minutes will be sporadic at best in such a crowded backcourt.

From what I could gather from the article, it sounds like some Brazilian professional teams are courting Barbosa. I can?t fault him for wanting to potentially play closer to home, especially given the probability of increased playtime and salary. It?s worth noting that Barbosa can?t be traded until the 18th (tomorrow), so it?s possible Danny might want to explore his market value before he considers giving him his outright release.

Tom will have a piece coming up later in the day on why the Celtics should consider hanging onto Barbosa instead.

Update: Both Leandro Barbosa and Danny Ainge?have denied this report.

Follow Jordan on Twitter:?@OffensiveG

Related posts:

1. What to expect from Leandro Barbosa: Scoring, but hopefully not many pick-and-rolls
2. Leandro Barbosa providing a spark off the bench
3. Video: Leandro Barbosa meets with the media as a Boston Celtic
4. Leandro Barbosa not worried about playing time, which is good since he might not get much
5. Rajon Rondo trade rumors: Boston Celtics reportedly ?listening to offers,? not dumping Rondo

Source: http://www.celticstown.com/2013/01/17/nba-trade-rumors-2013-leandro-barbosa-has-reportedly-asked-the-boston-celtics-to-trade-or-release-him/

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Video: Invasive species discovered in Washington state

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50500689/

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