SMARTER THAN SECURITY GUARDS?
We suspected it all along, but now it's official: police intelligence is a contradiction in terms. According to a recent investigation by Punch magazine, approximately 85% of records held on the police national computer contain "significant errors". Adding insult to injury, the investigation found that the police national computer which contains files on 6 million UK citizens, including photographs, DNA samples and finger prints, is not registered under the Data Protection Act. What this means is that police forces across the country are in serious breach of the criminal law they are supposed to enforce. Not only have huge numbers of convictions been secured using false evidence, but also an unknown number of convictions made using records from the police national computer are unsafe. The civil rights organisation Liberty are now planning a series of appeals over cases that have relied upon data from the police national computer. (www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk)

MERSEYSIDE POLICE STILL RACISTS
A recent tribunal awarded damages in favour of a black officer claiming racial discrimination against Merseyside Police. The tribunal also demanded an apology for the officer from Chief Constable Norman Bettison. This case - a major embarassment for the force as they complete their post Stephen Lawrence intiative - comes on the back of publication of the latest figures on race and policing from the Home Office. These figures show that Merseyside Police are continuing to excercise their punitive powers against black people. In Merseyside, the ratio of black people to whites who are stopped and searched by the police is almost 8:1. Last year, the police stopped and searched more than a fifth of the black population on Merseyside. This is the highest stop and search rate for black people in the country. So much for the 'new era' promised by the force after the Lawrence inquiry.
More info:(www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.htm) or www.merseysidepolice.com