PJC Journal – Original » 2009

Mar

30

Westminster told to switch CCTV cameras off night before marches

IanPJ Main Page 2 comments

An entire network of central London's wireless CCTV cameras will have to be turned off because of a legal ruling”. Hmmm.

The Guardian tells us:

The Department for Transport (DfT) has ruled that Westminster council's
mobile road cameras – a third of the authority's CCTV network – “do not
fully meet the resolution standards required” and must be switched off
by midnight tomorrow.

The night before the planned demonstrations across London??

The council only discovered last week that images from its newly
installed £15m traffic cameras do not meet the quality required under
the Traffic Management Act, which comes into force on 1 April.

While they are primarily for traffic enforcement, according to the
council the cameras are “an essential additional tool” to tackle crime
and disorder, 60 cameras use the latest digital technology and transmit images using Wi-Fi, have been fixed to strategic locations across the
capital ahead of the summit.

The 24-hour live footage from the
cameras, which monitor roads around the West End, Belgravia, Trafalgar
Square, Knightsbridge, Oxford Street and London's main bridges, is also
accessible to police and the intelligence services.

This decision certainly triggers a few questions in my mind. Is there an internal battle for control going on behind the scenes? or this just some lifeless pen pusher deciding to enforce the rules? Just who made this insane decision? Why not just advise the council they cannot use the cameras in legal cases if they are only supposed to be for traffic management?.

I certainly hope that it was just the pen pusher being ever so efficient, but how very convenient that events will not be able to be monitored or filmed…because,

The Guardian report also tells us:

Security officials believe a shutdown of the mobile road cameras could
hamper the G20 security operation, which will require police to secure
the safe passage of dozens of motorcades carrying delegations VIP
diplomats and leaders.

This entire scenario and its timing is eerily reminiscent of an episode of 'Spooks' (series 5, episodes 1&2) where rival forces
within government/civil service/security services were wresting for
control. An assassination had been planned during stage managed
marches in the centre of London, designed to cause rioting, to be
immediately followed by a crack down and take over of government to restore order.
(The Spooks team foiled it like all good heroes do, although I
often wondered whether that series was trying to send us all a message).

But that couldn't happen in real life could it, Doesn't bear thinking about does it…..

Oh, and feel free to call me paranoid – next Saturday after it is all over.

Has the public limit to the cost of driving been reached?

IanPJ Main Page 3 comments

Police are seizing more than 460 uninsured vehicles a day, figures
released today by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and
the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) reveal.

In 2008, police seized
more than 170,000 uninsured vehicles, more than a two-fold increase on
the 78,000 uninsured vehicles seized in 2006, the first full year of
the scheme.

Those are huge numbers, and whilst I cannot condone anyone driving a vehicle whilst it is not insured (I for one would like to know that if my vehicle is hit by another, it is covered by insurance), it is a clear indication that as Government policies force us all to continue to pay, pay, pay, in many cases for government services that we have already paid taxes for, then more people will be willing to take the risk to avoid making those payments.

For the hapless driver however, payments seems to be never ending, insurance only being one part of putting and keeping a car on the road.

There is VED, and ever increasing burden,
Insurance, in my view one of the only legitimate requirements.
MOT, charges for this have recently been increased.
Petrol, overpriced still even though the international costs have slumped
Petrol, government adds fuel duty
Petrol, government charge VAT on both the fuel and the fuel duty.
Bridge Tolls, becoming more expensive in some areas, except Scotland.
Congestion Charging, already in place in London, government want new areas to adopt this charge.
Road Charging, by hook or by crook they will introduce it, the EU has mandated this.
Parking, an expensive part of owning a vehicle, either with private parking, or local authority parking permits.
Speed Cameras, all too often placed in the most revenue enhancing locations, with unrepresentative speed limits.
Mobile Speed Camera Vehicles, mainly operated by private companies, what can only be described as an outsourced racket, with legislative protection.
Traffic Wardens, too many private companies working on commission based targets, with legislative protection for the most minor infringements using FPN's of some absolutely ridiculous rules, including some councils providing parking bays too small for vehicles to fit into.
Workspace Parking charge, being considered by government as the next revenue raising exercise.
50mph National Speed Limit, this is currently being discussed to reduce the national speed limit currently at 60mph down to 50mph. All to be policed by SPECS3 average speed cameras with penalties by private companies with legislative protection.(blue post or green post roadside cameras).

All that before you even consider the ongoing maintenance costs for the regulated components of the vehicle such as tyres, lights, brakes etc. as well as just keeping the vehicle in a clean and mechanically safe condition.

Of course there will always be those who just can't be bothered to insure their vehicles or would want an unregistered or uninsured vehicle for real criminal reasons, but I suspect that the number of genuine criminals is much smaller than either the Government or ACPO are willing to admit.

The ACPO seem quite happy with their new technology, provided at
taxpayers expense, to catch more 'criminals', without giving any
appreciation that it is government and its policies that initially
cause the underlying problems which create many of those 'criminals'.

It is therefore small wonder that some will be willing to take the risks to avoid paying, and although the increase in technology which ACPO are very pleased they have to hand catches increasing numbers of motorists, I cannot wonder how long this squeezing can go on, before a total breakdown of cooperation between public and police becomes apparent.

There is a limit to what people can pay, indeed what people are willing to continue to pay, and these latest figures go some way to show, that for many, this limit has already been reached.

Just who is planning the violence in London next week? update

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When Police Commanders are reported to have said of the over hyped expected violence at the G20 marches that they are 'up for it', I seriously begin to wonder whether our prediction that the Government, and the Police, are actually looking to provoke the expected clashes.

An article in the Guardian Friday evening tells us:

Yesterday, the Metropolitan police was understood to have contacted a number of protest
groups warning that the main day of protest, Wednesday, 1 April would
be “very violent”, and senior commanders have insisted that they are
“up for it, and up to it”, should there be any trouble.

Is this what you would call responsible policing?

Andrew Dismore MP, who chairs the joint common human rights, said police language in recent days had been “not very helpful”.

“The
police have a duty under the Human Rights Act to facilitate protest and
not frustrate it. If they act in a confrontational way and use
confrontation language, they will start to provoke the kind of
behaviour they are seeking to prevent. There may well be a fringe
element that want to incite violence. But that doesn't mean police
should criminalise every protester.”

The Met police has refused to rule out the use of anti-terror legislation, and if the Guardian reports are correct, attempts by various groups to contact Senior Police figures to arrange liaison have gone unanswered and been ignored.

This blog has warned previously that the Government and Police were looking for this fight, and that the full weight of the plethora of legislation available to them will be brought to bear.

I do not believe that any Government enacts legislation unless they have an intention to use it at some stage, and it has always been my view that the intended targets for these laws are the ordinary people of Britain.

Armed with this latest knowledge, I would advise extreme caution and suggest that we heed the previous words of warning from Leg-Iron.

If we don't riot, Labour are likely to be obliterated in a general election.
If we do riot, there won't be one.

This Government is looking for a fight. Don't give it to them.

This
trend needs to be discussed at the highest levels, the very idea that
the Government is plotting against its own people is repugnant in the
extreme.

Expect to see more than the average of hyped up high profile media coverage of 'terror alerts', mass evacuations of airports, railway stations and the like. Stories that have lots of hype value, but when analysed have very little substance.
Ahead of the G20 there will be a show of force, to be seen to be 'doing something'.

I neither condemn nor condone these marches, I only wish that they remain peaceful, but will support and defend the right to hold them.

Planned Marches

Saturday March 28th

Put People First march to Hyde Park
11am on Victoria Embankment by Temple tube station

The march will start on Victoria Embankment and move past Trafalgar
Square and Green Park to Hyde Park, where there will be a mass rally.
More details of the assembly point here.

UPDATE Sunday March 29th. (borrowed from Snowolf)

Amazing scenes in news rooms up and down the country today as editors
wandered around with shell-shocked looks on their faces, as reporters
emailed in copy and beamed in TV reports that showed today's
demonstrations in London which spectacularly failed to 'kick-off'.

Brown
must be crapping himself, if it doesn't kick off during the G20
meeting, or at any point between now and May next year, he'll have to
go the polls, and won't be able to postpone it with the Civil
Contingencies Act.

Somewhere there's a shabbily dressed,
one-eyed Scot with a quivering arsehole. Why can't the proles be
trusted to rise up when provoked? Perhaps it was because the weather
was so shitty today. .

Wednesday 1st April

Four separate carnival parades.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will lead themed processions starting at 11 a.m. from the following rail stations:

Moorgate
Red horse against War;
Liverpool St
Green horse against Climate chaos
London Bridge
Silver horse against Financial crimes
Cannon Street
Black horse against land enclosures and borders in honour of the 360th full circle anniversary of the Diggers

At 12 noon, the four marches will converge on the City, ending up outside the Bank of England. Click here for one of the many posters sent to this website.

2 pm in Grosvenor Square

Stop the War Coalition & CND Rally outside US Embassy.

Thursday 2nd April

Early a.m. Four Horsemen Carnival protesters are planning to bang on the G20
hotel doors, at the Excel Centre, Canning town to deliver their message of
a world beyond capitalism.

Stop the War Coalition & CND march to Canning Town, Excel Centre (no details of meeting point or time).

If I have missed any activities, please email me and I shall update this posting.

And keep an eye out for this man, Inspector Chris
Dreyfus. He was identified by Yasmin
Whittaker-Khan and George Galloway as an 'agent provocateur' during the demonstration against George W Bush
on Sunday 15 June 08 in Parliament Square/Whitehall.

This agent of deception, Dreyfus, was also in charge of the Transport police at the 7/7/05 bombings. Watch out who is standing next to you, or for a lesson from history here

Carefully managed, there will also be the possibility of 'outages' of CCTV cameras in selected locations, which would be very convenient if you were to be planning the kind of violence suggested above.
“The entire network of central London's wireless CCTV cameras will have to be turned off because of a legal ruling”. Hmmm.

Just who is planning the violence in London next week? update