Full-body Armour for Police?

Police consider full-body armour as assaults increase
(or Iraqi style militarised Police for warrant serving?)

10:00AM Monday July 28, 2008 NZH - Police culture

Increasing violence against police could result in officers being kitted out in full-body armour. Police headquarters has confirmed it is considering full-body protection for frontline staff, as the number of assaults on officers continues to rise.

They have yet to determine exactly what sort of armour would be used but The Dominion Post reported that the possibilities ranged from extra protection for arms and legs to an all-over suit - similar in appearance to that in the film Robocop.

The number of assaults against police increased to 2248 last year, the equivalent of one in four officers being assaulted. In 2006, there were 2123 assaults on police. Of the 2007 incidents, 88 involved a weapon, including a gun or knife. Police began a $10.4 million programme last year, to provide stab-proof vests to every frontline officer. There were delays because of size and heat problems. Police said discussions about new armour were at an early stage. Any upgraded protection would be reserved for police called to deal with disorder incidents. The Police Association said it had not heard of the proposal.

- NZPA

recommended reading:
Civilian Forces Acquiring Army-Style Look, Approach

POLICE DEVELOP 'MILITARY MIND SET' / by Diane Cecilia Weber

Needless to say, the madness around meth is driving this shite.
/Blair

Satellites see it "is Maori Language Week"

Is this great Koru in the sky? this is just too darned amazing - yesterdays midday satellite image from METVU.

http://www.metvuw.com/satellite/small/200807220000.jpg

Is this the unwritten language of climate change?-- Blair Anderson ‹(•¿•)›

rights and science "beyond ETS"

The diabolical challenge of climate change is to solve it faster than we cause it, and C&C is a science-based way of getting to grips with the scale of the contraction requirement along with a rights-based way of internationally sharing the contraction requirement in a non-random manner; /Aubrey Meyer see: - http://www.gci.org.uk/Animations/BENN_C&C_Animation.exe

“If you read only one book on climate change—its past and future, politics and solutions—read this one. This is the global picture and the key to a global solution.” —Tom Spencer, Professor of Global Governance, University of Surrey and President, GLOBE International 1994-99
--
Blair Anderson ‹(•¿•)›

Social Ecologist 'at large'
http://mildgreens.blogspot.com
http://blairformayor.blogspot.com
http://blair4mayor.com
http://efsdp.org

ph (643) 389 4065 cell 027 265 7219

Sniffer dog checks bite into our civil liberties

Following the broader issues relating to civil society it is increasingly seen as acceptable that 'dogs' are able to give evidential 'cause for suspicion' based on the inherent quality of its nose, the efficacy of its training, the enviroment it is in, the ability of its handler to not give cues, and of course... as we are all paying the bill here, the cost benefit that demonstrates any outcomes.

It authored by a chap that I know through my work in drug policy [· Sebastian Saville is executive director of drugs charity Release.]

However, while the core initiative is about targeting drugs and drug users and it is another jurisdiction, the increasingly 'get tough' calls for more police and resources to catch 'neer do wells' will inevitably bring up policy and actions that are being 'seen to be doing something'. This is one such case. A case I would argue that the 'end does not justify the means', it was published in the British newspaper, the Guardian. see http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/%20…%20andalcohol

I welcome feedback from readers. What is your thoughts on this use of dogs?Sniffer dog checks bite into our civil liberties. Replies can be made either here via the bloggers comment box below, or the at the popular NZ website 'doglinks' forums link (requires registration... good if you have a dog)

http://www.doglinks.co.nz/myforums/viewtopic.php?pid=376#p376

British, C&C most favoured method!

The agreement G8 officials reached overnight on climate change represents a small step forward for politicians on the tortuous path to a framework agreement next year, but it is hardly a giant leap for mankind.

(snip)

The British government has some modelling under way in the most favoured method - contraction and convergence - but there is no diplomatic agreement that this is the best way to proceed.

 

Patrick Wintour, political editor / guardian.co.uk,

Tuesday July 8, 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/08/g8.climatechange

--

Blair Anderson ‹(•¿•)›

ph (643) 389 4065 cell 027 265 7219

The Side-Effects of Abstinence-Only Education

One in three teenage girls in the US becomes pregnant. Recent media hype and movies like Juno give teen pregnancy a certain kind of treatment.

If sex education impacts the rate at which men impregnate teenage girls, then these results are effects. Calling them side-effects is equivocation.

RE: Side-Effects? / Posted by: MildGreens on Jul 7, 2008 2:36 PM

The appearance of prejudices fails to do justice to the debate. Men impregnate woman, true enough, but woman can only be impregnated by men.

The inference that men are DOING THIS to teenage girls carries baggage, firstly because it misrepresents the facts and secondly it stereotypes men.

Teen pregnancy AND STD's is for the greater part a teen issue for BOTH males and females.

Both suffer consequences.

It represents a larger systemic failure in health promotion as evidenced by the bio-psychosocial health indicators in jurisdictions where age of consensual sex is much lower.

Where the rules say 'you just cant, its not allowed' (ie: zero tolerance with disproportionate punishment) the harms are maximised. With rules like these we may as well line them up and shoot some of them arbitrarily.

Intolerance sets up failure as 'proof we have a problem, justifying more inevitable failure'. The corollary with youth drug policy is also useful in this case.

There are impediments to [sex ed and other stuff] health promotion, the Ottawa Charter (the bible of Public Health) says where these can be identified, remove them.

There is no place for artificial red-lines in the dynamics of teen angst. This creates a climate dishonesty and mistrust that masks what is really going on. It creates a perception of safety without delivering.

The teen health data correlated to age of consent makes for revealing reading.

The 'shocking' (ie moral panic) driven data set is completely unsurprising to educators who think about this problem. It is almost a determinate outcome. We, by 'doing nothing' to change the policy base are guilty of creating the problem we set out to solve. We are as it were, collectively responsible making girls pregnant. And that requires an adult maturity to 'see'.

Ipso facto, teen pregnancy is a symptom of a larger problem adults as instruments of change are just not talking about.

Thus, it is more accurate to say older Men AND Woman are making teens pregnant and saddling teens AND society with unnessary burdens.

We have to, as adult rule makers, realise no policy is going to solve all the problems and that an optimal policy has to embrace harm minimisation in a reality based education paradigm.

Those for whom this reality check is objectional... are witness to the harms they are creating and the evidence, in this case, is on my side.

To get significant change one has to make significant change. It is long overdue.

--
Blair Anderson ‹(•¿•)›

Social Ecologist 'at large'
http://mildgreens.blogspot.com
http://blairformayor.blogspot.com
http://blair4mayor.com
http://efsdp.org

ph (643) 389 4065 cell 027 265 7219

Image via Wikipedia

The worst offenders are not those who use medpot, rather they are the gormless and morally illiterate politicians who pander to ignorance AND dishonor the parliamentary prayer everyday.

Not one of these people should be re-elected ever.

Blair's Brain - Canvassing for Opinion, Jul 2008