Copwatch Wales from Gagged!, the newsletter of the South Wales Anarchists
llantwit | 23.08.2007 11:57 | Repression | Social Struggles
We do like to be beside the seaside!
Lazy Gwent Plod are being investigated for taking trips to the beach when they should have been on duty, it emerged this month. The enterprising slackers came a cropper only when they got a flat tyre in England and had to call for assistance!
It is claimed that rozzers took part in a competition to see who could get furthest away from their patrol area in Blackwood while on duty. Up to four officers from Blackwood allegedly took trips to places like Barry Island and Porthcawl. They now face dismissal. This comes only a month after Gagged! #18 reported plod from the same force had been on tax-payer funded jollies to the Glastonbury festival and Wimbledon .
Yet more cop wankers?
Gagged! #17 and #18 brought you news of 2 cops found guilty of masturbating in front of female prisoner. Do we have another, or perhaps an even more serious sexual assault? An un-named North Wales police detective has been suspended amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct in public office. He has not yet been arrested or charged. It is thought the allegations may have been made by a female who had been in custody.
Speeding cops caught out
In a month when a young Cardiff child tragically lost his life after being hit by a speeding car, it has been revealed that 20 South Wales police officers have been caught speeding on traffic cameras. The details, released under the Freedom of Information Act, showed only 4 of them were prosecuted, and 3 cases were still ongoing. In another high profile case a Mid-Wales detective Ashley Brice got away with a fine and a 12-month ban after it was found his dangerous driving had caused the death of another driver in 2005.
Cops on standby after Welsh Republican Army threat
Special Branch cops in North and South Wales are on high alert after a paramilitary group calling itself the Welsh Republican Army contacted a newspaper with threats to target Prince Charles if he doesn’t quit his West Wales estate near Llandovery and relinquish his claim to the title, ‘Prince of Wales’.
The group claims to have two operational brigades, one in North and one in South Wales They said: ‘If he (Charles) continues to live here and continues to hold the title Prince of Wales, he continues to be a legitimate target for Republican action. The WRA's primary objective is to establish a Welsh socialist republic and free Cymru from its shackles. We will continue to oppose the British state's domination and rule of our country.’
The nationalist group claims to have been formed out of the remnants of the MAC (Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru – Movement for the Defence of Wales). The MAC was an offshoot of the Free Wales Army which was disbanded when its leaders were jailed after protests against the drowning of the village of Capel Celyn in Cwm Tryweryn, near Bala, and Prince Charles’ investiture as Prince of Wales in Caernarfon in 1969.
Another death in custody
A prisoner who was recalled to prison after breaching his parole was found hanging in his cell in Swansea Jail this month. David King, 41, was discovered by staff at Swansea jail just after 11am on August 11th and he was pronounced dead at 12pm.
It was the 57th suicide in jails in England and Wales so far this year, compared with 41 at the same point last year. Almost one third of suicides occur within the first week of someone arriving in jail and one in seven occur within two days of admission. Many happen while people are on remand, and have not even been convicted of a crime yet.
Prison isn’t working, but more Welsh prisons being built
Plans are afoot to raise the number of prisoners at privately run Parc Prison in Bridgend by more than a third, and the government is calling for a new jail to be built in North Wales. Parc would have the capacity for more than 1,500 inmates if the new block is given the go-ahead, and the North Wales prison would house hundreds more people. These will go some way towards reaching the Home Office’s target of 10,000 new prison places in the next 2 years.
The Probation Service in Wales has expressed concern that the costs of expansion could divert resources from other areas and suggested there should be a debate about prison population.
No debate is needed. Prisons are failing, and have failed for years: They do nothing to address the number 1 cause of crime in this country: the massive inequality that exists between the rich and the poor; prison slavery is on the rise, where inmates are forced to work for peanuts for private companies who make mega-bucks out of bonded labour; there are re-offending rates of up to 70% for some categories; prison does not rehabilitate – despite the rhetoric the system’s just not built for this; overcrowding is huge, with too many prisoners and too few resources prisons can’t meet the medical, educational and welfare needs of their inmates; more than half of all prisoners have mental health problems, but few get proper treatment meaning suicide and self-harm are rife; many prisoners are illiterate or semi-literate; and there are hundreds – possibly up to 2,000 – innocent prisoners in our jails, all victims of miscarriages of justice.
Lazy Gwent Plod are being investigated for taking trips to the beach when they should have been on duty, it emerged this month. The enterprising slackers came a cropper only when they got a flat tyre in England and had to call for assistance!
It is claimed that rozzers took part in a competition to see who could get furthest away from their patrol area in Blackwood while on duty. Up to four officers from Blackwood allegedly took trips to places like Barry Island and Porthcawl. They now face dismissal. This comes only a month after Gagged! #18 reported plod from the same force had been on tax-payer funded jollies to the Glastonbury festival and Wimbledon .
Yet more cop wankers?
Gagged! #17 and #18 brought you news of 2 cops found guilty of masturbating in front of female prisoner. Do we have another, or perhaps an even more serious sexual assault? An un-named North Wales police detective has been suspended amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct in public office. He has not yet been arrested or charged. It is thought the allegations may have been made by a female who had been in custody.
Speeding cops caught out
In a month when a young Cardiff child tragically lost his life after being hit by a speeding car, it has been revealed that 20 South Wales police officers have been caught speeding on traffic cameras. The details, released under the Freedom of Information Act, showed only 4 of them were prosecuted, and 3 cases were still ongoing. In another high profile case a Mid-Wales detective Ashley Brice got away with a fine and a 12-month ban after it was found his dangerous driving had caused the death of another driver in 2005.
Cops on standby after Welsh Republican Army threat
Special Branch cops in North and South Wales are on high alert after a paramilitary group calling itself the Welsh Republican Army contacted a newspaper with threats to target Prince Charles if he doesn’t quit his West Wales estate near Llandovery and relinquish his claim to the title, ‘Prince of Wales’.
The group claims to have two operational brigades, one in North and one in South Wales They said: ‘If he (Charles) continues to live here and continues to hold the title Prince of Wales, he continues to be a legitimate target for Republican action. The WRA's primary objective is to establish a Welsh socialist republic and free Cymru from its shackles. We will continue to oppose the British state's domination and rule of our country.’
The nationalist group claims to have been formed out of the remnants of the MAC (Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru – Movement for the Defence of Wales). The MAC was an offshoot of the Free Wales Army which was disbanded when its leaders were jailed after protests against the drowning of the village of Capel Celyn in Cwm Tryweryn, near Bala, and Prince Charles’ investiture as Prince of Wales in Caernarfon in 1969.
Another death in custody
A prisoner who was recalled to prison after breaching his parole was found hanging in his cell in Swansea Jail this month. David King, 41, was discovered by staff at Swansea jail just after 11am on August 11th and he was pronounced dead at 12pm.
It was the 57th suicide in jails in England and Wales so far this year, compared with 41 at the same point last year. Almost one third of suicides occur within the first week of someone arriving in jail and one in seven occur within two days of admission. Many happen while people are on remand, and have not even been convicted of a crime yet.
Prison isn’t working, but more Welsh prisons being built
Plans are afoot to raise the number of prisoners at privately run Parc Prison in Bridgend by more than a third, and the government is calling for a new jail to be built in North Wales. Parc would have the capacity for more than 1,500 inmates if the new block is given the go-ahead, and the North Wales prison would house hundreds more people. These will go some way towards reaching the Home Office’s target of 10,000 new prison places in the next 2 years.
The Probation Service in Wales has expressed concern that the costs of expansion could divert resources from other areas and suggested there should be a debate about prison population.
No debate is needed. Prisons are failing, and have failed for years: They do nothing to address the number 1 cause of crime in this country: the massive inequality that exists between the rich and the poor; prison slavery is on the rise, where inmates are forced to work for peanuts for private companies who make mega-bucks out of bonded labour; there are re-offending rates of up to 70% for some categories; prison does not rehabilitate – despite the rhetoric the system’s just not built for this; overcrowding is huge, with too many prisoners and too few resources prisons can’t meet the medical, educational and welfare needs of their inmates; more than half of all prisoners have mental health problems, but few get proper treatment meaning suicide and self-harm are rife; many prisoners are illiterate or semi-literate; and there are hundreds – possibly up to 2,000 – innocent prisoners in our jails, all victims of miscarriages of justice.
llantwit