Real Neighbourhood Policing
I like this story from the West Midlands. Here’s the first bit.
He’s a beat bobby with a difference – but Pc Ian Northcott stopped shoppers in their tracks when he started belting out Oasis hit Wonderwall outside a busy shopping centre.
We need more of this interactive neighbourhood policing.
I am reminded of a story years ago, when a police team got conned into a five-a-side football tournament by the local vicar. To say the football was rough would be an understatement. But the officer who told me the story, says some those they kicked and were kicked by, gave them information to catch a few felons.
An Acadian Hero
Lyse Doucet is one of my favourite broadcasters and in some ways a bit of a hero, as she seems so unfazed of all the horrors she has faced, just being the total professional.
Like many I suppose, I’d always assumed she was from Quebec, due to her French name and her accent. But she is actually an Acadian, a group, who I knew little of until I looked Lyse up last night. Wikipedia says this.
Although today most of the Acadians and Québécois are French speaking (francophone) Canadians, Acadia was a distinct colony of New France, and was geographically and administratively separate from the French colony of Canada (modern day Quebec), which led to Acadians and Québécois developing two rather distinct histories and cultures.
I first became aware of Lyse, when she was reporting from Iran. In one report for From Our Own Correspondent, she described how the Russian Ambassador at a news conference, had started chatting her up, and was totally surprised, when he found the lady in the burkha was Canadian.
I do find it strange that two of my heroes are called Lyse or Lise. The other is of course Lise Meitner.
The Real On-Line Criminals
This article about unfair terms and conditions in agreements with on-line retailers is enlightening.
The companies they name and shame are Microsoft, Netflix and Apple. I never deal with any of these on-line.
I think the only company, I regurlarly give money to over the Internet, that doesn’t have physical presence, is WordPress, where I host this blog. I just give them a few dollars for extra storage and so I can use video. But as Facebook found with Instagram, I would vote with my fingers and move, if they did something I really didn’t like.
The article on the BBC, does give the name of a project that rates the Terms and Conditions of web sites call TOS; DR. It’s here.
Theft At Cash Machines On The Rise
This story says that thefts at cash machines are on the rise. I’ve never been targeted and I usually make sure I get my money out at machines I know well and often in the morning, as prejudice says that criminals always lie in bed as they drunk too much last night. I also often use a machine inside a branch of Nationwide, because there are comfortable seats there to sit down, whilst I sort it all out. This paragraph from the article is telling and shows how to use a stolen card to get cash.
The perpetrators used the card to lay £400 in bets at Ladbrokes and withdrew £240 in cash.
As someone, who once held a licence for a betting shop, I know the fiddles that go on in these places.
Incidentally, a fraud expect told me, that he’d analysed card thefts and subsequent withdrawals. He felt that if customers used an easy pin like 1234, it was more likely to be discovered. My pin jumps about all over the place, so I hope if someone watches they can’t get it.
I have said before in this post, that I wish my bank statement gave me more information about my withdrawals, with perhaps the location of the cash machine. I think, if this was done, it would alert customers, that perhaps their card had been skimmed.
The Anonymous Widower 