Neighbours Who Keep the Curtains Closed and a Boy Who Likes to Draw Guns Among 'Suspects' of Terror Hotline

A schoolboy 'obsessed' with drawing pictures of bombs and guns, and a neighbour who liked to keep his curtains drawn, are among dozens of people being reported to a police scheme aimed to unearth potential terrorists.

Critics of the Channel Project say it encourages people to spy on their neighbours, but police claim the scheme's aim is to prevent 'vulnerable people' becoming radicalised.

Dozens of people in East Lancashire, mainly aged between 15 and 24, have been reported to police for having either extremist Islamic views, far-right leanings and or being IRA sympathisers.

Police complete background checks on all individuals reported before a panel meets to decide if any action needs to be taken.

Interventions can range from a simple chat, to a complex mentoring and counselling process.

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Hull City Council Residents Asked to Report Neighbours for Putting Rubbish Out Too Early

Residents are being asked to report neighbours for 'environmental crimes' such as putting their bins out too early or late. A council is urging householders to snoop on fellow residents and fill in 'diary sheets' to log incidents - the same way it tackles violent anti-social behaviour. Such 'crimes' can be committed by putting bins out at the wrong times or leaving them in the wrong place.

Householders could face a £100 fixed penalty notice or be fined up to £1,000 in court for leaving rubbish next to a bin or blocking a path with a bin. The clampdown, by Hull City Council, has provoked a furious reaction, with residents insisting they won't do officials' 'dirty work' for them.

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FBI Demands Tattoo Shops Rat On Customers

Click picture to enlarge

Are you in the market for a patriotic tattoo, maybe the Gadsden flag? Forget about it. Unless you want the local tattoo artist to inform on you.

The FBI, in league with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (part of the Department of Justice), has launched a program that harks back to East Germany’s Stasi.

In Philadelphia, the FBI has instructed tattoo shops to rat out their customers if they demand privacy, insist on paying with cash, engage in “suspicious behavior,” make “anti-US” comments, or request tattoos that are “extremist symbols".'

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The Snoopers Paradise

A new internet game is about to be launched which allows 'super snooper' players to plug into the nation's CCTV cameras and report on members of the public committing crimes.
The 'Internet Eyes' service involves players scouring thousands of CCTV cameras installed in shops, businesses and town centres across Britain looking for law-breakers.
Players who help catch the most criminals each month will win cash prizes up to £1,000.

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Maybe we should have CCTV Cameras installed outside the home and guest house of Mr. Anthony Clive Morgan in Dawlish Devon and see how he likes it!!!

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Florida Candidate For Mayor Wants 1,000-Strong Youth Spy Force

A frontrunner to become Mayor of Orange County Florida proposes to combat crime in the area by creating a 1,000 person strong spy force who would cruise around neighborhoods on bikes reporting suspicious behavior to uniformed supervisors, a creepy program with dark undertones of the Hitler Youth program of 1930’s Nazi Germany.

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Nazi-Style Denunciation Campaign Urges Americans To Report Each Other

A privately-run informant program operating nationwide encourages Americans to anonymously turn each other in to the authorities for cash rewards in a chilling echo of the Nazi “denunciations” of 1930’s Germany, where neighbors would grass their neighbors up to the local Gestapo officer over petty issues.

The WeTip organization takes anonymous tips online or via toll free phone lines and carries the creepy slogan “For A Safer America!” on its website beneath an image of a U.S. flag.

The group forwards tips given by the public to law enforcement authorities across the country, with no jurisdictional borders.

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White House Calls for Citizens to Inform on Opponents of Obamacare

The Obama White House is calling for informer-citizens to denounce opponents of the president’s health care plan. A post on the White House website posted today reads:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

The post by Macon Phillips, the White House Director of New Media, does not indicate what the Obama White House will do with the information.

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Homeland Security to Recruit Stasi Informers

Speaking on national security issues, including the notion of 'radicalized Americans' on Wednesday, the US Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, told a gathering at the key international relations think tank, Council on Foreign Relations, about the US administration's intentions to engage 'ordinary' people in 'scouting' activities against rising 'homegrown terrorism.'

The head of the Homeland Security Department urged Americans to join the White House bid in the collective battle against 'terrorism.'

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A Society of Secret Lists and Snoopers

There you are, whiling away an afternoon in the park watching your children play. Then the youngest gets a bit antsy, and demands an ice cream. Nothing you say or do will distract them. The shop is just minutes away.

The other four are immersed in a game and you don't want to spoil their fun. They're sensible kids, well-schooled in "stranger danger", and the eldest, at nine, you know to be a responsible youngster who will watch out for the others. Besides, there are plenty of people about.

So you and the toddler make a dash for the shop. Ice cream purchased, child appeased, you hurry back to the others. But what are those police officers doing with your family? Has something happened? Has one of them been hurt? Fear chills you – and then comes blessed relief.

The children are fine and the police officers were just being vigilant. You chat for a minute or two. They'd spotted the unaccompanied children and wanted to make sure they were OK – just like old-style bobbies on the beat used to do.

And that is where bobbies on the beat would have left it – but not the men who police Big Brother Britain and who must observe the box-ticking demands of their job, rather than exercising common sense.

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WA Police Launch 'Phone in a Bikie' Campaign

POLICE are urging the public to start taking note of who bikies drink with at pubs and to take down their associates' registrations.

Specialist crime assistant commissioner Wayne Gregson and WA Police Minister Rob Johnson launched a $50,000 initiative aimed at boosting police intelligence efforts today.

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LADWP Wants You to Spy on Your Neighbors

The moment the new water laws hit Monday, it's like the LA Department of Water & Power went bonkers with water conservation ideas. Today is a new door hanger program, in which the the hangers were given to the public via their print newspaper subscriptions. "LADWP door hangers are designed to help customers encourage their neighbors not to waste water and to avoid fines associated with violations of the City’s Water Conservation Ordinance," they explain. "On one side of the door hanger is a list of four common wasteful water practices, with a checkbox for each prohibited use.

Neighbors, when they spot water being wasted on a neighbor’s property, can select the box or boxes that apply and leave the hanger anonymously on the neighbor’s door." Those four common wasteful practices are: excess water flowing over pavement and into gutters during irrigation or car washing, sprinklers are on more than twice a week, sprinklers are on during the day, broken or leaky sprinkler. You can also obtain them at any of the 14 LADWP Customer Service Centers.

Laist.com

State Recruits an Army of Snoopers with Police-style Powers

A growing army of private security guards and town hall snoopers with sweeping police-style powers is being quietly established, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Under a Home Office-run scheme, people such as park wardens, dog wardens, car park attendants and shopping centre guards receive the powers if they undergo training, and pay a small fee to their local police force.

Their powers include issuing £60 fines for truancy and dropping litter, and being able to demand a person's name and address on the street.

Under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, the number of civilians wearing a special badge, and a uniform approved by the local chief constable, has rocketed by almost 30 per cent in a year and there are now 1,406.

Critics claim Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is quietly seeking to create a third-tier within the 'policing family', with even less training and accountability than the controversial Police Community Support Officers.

The civilians are known as Accredited Persons, but they have been nicknamed 'Jacqui Smith's Irregulars'. The only significant difference between them and PCSOs is that they do not have the power to detain a suspect. Instead, they have to summon police.

Councils and other public sector organisations must pay between £300 and £315 to be accredited to the scheme, and between £35 to £90 per employee.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has been accused of creating a 'third tier' within the 'policing family'
In the private sector, the costs are between £450 and £600 per employer, and £32 to £132 per employee. They are then given access to a hotline - to report their intelligence to the police.
Police forces are struggling to find funds to maintain the current level of around 142,000 fully-trained officers, and efforts to recruit more PCSOs - nicknamed 'Blunkett's Bobbies' - have also stalled due to a lack of funds.

In 2005 and 2006, the number of civilians given powers under the scheme was static at 945. But they increased to 1,102 in 2007, before last year's big rise.

Simon Reed, vice chairman of the rank-and-file Police Federation, said the scheme was a 'con' on the public by giving the impression of more law enforcers on the street.

'The public are being hoodwinked if they think the streets are any safer, and they would be shocked if they knew what powers Accredited Persons are being given,' he said.

'It is policing on the cheap. These people are given cursory background checks and minimal training. We are concerned about some of the people who are slipping through the net.'
Phil Booth, of the NO2ID privacy campaign, said: 'This sharp increase in Jacqui Smith's Irregulars makes you wonder what her policing ambitions are.'

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The Police Reform Act 2002 requires a chief officer to be satisfied that an applicant is both suitable and has received adequate training to exercise Community Safety Accreditation Scheme powers.'

Daily Mail

Town Halls Hire Citizen Snoopers as Young as SEVEN to Spy on Neighbours and Report Wrongs

Children as young as seven are being recruited by councils to act as 'citizen snoopers', the Daily Mail can reveal.
The 'environment volunteers' will report on litter louts, noisy neighbours - and even families putting their rubbish out on the wrong day.
There are currently almost 9,000 people signed up to the schemes. More are likely to be recruited in the coming months.
Controversially, some councils are running 'junior' schemes which are recruiting children.

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Police Force Cracks Down on 'Bling'

The Gloucestershire Constabulary hopes to weed out criminals who enjoy flaunting their ill-gotten gains.

Chief Constable Dr Timothy Brain said: "In the current time of financial uncertainty, those who live a lavish lifestyle with no discernible, legitimate income become even more apparent."

He hopes the Too Much Bling campaign, run in partnership with Crimestoppers, will send a clear message to criminals, that their prized possessions will be confiscated.

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Children Tracked by Sat nav to Stop Bad Behaviour

The project is being trialled across the six North Wales counties to tackle anti-social behaviour on school buses.

Pupils will use a picture swipe card to clock on and off the bus allowing parents to keep a closer check on their child via a website.

It will help deal with a number of issues including truancy, drivers reporting and identifying ill-behaved children and monitoring a child's whereabouts in the event of them going missing or a bus breakdown.

The scheme include 'Bus Angels' aged 14 and above, who covertly report incidents of bad behaviour.

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Metropolitan Police Encourage Citizens To Rifle Through Neighbours Bins to Combat Terrorism

A new London Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism campaign is encouraging law abiding citizens to look through each others’ bins to check for “suspicious” items such as chemical bottles, and to report any troubling findings to the police.

Staring back at big brother is a no-no, the authorities can watch you but you cannot look back at them - you must practice cognitive dissonance or engage in “doublethink” as Orwell called it, pretending that the cameras are not even there.

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And exactly the same thing is repeated in the USA

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Fear: The Last Refuge of Desperate Politicians

My train pulled into Waterloo station yesterday to be greeted by an alarming poster picturing women and children in a market. It warned: “A bomb didn't go off here because weeks before a shopper reported someone studying the CCTV cameras.” It wasn't what I needed to worry about on my way to work.

It is part of a new campaign - “Don't rely on others” - urging the public to report suspicious activity that could be related to terrorism: from large amounts of empty chemical bottles in a bin, to a suspicious van rental or somebody who owns lots of mobile phones. Being scary, dramatic and backed by the police, it's the sort of campaign that wins easy headlines and thus acts as a form of subliminal advertising.

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New UK Anti-Terror Strategy Launched

A new counter-terrorist strategy which is designed to be tougest in the world will be launched by Jacqui Smith this week.

Mr Brown said: "Today, not only the police and security and intelligence officers and our armed forces, but also the emergency services, local councils, businesses and community groups are involved in state-of-the-art civil contingency planning.

"Tens of thousands of men and women throughout Britain - from security guards to store managers - have now been trained and equipped to deal with an incident and know what to watch for as people go about their daily business in crowded places such as stations, airports, shopping centres and sports grounds."

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Armed Police Arrest Man For 'Playfully Pointing Toy Ray-gun at Baby'

Police scrambled eight patrol cars filled with armed officers after a man in his 50s pointed a toy ray-gun at a baby and said 'Pow, Pow'.

The man, who has not yet been named, was arrested earlier today after he approached the baby and its mother with a 'silver ray-gun' which lights up and makes a buzzing noise when the trigger is pulled.

Onlookers in Hove, East Sussex, were astonished when the police cars sped to the scene to apprehend the man.

Alison Edmonds, 23, said that she saw the man - who is not believed to be related to the baby and mother - approach the pram holding the toy gun, before jokingly saying 'Pow, pow' while pressing the trigger repeatedly.

The mother of the child then called police, who sent an armed response team to find and arrest the man, who was waiting for a bus less than a few hundred yards away.
Miss Edwards said: 'It was unbelievable. All he did was try to make the child laugh, but the mum decided to call the police and obviously told them a man with a gun had threatened her and her baby.

'What happened next was truly astonishing. I've never seen anything like it. These eight cars screamed to a halt and surrounded the poor man at the bus stop.

'They were fully kitted out with machine guns, rifles and everything.

'The man didn't know what was happening. All he was trying to do was make the baby crack a smile.'

Police seized the man's toy ray-gun and arrested him on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm in a public place.

Mail

The person who is at fault in this is the stupid mother and the police for arresting him for posessing a replica weapon. Totally stupid

How Public Sector Informers Are Creating Stasi Britain

Sometimes you have to pinch yourself to remember that Britain has historically always been the cradle of liberty. For today we seem to be sliding inexorably into a culture of control which would have been very familiar to the Stasi or the KGB.

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