Migration in Italy: a ‘State of Emergency’?
Nina Perkowski The ‘state of emergency’ declared in the wake of the Arab Spring ends in four months time, but Italy is still failing in the basics of migration control and management. Despite international criticism, controversial push-back agreements have not been buried with the legacies of Berlusconi and Gaddafi, says Nina Perkowski The renewed arrivals […]
Belarusian police launch major crackdown on opposition groups’ social networks
Belarusian police have hacked thousands of opposition group members’ social network accounts and detained the moderators of the groups’ online pages, demanding that they turn over the passwords to the pages. The groups dubbed “We are tired of this Lukashenko,” which claims 37,000 members, and “Only ShOS,” which claims over 15,000 members, were hacked, the […]
Free the Cleveland 4!
The Cleveland 4 are four Occupy Cleveland activists, Brandon, Connor, Doug and Joshua. They were arrested on May first, accused of plotting a series of bombings, including an area bridge. However, the real story is that the FBI, working with an informant, created the scheme and coerced these four into participating, along with a fifth […]
UK: The Chief Surveillance Commissioner – Key issues arising from my inspections
Police undercover operations In the light of the HMCIC report into the activities of the undercover officer Mark Kennedy, I have agreed to examine, and am examining during inspections, some authorisations of CHIS who are law enforcement officers and who have been authorised continuously for a period exceeding 12 months in relation to ‘domestic extremism’. […]
Montreal police wield controversial Bill 78 for first time after class disruptions
Quebec’s controversial back-to-school law was wielded for the first time ever by Montreal police after showdowns involving masked protesters disrupted the reopening of universities Monday. Authorities opened investigations into 19 people at Universite de Montreal for allegedly violating provisions of Bill 78, a police spokesman said. The announcement came on the first day of university […]
Greece: Migrant raids to continue until year end
Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias told Skai on Tuesday that the police’s «Xenios Zeus” operation aimed at tackling illegal immigration will continue until the end of the year with raids being extended beyond the capital to other cities where the population of undocumented migrants has been growing. Raids will focus on apartment blocks and other […]
UK: Police to beef up iPad and mobile scrutiny
National Police Improvement Agency says e-forensics have aided 90% rise in number of computers, iPads and mobile phones examined by police Gill Hitchcock The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) said it wants an e-forensics project, aimed at speeding up the examination of ICT used by criminals, to be available to all forces from September. Over […]
Preventing social disorder: India wants to learn from London Riots policing Social Networks
Governments around the world are having to learn on the hoof how to deal with the impact of social media on law and order. Banning websites is at best a short-term solution. At worst it exposes the government to charges of intolerance and failing to take preventative intelligence-led measures. Violence in India can be far […]
Roadside cameras suffer from large gaps in coverage, police admit
Automatic number plate recognition cameras stay secret after freedom of information tribunal told of patchy picture SA Mathieson and Rob Evans Police chiefs have admitted there are flaws in a „big brother“ surveillance system that enables them to track and store the daily journeys of millions of motorists. The police chief who co-ordinates the growing […]
FBI/DHS Inaccuracy Could Lead to Police Over-Reaction
by Sam Rosenfeld There has been a great deal of media coverage relating to an FBI/DHS document detailing likely anarchist activity during the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention. The vast majority of that coverage has related to the threat of anarchists using Molotov cocktails, acid filled eggs, or even IEDs and IIDs. Normally […]
Lead-Up to 2012 RNC: Anarchists, IEDs, Guy Fawkes, Feces, Drones & a Tampa Police State
by Dave Id Leading into the 2012 Republican National Convention set for August 27th-30th, local and national corporate media reports have alternated between focusing on the opportunity for the Tampa Bay area to shine on the world stage as a business-friendly region and rampant fear-mongering about „law breakers and anarchists,“ including a DHS and FBI […]
Another secretive European police working group revealed as governments remain tight-lipped on other police networks and the activities of Mark Kennedy
Statewatch can reveal the existence of a previously unknown international police working group geared towards discussing and developing covert investigative techniques. At the same time parliamentary questions in Germany have seen further details of other police networks emerge – although many questions remain unanswered – in particular on the work and activities of former policy […]
IOM and Japan Launch Border Management Programme in South Sudan
IOM and the Government of Japan yesterday (20 August) signed an agreement to launch a new initiative to work with the Government of South Sudan to develop its capacity to police and manage its borders through the building of 16 border posts, the construction of an immigration training academy in Juba, and the development of […]
Police embrace emerging social media tool
Nearly 6,000 agencies use public notification service to give real-time alerts SAN FRANCISCO — Minutes after a shooting near the Oakland Airport this year, the gunman was on the loose. And police Sgt. Chris Bolton quickly fired off a flurry of text alerts to thousands of nearby residents through a social media tool for law […]
Migrant operation to be expanded, Athens mayor warns against ‚fascist gangs‘
Greek police are planning to extend the Xenios Zeus operation, which has seen more than 1,600 immigrants arrested this month, to other major cities, according to reports. Officers detained another 50 migrants on August 15, of whom 11 were later arrested for not having residence papers. Since the operation began earlier this month, just over […]
These Drones Are Made For Watchin‘
(Special thanks to EFF Intern Max Mishkin for his help with this blog post) EFF recently received a trove of documents from the FAA in response to our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, offering new insights into the public and private use of drones in the United States—including where they’re flying, why they’re being used, […]
Security training starts as Cairns gears up to host G20 summit in 2014
Damon Guppy BOMB-sweepers, counter-terrorism operatives and police commandos will begin training in the region in preparation for Cairns‘ most demanding security operation. A day after the city was announced as the host of the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in 2014, authorities have started planning the event’s security. About 2000 people, including delegates from the world’s […]
Eight things to look out for when choosing a video analytics system
Kevin Waterhouse of VCA Technology explains why installers and system integrators should take a fresh look at what video analytics can achieve for their clients. It was not that long ago that video analytics, or video content analysis as some prefer to call it, had acquired a ‘let the buyer beware’ reputation. It seemed that […]
Counter Terrorism Awareness Seminar held in Greece
An act of terrorism serves a twofold purpose: besides the obvious catastrophic consequences of such a random act of violence, there is a more subtle, more powerful effect at work: the psychological undermining of the population’s trust and confidence in the authorities that are sworn to safeguard them. It embeds into the collective mind of […]
Euro police satisfied with cooperation with Ukrainian counterparts
Not a single situation that would require interference of the International Police Cooperation Centre arose in Ukraine during the Euro. But should any threat arise, it will be promptly localized, a German Federal Police officer, Marco Schlicht, has said at the press conference “International cooperation in organization of Euro and border security”. The media event […]