Senior officer urges less spending on CCTV cameras, more on people

The police are failing to use CCTV to catch as many criminals as they could, a senior officer has told the BBC. Det Ch Insp Mick Neville of the Met police's CCTV unit said most forces do not have systems to retrieve, process and distribute CCTV crime scene images. DCI Neville told the BBC's The World At One and Newsnight that, while his own force had made errors, the picture for the rest of the country "isn't good". "Because we had CCTV first, we made all the mistakes", he said. DCI Neville stated that the mistake was that the money was spent on kit instead of people and processes. He added, "Unless there is a systematic way of gathering CCTV then it will continue not to be as effective as it could be. What I would say, is we've got enough cameras, let's stop now, we don't want any more cameras. Let's invest that money that's available and use it for the training of people, and the processes to make sure whatever we've captured is effectively used." Source: BBC, 20 July 2009. tinyurl.com/m2ksk9

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Anti-stab knife soon to go on sale

The first "anti-stab" knife will soon go on sale in Britain, designed to work as normal in the kitchen, but be less effective as a weapon. The knife has a unique "combination tip" with a rounded edge instead of a point and the blade for cutting is underneath. The tip can chop vegetables, but makes penetration more difficult, instead snagging on clothing and skin. An ergonomic handle also reduces the aggressiveness of the knife. Doctors have lobbied in the past for kitchen knives to be redesigned. They argue that while a redesign is not a complete solution to the complex problem of knife crime, it could help to save lives. The New Point knife has been developed by industrial designer John Cornock, who was inspired to create the product after watching a documentary on knife crime. It has taken four years to develop. Source: BBC, 15 June 2009. tinyurl.com/nm3c7f