Last week, Scott and I met with Detective Superintendent Mike Alderson at the Home Office, akin to our FBI with some Dept of Justice functions, too. Mike works with the Citizen Focused Policing Team of the Police Reform Unit there. We got to know him because he follows the blogs of Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith and Police Chief Dan Carlson in Eden Prairie. See Scott’s post about our meeting.
Mike has been talking about the advantages of weblogs to some of the heads of the BCU’s, Basic Command Units (the UK is divided up into approximately 285 of these regional policing divisions). He’s interested in how blogs could be used effectively with the local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs), of which there are about 350.
Lastly, he wants to explore how blogs could complement the community policing seminars he teaches and presents at.
Last night I was having a fantastic dinner of bangers and mash at the Firehouse on Waterloo Road near my hotel and began reading the recently published “The World in 2005,” by The Economist, their annual state of the world issue with predictions for the upcoming year. In a piece titled “Minority report” by Trevor Phillips on integration in Britain, he writes about recent immigrants:
“The lessons of the past aren’t encouraging for their integration. It is only three years since Britain’s northern towns were rocked by riots between young Asians and the police. The summer of 2004 narrowly escaped similar clashes, this time with new migrants cooped up in small, suspicious provincial towns. Britain’s much-maligned Home Office, working with the grass-roots network of the Commission for Racial Equality, can claim some credit for anticipating trouble and stepping in before it took off.”
I wonder if Mike Alderson had anything to do with this? It sounds like it’s right up his alley. I guess I’ll find out.
