UK Police snap children during stop and search

Police snap children during stop and search

Scotland Yard has admitted its officers have been photographing children who are stopped and searched even after they have been found to be innocent.
Police in Lambeth, south London, claim the tactic helps fight street crime and insist the pictures are kept on a database only for intelligence-gathering purposes. But the civil rights group Liberty has condemned the measure, and a leading community group working with the police has described the tactic as “sinister”.
On Wednesday, police announced the temporary suspension of the tactic after meeting with the community police consultative group for Lambeth.
Last week, Sandra Moodie told how her son Jordan had been stopped and searched by plainclothes officers on his way home from school. They found he was carrying only school books, but took his picture.
Critics claim it marks the return of a new form of the “sus” law. James Welch, the legal director of Liberty, said: “The police don’t have carte blanche to do anything that they think will help prevent crime; they have obligations under the Human Rights Act and the Data Protection Act.”
In a statement, the police said: “The [Met] has, since 1998, employed the tactic of overtly photographing or filming persons in the street as a way of preventing offences, gathering evidence and intelligence and identifying offenders.”

I really thought there was a law against this sort of ‘abuse’ of children’s rights. Well, there is, but for some reason people don’t bother calling the government and seem to think that the lack of autonomy for children is a good thing. Strangely enough, there’s little research done on this… though there are suggestions that the lack of autonomous experiences for children is the cause of disaffection and a sense of disenfranchisement in children. Something I want to explore more.

me

me, originally uploaded by complicitytheory.

st victoire over looking puyloubier… after a heavy morning of admin and paperwork…

U.S. dollar bills discriminate against the blind, court rules

U.S. dollar bills discriminate against the blind, court rules

The United States might have to redesign its money after a Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the traditional green dollar bills discriminate against the blind and visually impaired.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the 2006 lower-court ruling that using the same colour and shape on all bills makes it too difficult for people with poor vision to distinguish between values.

The latest ruling means U.S. Treasury Department may have to make bills different sizes, and include raised markings and oversized numbers on each bill. The department has not yet said if it will fight the court decision, or change its money.

The U.S. government has acknowledged that its current designs hinder the visually impaired, but argued that those with disabilities have already adapted by relying on store clerks for help, using credit cards and-or folding the corners of their bills to differentiate between them.

Canada among countries with vision-friendly bills

The three Appeals Court judges, ruling 2-1 against the government, panned this argument.

The court said using the government’s logic, people could argue there’s no need to build wheelchair ramps because people without use of their legs can crawl or ask for help from strangers.

In 2001, Canada started adding a tactile feature to its bills, placing raised dots and symbols to distinguish between denominations. The decisions were made in consultation with blind and visually impaired Canadians.

The bills also contain large, bold numbers. Bills of different values are printed in different colours.

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