OTAKI, Chiba -- A police officer here got a little more flame than he was expecting when he flicked on his lighter in a police box men's room early Friday and an explosion opened a seven square meter hole in the ceiling.

The 51-year-old officer was sent to hospital with minor burns on his face and hands.

According to police, there were no explosive materials in the washroom, and when another officer came running after hearing the blast he found a 1.5 meter pillar of flame spewing from the drain in the floor. It's thought the washroom was filled with gas from a natural gas pocket that had leaked into the drain pipe. Investigators are now searching for the source of the gas.

Otaki is in the center of the Boso Peninsula, the location of the first natural gas well in Japan, drilled in 1891. According to the prefecture, the peninsula is in the center of the southern Kanto gas fields -- the broadest in the country by area and producing the second highest volume of gas, at about 463.22 million cubic meters per year (as of 2008). Kanto Natural Gas Development Co., which developed the fields, says that the gas is 99 percent methane, which is odorless.

The region has seen a number of explosions believed to have been caused by natural gas since 1988, including the July 2004 explosion of a museum in the town of Kujukuri in which an employee died and one other person was injured.

Washington has been hit by one of the biggest snowstorms in its history

Police in the US are investigating a detective who appears to draw his gun during a mass snowball fight on the streets of Washington DC.

Video taken at the scene shows people pelting a man with snowballs after his car, a Hummer, gets stuck in the snow.

The man - not in uniform at the time - then appears to pull out a gun while an angry crowd gathers and chants: "Don't bring a gun to a snowball fight."

DC police refused to comment, telling the BBC an investigation was under way.

'Don't shoot'

At one point on the video - shown on YouTube - the man identifies himself as a "detective", but refuses to give his full name.

Then he proceeds to admit to pulling his gun.

"Yes I did because I got hit by snowballs," he tells angry residents who demand to know his badge number.

Images and video appear to show him exposing his gun briefly, always pointing towards the snow on the ground.

Panicked residents shout, "He's got a gun," but others continue to lob snowballs his way.

The confrontation, which took place on Saturday, ended only when other policemen were despatched to the scene, and managed to calm everyone down.

A spokesman for the DC Metropolitan Police Department, Det Kenny Bryson, told the BBC on Sunday that he would not comment on the allegations and refused to identify the officer involved.

Det Bryson said the department was looking into the allegations of misconduct but that there was "nothing further" to report.

Police U-turn on photographers and anti-terror laws

Don’t use anti-terror laws to prevent pictures being taken, officers told

By Jerome Taylor and Mark Hughes

Saturday, 5 December 2009

Police forces across the country have been warned to stop using anti-terror laws to question and search innocent photographers after The Independent forced senior officers to admit that the controversial legislation is being widely misused.

The strongly worded warning was circulated by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) last night. In an email sent to the chief constables of England and Wales's 43 police forces, officers were advised that Section 44 powers should not be used unnecessarily against photographers. The message says: "Officers and community support officers are reminded that we should not be stopping and searching people for taking photos. Unnecessarily restricting photography, whether from the casual tourist or professional, is unacceptable."

Chief Constable Andy Trotter, chairman of Acpo's media advisory group, took the decision to send the warning after growing criticism of the police's treatment of photographers.

Writing in today's Independent, he says: "Everyone... has a right to take photographs and film in public places. Taking photographs... is not normally cause for suspicion and there are no powers prohibiting the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place."

He added: "We need to make sure that our officers and Police Community Support Officers [PCSOs] are not unnecessarily targeting photographers just because they are going about their business. The last thing in the world we want to do is give photographers a hard time or alienate the public. We need the public to help us.

"Photographers should be left alone to get on with what they are doing. If an officer is suspicious of them for some reason they can just go up to them and have a chat with them – use old-fashioned policing skills to be frank – rather than using these powers, which we don't want to over-use at all."

Section 44 of the Terrorism Act allows the police to stop and search anyone they want, without need for suspicion, in a designated area. The exact locations of many of these areas are kept secret from the public, but are thought to include every railway station in and well-known tourist landmarks thought to be at risk of terrorist attacks.

Many photographers have complained that officers are stopping them in the mistaken belief that the legislation prohibits photographs in those areas. Forces who use Section 44, most commonly London's Metropolitan Police, have repeatedly briefed and guided frontline officers on how to use the powers without offending the public.

But privately senior officers are "exasperated, depressed and embarrassed" by the actions of junior officers and, particularly, PCSOs who routinely misuse the legislation. One source said that an "internal urban myth" had built up around police officers who believe that photography in Section 44 areas is not allowed.

The aberrations have resulted in nearly 100 complaints to the police watchdog. Since April 2008 every complaint made by a member of the public about the use of Section 44 powers, unlike other complaints, must be forwarded to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. In the past 18 months there have been 94 complaints. Eight of these specifically mentioned the fact that the issue arose around photography. Acpo's communiqué has been welcomed by rank-and-file police officers and photographers alike.

Simon Reed, the chairman of the Police Federation, which represents England and Wales's 140,000 rank-and-file officers, said: "I think some new guidance will be welcome."

New orders: The message to officers

This is the message circulated by Andy Trotter, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, to police forces in England and Wales.

"Officers and PCSOs are reminded that we should not be stopping and searching people for taking photos.

"There are very clear rules around how stop-and-search powers can be used. However, there are no powers prohibiting the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place. Therefore members of the public and press should not be prevented from doing so.

"We need to co-operate with the media and amateur photographers. They play a vital role as their images help us identify criminals.

"We must acknowledge that citizen journalism is a feature of modern life and police officers are now photographed and filmed more than ever.

"However, unnecessarily restricting photography, whether from the casual tourist or professional is unacceptable and worse still, it undermines public confidence in the police service."

A personal viewpoint: 'I was reminded why I left the police'

I spent 27 years as a PC in the Met, but it was during a trip to my old police station with a friend late last year that I was starkly reminded why I eventually decided to leave.

Since 2003 I have been living in France, where I coach a children's rugby team not far from Toulouse. But last December my sister needed to see a specialist in Harley Street so I went with her and a rugby friend of mine back to London for the week.

While my sister went to the doctors I suggested to my friend, Will, that we should go and take a look at Albany Street police station near Regent's Park, which was where I spent my first eight years as a copper.

It's the kind of station that looks like something out of Dixon of Dock Green, it has a lovely little blue police light outside the entrance and I asked Will whether he'd take a picture of me standing underneath it. Within seconds we found ourselves approached by two PCSOs who told us that we were not allowed to take photographs of police stations.

I didn't want to be a sad old git by telling stories of my past and the nostalgia I felt for the place. So instead I said: "We're tourists. We want a picture of that Blue lamp, it's iconic and it represents London bobbies." But they didn't want any of it and ordered us to stop taking photographs. The second PCSO started asking Will for his details which he began to give before I informed him that he was under no obligation to do so.

I'd clearly failed what the police call "the attitude test" because they radioed for back-up from inside the police station and we were soon joined by a police constable. Often during my time as a policeman I would hear this policy. If someone was bolshy, argumentative or challenging in any manner, refusing to play by the police rules and not willing to show deference, then they had failed the "attitude test".

I guess I hoped the PC would show more common sense but he repeated the same line, that the police station was in a "sensitive zone" and that we had to stop taking photographs. Eventually we gave up and walked away.

  AP – In this Sept. 1, 2009 photo, Crittenden County Sheriff's Department Chief Investigator Thomas Martin …

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Writer – Thu Sep 3, 7:41 pm ET

JERICHO, Ark. – It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn't hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police and their speed traps.

The response from cops? They shot him. Right there in court.

Payne ended up in the hospital, but his shooting last week brought to a boil simmering tensions between residents of this tiny former cotton city and their police force. Drivers quickly learn to slow to a crawl along the gravel roads and the two-lane highway that run through Jericho, but they say sometimes that isn't enough to fend off the city ticketing machine.

"You can't even get them to answer a call because normally they're writing tickets," said Thomas Martin, chief investigator for the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department. "They're not providing a service to the citizens."

Now the police chief has disbanded his force "until things calm down," a judge has voided all outstanding police-issued citations and sheriff's deputies are asking where all the money from the tickets went. With 174 residents, the city can keep seven police officers on its rolls but missed payments on police and fire department vehicles and saw its last business close its doors a few weeks ago.

"You can't even buy a loaf of bread, but we've got seven police officers," said former resident Larry Harris, who left town because he said the police harassment became unbearable.

Sheriff's deputies patrolled Jericho until the 1990s, when the city received grant money to start its own police force, Martin said.

Police often camped out in the department's two cruisers along the highway that runs through town, waiting for drivers who failed to slow down when they reached the 45 mph zone ringing Jericho. Residents say the ticketing got out of hand.

"When I first moved out here, they wrote me a ticket for going 58 mph in my driveway," 75-year-old retiree Albert Beebe said.

The frequent ticketing apparently led to the vandalization of the cruisers, and the department took to parking the cars overnight at the sheriff's department eight miles away.

It was anger over traffic tickets that brought Payne to city hall last week, said his lawyer, Randy Fishman. After Payne failed to get a traffic ticket dismissed on Aug. 27, police gave Payne or his son another ticket that day. Payne, 39, returned to court to vent his anger to Judge Tonya Alexander, Fishman said.

It's unclear exactly what happened next, but Martin said an argument between Payne and the seven police officers who attended the hearing apparently escalated to a scuffle, ending when an officer shot Payne from behind.

Doctors in Memphis, Tenn., removed a .40-caliber bullet from Payne's hip bone, Martin said. Another officer suffered a grazing wound to his finger from the bullet.

Martin declined to name the officer who shot Payne. It's unclear if the officer has been disciplined.

Prosecutor Lindsey Fairley said Thursday that he didn't plan to file any felony charges against the officer or Payne. Fairley, reached at his home, said Payne could face a misdemeanor charge stemming from the scuffle, but that would be up to the city's judge. He said he didn't remember the name of the officer who fired the shot.

Payne remains in good condition at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. He referred questions to his lawyer.

"I know that he was unarmed and I know he was shot," Fishman said. "None of that sounds too good for the city to me."

After the shooting, Martin said police chief Willie Frazier told the sheriff's department he was disbanding the police force "until things calm down." The sheriff's department has been patrolling the town in the meantime.

A call to a city hall number listed as Frazier's went to a fax machine. Frazier did not respond to a written request for comment sent to his office.

Alexander, the judge, has voided all the tickets written by the department both inside the city and others written outside of its jurisdiction — citations that the department apparently had no power to write. Alexander, who works as a lawyer in West Memphis, resigned as Jericho's judge in the aftermath of the shooting, Fairley said. She did not return calls for comment.

Meanwhile, sheriff's deputies want to know where the money from the traffic fines went. Martin said that it appeared the $150 tickets weren't enough to protect the city's finances. Sheriff's deputies once had to repossess one of the town's police cruisers for failure to pay on a lease, and the state Forestry Commission recently repossessed one of the city's fire trucks because of nonpayment.

City hall has been shuttered since the shooting, and any records of how the money was spent are apparently locked inside. No one answered when a reporter knocked on the door on Tuesday.

Mayor Helen Adams declined to speak about the shooting when approached outside her home, saying she had just returned from a doctor's appointment and couldn't talk.

"We'll get with you after all this comes through," Adams said Tuesday before shutting the door.

A white Ford Crown Victoria sat in her driveway with "public property" license plates. A sales brochure advertising police equipment sat in the back seat of the car.

Police road-safety film becomes an internet hit

Graphic film warning teenagers about dangers of texting while driving is viewed 6m times on YouTube

 

A hard-hitting film designed to warn youngsters in south Wales about the danger of texting while driving has become an internet hit, attracting more than 6 million viewers around the world.

Clips of Gwent police's film Cow have been watched by people from South America to India and has helped fuel a national debate in the US. The force said it was surprised the film had reached so many people and that at one point it was the most viewed clip on YouTube.

The film tells the story of a fictional 17-year-old girl, Cassie Cowan (nickname Cow), who is distracted for a few seconds while driving with two friends.

She causes a devastating crash which kills her friends and another couple. The crash is portrayed in vivid and bloody detail.

A full 30-minute version, which stars local drama students, is due to be shown on BBC Wales in the autumn but the writer and director, Peter Watkins-Hughes, put a four-minute clip of it on the internet to show it to a friend. Within weeks the clip had been spotted by internet users, copied on to other sites and began attracting attention around the world.

Gwent police said today it believed the clip had been viewed at least 6 million times and had appeared on at least 17 sites.

The chief constable, Mick Giannasi, said he was surprised but encouraged by the way news of the film had spread via internet users.

"The messages contained in the film are as relevant to the people of Tennessee as they are to the residents of Tredegar," he said. "Texting and driving can have tragic consequences and the more this film is viewed, the better. Young people think they can text on auto-pilot because they do it so instinctively. For that reason we need to use strong imagery to get them to sit up and take notice.

He added: "We've had callers from Canada ringing our force control room to tell us how moved they've been by viewing the clip. Another young driver emailed me personally to say he was deeply moved by the film and that it should be shown as part of the theory test for young drivers."

Fox TV News in the US discussed the value of the shock tactics used in the film and the New York Times has written about it.

Watkins-Hughes said: "Texting while driving is a fairly new behaviour and this film aims to encourage people to modify their behaviour, making it socially unacceptable in the way that drink-driving is a social taboo.

"The film is hitting home because it has a hard edge and it taps into something that lots of people do but know they shouldn't. If we can get one person to change their behaviour then it will have been worthwhile."

Gwent police is now working on a learning pack to give to schools so every teenager over 14 can view the film.

Cop Investigated for
Feeding Gorillas
Pop-Tarts?

Zoo says Pop-Tarts are not part of
their diet

Published : Monday, 24 Aug 2009, 9:44 PM CDT

• MYFOX TWIN CITIES

SAINT PAUL, Minn. - A St. Paul police officer is under investigation after entering Como Zoo, after hours, to feed gorillas a snack.

Surveillance video captured the incident last January, around 2 a.m., when two zoo security guards snuck four to eight people into the zoo. Among the unauthorized visitors, was an off-duty St. Paul Cop.

The Como Zoo isn't sure if the gorillas actually ate the Pop-Tarts or not. Regardless, the gorillas appear to be doing just fine.

The three gorillas are named Schroeder, Gordy and Togo.

The Zoo says zoo-goers are not allowed to feed the animals.

The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped a case against a filmmaker from west London who was accused of stealing 0.003 pence worth of electricity.

Mark Guard, 44, entered a disused building to turn off an alarm after it was triggered by squatters.

But after he briefly turned on the lights in order to see the alarm, he was arrested and charged with dishonestly using electricity.

The CPS said there was "insufficient evidence to proceed with the case".

Mr Guard, who makes documentaries about the homeless, was watching as squatters entered the building in Camden, north London, on 1 August and set off a security sensor.

He told the Daily Mail newspaper: "I thought I was acting in the public interest.

"It was late in the evening and I knew families would have struggled to get to sleep if I hadn't done something.

"I even offered to pay 1p to the energy company which supplies electricity to the house, but it's not bothered about collecting such a paltry sum."

Trial by jury

Both Mr Guard and the squatters entered the building through an open window. They fled, but he was arrested by police who responded to the alarm.

The filmmaker first appeared in front of magistrates in Highbury, north London, earlier this month where he pleaded not guilty and elected to be tried by a jury.

But when he appeared again on Tuesday, the CPS chose to shelve the case.

A spokesman said: "We reviewed the evidence and decided that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the case."

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