Richie's Police Report

Police Funerals - a moving experience Police funerals are moving affairs, particularly where an officer dies on duty.  Colleagues in uniform coming together to mourn a loss.  Often attendees do not know the deceased officer well or even at all, but they do feel a common bond with their colleague.  This arrises through an understanding of and participation in a shared role which is always challenging an often dangerous.  America was the scene of one police funeral this week. Following the murder of the two NYPD cops last week the funeral of one of the officers, Rafael Ramos, was held on Saturday.  This was a massive affair.  Jet Blue , which is a bit of an American up-market Easyjet, offered free flights to officers attending the funeral from across America.  This was an offer which was taken up by many.  Officers came from across the States to show support for their dead colleague as did cops from Canada and  several other nations.  What is, of course, significant abo

Police Murders  Now, there is nobody who can argue America has policing absolutely sussed, and having looked at a number of services here, I think there is much the service in the States can do to improve.  I also think the majority of officers do all they can to do a good job in trying circumstances in a land where there is a genuine concern that the next person one deals with may have a gun and be prepared to use it.  So with this in mind, it was greatly concerning this week to hear that two cops in New York had been assassinated simply for being cops.  Assassinated.  There is no other word for it.  Nothing can justify that or be offered in mitigation.  This was simply two guys murdered because of what they did for a living.  Reflect on that for a minute.  Just two guys murdered at their work.  We would be outraged it they were doctors, teachers or plumbers. The big worry for many is that this may be the start of something more sinister with the return to darker days a

Kids are expensive these days... Its always nice to have something in common with people you meet, family is often something I talk about, particularly where I meet other fathers whose kids are similarly aged to mine.  This week I got a real sense of the cost of having a child…not the clothes, or the toys, or the food or even the schooling, the actual cost of having a child in the States. When my two were born it was off to the Royal and despite the pain (Rhona squeezed my had so hard when Eilidh was being born I never thought the bruising would go) our kids arrived safely and healthily and Rhona was well looked after throughout.   Eilidh was born on a bed and Gregor in an operating theatre.  After Gregor we left the hospital after a week and with Eilidh we left a few hours after her birth.  In both cases, we were visited each day at home, for about a week, by a midwife.  It cost us nothing for these great services that helped ensure our family arrived safely and wer

The Capitol - is that how you  spell it? The Capitol is an impressive place.  It holds the lower house, Congress, where representatives are elected for 2 year terms - too short; and the Senate, which is the upper house, where Senators are elected for six year terms - too long; in my view. The debate style was very different to the UK.  It appeared to me that each sid e had a time limit and the leaders of the debate on each side was able to give time to members  to speak.   For example, a member may be ‘recognised’ for ninety seconds or two minutes etc, depending on what the leader thought best and when that time was up…bang: the gavel came down.   Very different but still quite similar. The building contains a huge number of statues.  There are two each from every state plus the few that Congress have instructed to by made.  It can appear a bit cluttered.  Anyway, the one at the top caught my eye.  This is the statue of Rosa Parks who, in 1955 helped change this