Police operation in city centre well received by public
Police officers from Edinburgh's South East Community Policing Team, Public Protection, and Street Assist Edinburgh carried out a successful high-visibility road check on George Street on Friday night.
Operation Vigilant aims to target vehicles and individual drivers/passengers who routinely prey on vulnerable persons within Edinburgh's city centre.
The goal of the operation was to disrupt such activities and deter individuals from returning to the city centre.
The operation concluded with 132 vehicles stopped and checked and 17 offences detected.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'This was a successful operation, well received by licensed premises, taxi drivers, and members of the public.
'A terrific team effort — well done to everyone involved.'
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Edinburgh Reporter
27-04-2025
- Edinburgh Reporter
Police operation in city centre well received by public
Police officers from Edinburgh's South East Community Policing Team, Public Protection, and Street Assist Edinburgh carried out a successful high-visibility road check on George Street on Friday night. Operation Vigilant aims to target vehicles and individual drivers/passengers who routinely prey on vulnerable persons within Edinburgh's city centre. The goal of the operation was to disrupt such activities and deter individuals from returning to the city centre. The operation concluded with 132 vehicles stopped and checked and 17 offences detected. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'This was a successful operation, well received by licensed premises, taxi drivers, and members of the public. 'A terrific team effort — well done to everyone involved.' Like this: Like Related
BBC News
10-03-2025
- BBC News
Rosca Onya: War zones, gangs, prison, music
When Rosca Onya was nine, he came to London as a refugee. His native country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had descended into civil war. He and his brothers and sisters spent four years living in refugee camps, separated from their parents. The family was eventually reunited in the although it was a safer place than he had previously lived, London was no sanctuary for the his seven siblings and his mum and dad all squashed into a two-bedroom was picked on at school in Plumstead because he spoke no English, and home was made difficult by a father traumatised by his years of military detention, which he took out on his at home and at school, young Rosca found solace in the streets. "People made fun, but I had a group of older kids who used to look after me. "I got that sense of belonging that I was looking for, I didn't have any friends, so hanging around with the kids on the estate gave me a sense of belonging and I used to feel that they treated me well, so I latched onto that."We used to play football and they would buy me chicken and chips, and there would be a car pulling up and I would be asked to drop something into a car and that was it".He didn't understand at the time that he was being groomed by a gang, and the errands he did for the older children on the estate made him an accomplice in drug dealing. By the age of 17 he'd been arrested, charged with possession of a gun, convicted and sentenced to a four-year Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) - an indefinite sentence which has since been abolished. That four-year minimum term became 10 years in jail. In that time he was transferred to 16 different prisons. "I've been to Belmarsh, Isis (Young Offenders Institution)."They just kept moving me around. The one I stayed at for the longest is Grendon - a therapeutic jail." And it was there that Onya met his mentor, the young man who would change his life - Jack Merritt. Together, they successfully advocated for Onya's release, and after that they gave talks and speeches about prison reform. But in November 2019, Mr Merritt, a Cambridge graduate working to rehabilitate prisoners through the Learning Together programme, was a victim of the London Bridge was killed during one of his prison rehabilitation conferences, at the hands of terrorist Usman who had been on his way to the conference when it happened, said: "It had a massive impact for everyone who was involved, mentally, physically. "I wasn't in a good place for a long time." "Jack Merritt brought me understanding and peace and faith in humanity. In a nutshell that's what he brought to me, and love. "He didn't see an ex-this or ex-that - he just saw a human being that he wanted to connect with, and wanted to help."Onya's first musical success came with a tribute to Mr Merritt, released on the anniversary of his track Jack included the lyrics: The changes Jack wanted now happening fast,His name is the future and a bit of the past,He lives on strong with the lessons he taught,He lives on strong in every thought. Now 34, Onya uses music to heal."If you'd seen what I've seen through these eyes" he raps, referring to the DRC, but equally applicable to his lifetime of Heart Beat, a recording studio in Vauxhall, is dedicated to nurturing young talent. He has only been with his current band for a matter of weeks, but they are very much in tune with one another, blending rap, and afro-soul. He is also working towards helping young people who might find themselves in said he donates money from the proceeds of his shows to charities that "bring in young people and take them off the streets and give them opportunities."His advice to those youngsters is: "Don't quit. "Don't give up on yourself, don't go latching onto things that wouldn't serve you or get you in trouble later on, just keep focused and just do you. "Just keep going, and doing you." Onya said his struggles and losses have not been easy to deal with. "For me, prison taught me resilience and perseverance, especially not knowing when you're going home. "And you're going in front of people and they're saying next next year, and then you're eight years in. "For me prison taught me resilience."I believe that people do deserve a second chance. And I believe that we should really tap into young people and elevate them, because there's so much bad stuff happening out there."I just want to do my little bit, if I take three or four people with me, then I've done my job."
The Independent
28-12-2024
- The Independent
Jailed without hope: Ministers block 128 prisoners on indefinite jail terms from moving to open conditions
The government has blocked 128 prisoners trapped under cruel indefinite jail terms from moving to open conditions in the past 12 months, The Independent can reveal. Figures show the justice secretary has refused to allow scores of inmates serving abolished Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms to progress to an open prison despite the Parole Board recommending their transfer. Politicians and campaigners have hit out at the 'scandalous' number of prisoners being stopped from progressing to a lower category prison where they may be eligible for day release, warning it reinforces the sense that IPP is the sentence of 'no hope'. More than 2,600 are languishing under the 'torture sentences' with no release date 12 years after the indefinite terms were abolished amid human rights concerns. These include shocking injustices highlighted by The Independent such as James Lawrence, who is still in prison 18 years after he was handed an eight-month jail term; Thomas White, who set himself alight in his cell after serving 12 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery. At least 90 IPP prisoners have taken their own lives as they lose hope of ever being freed. The government has come under fire for refusing to resentence IPP inmates, with prisons minister James Timpson last month telling the House of Lords it was 'right' that release decisions are made by the independent Parole Board. Instead, he said IPP inmates must focus on progressing towards being approved for release by the Parole Board despite more than 700 having served at least 10 years longer than their minimum term. However, in answer to a parliamentary question from Labour MP Kim Johnson, justice minister Sir Nicholas Dakin said that the secretary of state is free to accept or reject the Parole Board's recommendations to move someone to an open prison. And figures reveal that the government has refused to follow Parole Board recommendations to progress IPP prisoners in 61 per cent of cases in the past year. In the first four months of 2024, under the previous Tory government, every single IPP prisoner recommended for progression was denied a move to open prison. The numbers allowed to transfer have increased since the Labour government was elected in July, although 45 per cent were still blocked from transferring in the last six months of 2024. The figures come as a former justice secretary called for thousands of prisoners to be moved to open prisons to tackle overcrowding and help prepare inmates for release, David Gauke, who has been commissioned by the government to lead a review of sentencing policy, believes the move would save money and help reduce reoffending. Urging ministers to look to Spain where one in four prisoners are allowed to leave prison walls during the day, he told The Times: 'We don't make as much use of open prisons as we might do.' Lord Woodley, who has tabled a private member's bill for IPP prisoners to be resentenced, said the figures of those blocked from moving to open prisons were 'scandalous'. 'Without wishing to sound cynical, some might say the government seem happy to hide behind the Parole Board when it suits them, but to ignore their advice when it doesn't,' he said. Reformed IPP prisoner Marc Conway, who was one of the heroes of the Fishmongers' Hall terror attack, said the shocking figures only serve to reinforce the feeling that IPP is the sentence of no hope. 'It is concerning that people have done everything that the Parole Board has asked and they have said they are in a good position to move to open conditions, then the government stepped in to override it,' he said. 'Rulings like this actually reinforce that IPP is the sentence of no hope. It will enforce their feeling that no one cares about them. 'It's the people at the top who have got the power. When you feel like you are fighting a whole establishment rather than an individual process you start to feel dehumanised. You start to feel like you are not worthy. These are all factors as to why people attempt suicide and self-harm.' Last year Nicholas Bidar, 36, became the first IPP prisoner to have his parole hearing held in public. He described himself as a political prisoner after he was recommended for transfer to open conditions in 2021, but this was blocked by Dominic Raab, the home secretary. He remains in maximum security HMP Long Lartin. A family member said the refusal to move him, despite the panel of parole board experts advising he was ready, was 'devastating'. 'His words to us afterwards were literally, 'I don't want to wake up, I don't want to be here,'' they told The Independent. 'He said, 'I am not coming home, I'm going to die here.' That's how he has felt since that happened.' Bernadette Emerson, co-founder of IPP Committee in Action, has been fighting for her husband Abdullahi Suleman, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery. She said the figures show why IPPs feel like they have 'no chance whatsoever'. 'They are trapping IPPs either way,' she said. 'Without resentencing going ahead what's going to happen for IPPs if the government is doing these blocks all the time? 'They need to drastically improve the situation for IPPs and give them the chance to progress to release and be given their life back.' A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'It is right that IPP sentences were abolished. We recently terminated the lifetime licences of more than 1,700 rehabilitated offenders, and are improving the rehabilitation and mental health support for those still in prison. 'The Lord Chancellor considers the recommendations from the independent Parole Board as to whether to place IPP prisoners in the open estate and public safety is at the heart of any decision.'
