Interesting Facts

Police in the UK only solve 1 in 10 burglaries. (According to crime statistics, £2 billion worth of goods have been stolen over the past 6 years, but only £137 million worth recovered. Some newspapers are blaming the cuts in front-line-officers over the past 6 years, but there is no surprise for me here. We were broken into 4 times, and no one ever got back to us on any of the cases, including the one where the burglars left a knife covered in oily prints. (We also lived just down the road from a police station.) People being quoted in the press are saying things like "They just don't seem to care", well my friends, they didn't care in the past either.)

21st March 1960 - More than 50 people were killed in the South African township of Sharpeville when police opened fire on a "peaceful" protest. The death toll rose to 69 and the number of injuries to 180.

3rd March 1284 - The Statute of Rhuddlan was signed and Wales became a territory under the English crown. 1991 - A home video captured three Los Angeles police officers beating motorist Rodney King. (Four LAPD officers were later tried in a state court for the beating but were acquitted. The announcement of the acquittals sparked the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.)

Seemingly police in Yorkshire have been hiding speed cameras in rural areas - in tractors. (After a spate of accidents, they are trying to catch speeding motorcyclists, but it seemss a bit sneaky to me. I bet they've been having a field day.  (Sorry).)

Police forces across the UK will no longer be applying a margin of error for people driving over the speed limit. (For many years British motorists have relied on police allowing a ‘small margin for error’ when the speed dial creeps over the limit. Traditionally, this has been set at 10% plus 2mph of the posted speed limit, so in a 50mph zone, that would be 5mph plus an extra 2mph before the police would have issued a ticket or fine. However, new technology is so accurate that police chiefs are giving the order to crack down on anyone driving over the speed limit, in order to stem the rising number of deaths and serious injuries on British roads. In Scotland, the police force has announced it is abandoning the previous discretionary allowance and will issue any driver exceeding the speed limit by even 1mph with a warning.)

A teacher has become the first person in the UK to be turned away from MacDonald's for failing a breathalyser test. (The tipsy 25-year-old teacher was refused entry to the fast food outlet in the early hours of a Sunday after failing a breathalyser test at the door. This is all part of a scheme funded by Cambridgeshire Police. I would think they'll be turning away a lot of people.)

Here's a scary statistic: According to crime figures, there has been a 60% rise in the number of children in the UK being investigated by police for violent crimes against their parents. (The number of suspects aged 17 or under in the Metropolitan Police area rose to 1,437 in 2014 from 895 in 2012. The youngest was just seven. I'm not sure what you can do if your own child attacks you. There's even a helpline, Parentline Plus, for parents who face this kind of abuse. Scary!)

According to a new study conducted at Loughborough University, drivers who are dehydrated can be as dangerous as those who are drunk or on drugs. (The study showed that drivers who drank only 25 ml of water an hour made more than twice the number of mistakes as drivers who had drunk enough water. Professor Maughan, who published the findings, said, “We all deplore drink driving, but we don't usually think about the effects of other things that affect our driving skills, and one of those is not drinking and dehydration. There is no question that driving while incapable through drink or drugs increases the risk of accidents, but our findings highlight an unrecognised danger and suggest that drivers should be encouraged to make sure they are properly hydrated.” I can see it now:- Policeman: "Sir, you are 3 times over the legal limit." Driver: "At least I'm not dehydrated, officer.")

According to data from 28 police forces in England and Wales, 50% of crimes reported to police are unsolved. (The shocking figures also show that nearly three quarters of cases of theft, criminal damage and arson cases this year were classed as "investigation complete, no suspect identified". This doesn't surprise me in the least.  When we lived in Bristol, we were burgled 4 times, and no one was ever caught, even though the thieves left a knife covered in oily marks that were obviously finger prints.  After that we bought a burglar alarm.)

In 1946 the first (very primitive) mobile phone was used by the Swedish police force.  After 6 calls the battery died. An early mobile phone weighed 80lbs. Early phones could run for about 30 minutes, and took 10 hours to recharge. Explore more visuals like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually .

CC3.0 http://rdtsod.deviantart.com/ A Belgian police officer, Jacques Joseph Hamoir, is believed to have been the model for Agatha Christie's famous Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot. (Researchers think that Agatha Christie met Hornais when she played the piano for him in her home town of Torquay. Hornais, a retired gendarme fled Belgium in the face of advancing German troops and made his way to England in 1914, as did the fictional Poirot.) Source Thanks to  +april sis .

According to a freedom of information request, the Metropolitan Police in London spend up to £100 every time a light-bulb needs changing. (A maintenance firm is paid this amount if a light-bulb " urgently " needs replacing. In "non-urgent" cases it costs a mere £26. I think I have found my new calling. I've always wanted to bring more light into the world.)

According to figures released under the Freedom of Information act, police officers in the UK took 250,000 days of sick leave due to stress-related illness in 2013. (12 forces also saw rises in stress-related sick days of more than 50%. The reason given is cuts in police numbers, and Police Federation chairman Steve Williams said: “It is inevitable that the pressure to do more and more with fewer resources will impact on some officers’ health and well-being." I would think it's enough that it's a very stressful job.)

Clare's Law is aimed at protecting women (and men) from violent abuse by their partners. (The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme means that police can disclose previous convictions for violence, even if a person has not requested it. It is called Clare's Law after Clare Wood, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend.  It was revealed after his trial that he had a horrific history of violence against women. Miss Woods’ father Michael Brown campaigned for a change in the law.) !Note - According to The Wright Stuff, 400 people investigated a partner during the pilot scheme.

According to figures recently released by the Office for National Statistics, the use of Tasers by police in England and Wales has more than doubled; from 3,500 a year in 2009 to 7,250 in 2011. (In around 25% of cases, the taser is used as a pain compliance weapon, where the cartridge is removed and used to inflict pain, a kind of stun gun. In 2008 changes to the law allowed the weapons to be used by any police officer after just three days' training. They probably think they're Jedi warriors.)

According to a survey conducted by Mothercare, when British children were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, more boys than girls dreamt of becoming dancers, the girls wanted to be footballers. (Children aged between two and 12,were asked what they wanted to be, and the following careers proved most popular:- Doctor (9%) Footballer (8%) Teacher (8%) Dancer (6%) Police officer (5%) Firefighter (4%) Scientist (4%) Musician (4%) Actor (2%) Nurse (2%) The top 5 jobs for boys:- Doctor (11%) Footballer (10%) Dancer (8%) Teacher (6%) Police officer (6%) The top 5 jobs for girls:- Doctor (8%) Teacher (8%) Footballer (7%) Dancer (5%) Police officer (5%) What? No lawyers? The future is looking bright.)

According to a recent review to assess levels of fitness in Britain's police, over half of Metropolitan Police officers are overweight. (To be exact, 52 per cent of male officers and staff were overweight, 22 per cent were obese and 1 per cent were morbidly obese. You would think that chasing all those criminals would keep them fit.)

Andy Sharp is Britain’s fattest policeman. (Mr Sharp weighs in at a whopping 29st. How could he be a policeman you might ask, well - there's only one fitness test you need to pass, and that's when you join. I don't know if it's the same in other countries. Mr Sharp was hunted down by the Sun newspaper, which let's face it couldn't have been difficult, you couldn't really miss him and once you spotted him he probably couldn't run away.)

Between 2010 and 2012, the Metropolitan Police made over 110,000 calls to the Speaking Clock. (This might sound funny, but it cost more than £35,000! So, if you want to know the time, please don't ask a policeman.  It costs too much!)

25% of all solved crimes in London escape punishment. (According to figures obtained through a freedom of information request by a Conservative London assembly member, Tony Arbour, they end up in the issue of a caution instead of a prosecution, and nearly 29,000 cautions were handed to criminals by the Metropolitan police in the year to March. Some of these were for minor offences, but not all: 5,843 were given out for violent attacks, 165 for sexual offences and five for rape, while 180 offenders were cautioned for grievous bodily harm or wounding, 131 for robbery and 318 for drug-trafficking.)