The London Mayoral election shows how politicians talk about crime-related issues and provides clues as to what we can expect from Police and Crime Commissioners

The London mayoral campaign provides insight into what we can expect to hear from candidates for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) that are to be introduced later this year. Tim Newburn sees this as a mixed bag. On one hand, the misuse of statistics will lead to confusion and mistrust of those standing for office, and, in reality, the ability of mayors and PCCs to drastically affect crime rates is profoundly limited. On the other hand, and more positively, it might stimulate vigorous debate on crime and justice issues and give an opportunity for the introduction of innovative ideas

Book review: Undercover: the true story of Britain’s secret police

"Undercover: The True Story of Britain’s Secret Police." Rob Evans and Paul Lewis. Faber and Faber. June 2013. --- Undercover, written by Guardian journalists Rob Evans and Paul Lewis, aims to reveal the truth about secret police operations – the emotional turmoil, the psychological challenges and the human cost of a lifetime of deception – and asks whether such tactics can ever be justified. An important account of police cover-ups, finds Tim Newburn, with heavy implications for public trust in the police

Growth Management Policies for Exurban and Suburban Development: Theory and an Application to Sonoma County, California

This study examines the effectiveness of growth management policies on influencing future patterns of exurban and suburban development. We initially estimate a spatially explicit model of residential development with parcel data in Sonoma County, California. This estimated model is then used to simulate the effect of urban growth boundaries (UGBs) versus allowing municipal sewer service expansion. The UGB policy decreases the amount of suburban development but is less effective in managing exurban development. The downzoning policy in agricultural and resource areas reduces the amount of exurban development, but only partially due to the prevalence of grandfathered lots in rural areas.exurban development, urban growth boundaries, sprawl, spatial modeling, urban fringe, Land Economics/Use,

Cameron’s crime speech was a delicate balancing act ofburnishing the Prime Minister’s credibility and keeping asmany key constituencies as possible onside whilst doing so

Tim Newburn analyses David Cameron's recent speech on crime and argues that it was not really about moving the debate on but aimed at grabbing headlines and enhancing the image of the Prime Minister. This underlines a consistent pattern amongst politicians of talking tough on crime more frequently than intelligently on crime prevention

The International Halley Watch: A program of coordination, cooperation and advocacy

To prevent a repetition of the lack of reporting and dissemination of the data obtained during the 1910 observations of Comet Halley, a mechanism is proposed for coordinating the work of scientists and amateurs, including government, industrials, and academic personnel during the 1985-86 apparition of Comet Halley. Specialists from each discipline, in consultation with other experts in the field, would recommend specific objectives, standards, data format, and priorities for observations in that discipline. Following time for individual publication, scientists would be invited to contribute results to a multivolume compilation containing as complete as possible a record of the apparition. It is suggested that the discipline specialists be selected jointly by the IHW leader an by an international steering group with members from COSPAR, the IAU, etc., perhaps in response to some form of international announcement of opportunity

Reflections on why riots don’t happen

In contrast to much of the literature in the field of public disorder, rather than focusing on the nature and aetiology of riots, in this paper I investigate why riots don’t happen. During times of widespread disorder there are some locations that, whilst apparently sharing many of the features of the places where significant disorder is occurring, do not fall prey to rioting themselves. Why? Against the backdrop of the 2011 England riots – though the arguments developed here have international application - I use two case studies involving semi-structured interviews with key informants in two such locations to reflect on why riots don’t happen. Initially drawing on Waddington’s ‘flashpoints’ model, I argue that it was primarily matters at an interactional level that appear to have been crucial in the absence of riots in these particular cases. In order to facilitate a more detailed analysis at this level in particular, I propose some elaboration of the flashpoints approach, using Reicher’s ‘social identity’ model, as the basis understanding the nature of police-crowd and police-community interaction

Book review: Hillsborough voices: the real story told by the people themselves by Kevin Sampson (in association with the Hillsborough Justice Campaign)

On 15 April 1989, 96 people were crushed to death and another 766 injured at the Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest football clubs. Following new inquests, earlier this year a jury ruled that those who died in the disaster had been unlawfully killed. In Hillsborough Voices, Kevin Sampson – in association with the Hillsborough Justice Campaign – foregrounds the memories and first-hand testimonies of survivors, friends, families, footballers, campaigners and politicians. This is an extraordinarily powerful account told by those who have fought for 27 years for the truth to be known, writes Tim Newburn

The status of the international Halley watch

More than 1000 professional astronomers worldwide actually observed Halley's comet from the ground. Preliminary logs from the observers indicate that 20-40 Gbytes of data were acquired in eight professional disciplines and as much as 5 Gbytes in the amateur network. The latter will be used to fill in gaps in the Archive and to provide a visual light curve. In addition roughly 400 Mbytes of data were taken on Comet Giacobini-Zinner. Data will be accepted for archiving until early 1989. The permanent archive will consist of a set of CD-ROMs and a set of books, publication of both to be completed by mid-1990. Data from the space missions will be included but only on the CDs. From every indication, the ground based effort and the space missions complimented each other beautifully, both directly in the solution of spacecraft navigation problems and indirectly in the solution of scientific problems. The major remaining concern is that scientists submit their data to the Archive before the 1989 deadline

A most extraordinary scandal: Hillsborough

A few days over 27 years and justice may finally have been done. After new inquests that have been sitting for two years, a jury decided that the football fans who died in the Hillsborough stadium disaster on 15 April 1989 were unlawfully killed. Local Merseyside MP, Andy Burnham, described what occurred since that day as ‘the greatest miscarriage of justice of our time’. Why? Tim Newburn gives his reaction to the verdict

Civil unrest in Ferguson was fuelled by the Black community’s already poor relationship with a highly militarized police force

On August 9th, an unarmed 18-year old Black teenager, Michael Brown, was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis. The following two weeks saw protests and riots in the town, culminating in the Governor of Missouri calling in the National Guard on August 18th. Tim Newburn takes a close look at the unrest in Ferguson, writing that it has parallels with similar riots in London in August, 2011. Both were sparked by the oppressive policing of black neighborhoods, but the most distinctive feature of the unrest in Ferguson was the militarized nature and reaction of local police forces