Met Police officers to be 'microchipped' by top brass

[Appollynon]

I cuaght this yesterday in the British press, although there was no link to the story on the main page, I found it linked from another website. It seems it's not only the criminals that need to electronically tagged nowadays in the UK, but also the officers who arrest them. It seems to me like more programming to get the general public used to the idea of being "chipped" themselves, starting with the MET and private businesses who do this already to their employees.

I think with the revolt the Government has seen on the ID cards issue, they will try to get as many people chipped as possible by stealth. Articles such as this also bring up the thought in my mind, "Just what exactly do these chips do, other than act as receivers/transmitters for radio frequencies".

Call me a little paranoid, but I dont like the idea that these chips could be used to transmit in frequencies that could affect the working of the human body or brain functions. I have seen enough research regarding RFID chips, which has shown that by using a certain frequency (somewhat like HAARP and Richard Dolans expose of covert mind control technology) the functions of the muna body as well as the brain's natural equilibrium can be altered and tampered with at will.

I hope I am being overly paranoid, but part of me can't help thinking about instances such as peaceful marches and demonstrations where thousands of police may be deployed. All it would take is for these chips to get a signal to brodcast a frequency to heighten aggression in the user...all of a sudden you would have thousands of angry police coming your way fully armed with Pepper spray, Batons and Tasers.

http://www(dot)dailymail(dot)co(dot)uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=558597&in_page_id=1770

Met Police officers to be 'microchipped' by top brass in Big Brother style tracking scheme
Every single Metropolitan police officer will be 'microchipped' so top brass can monitor their movements on a Big Brother style tracking scheme, it can be revealed today.


According to respected industry magazine Police Review, the plan - which affects all 31,000 serving officers in the Met, including Sir Ian Blair - is set to replace the unreliable Airwave radio system currently used to help monitor officer's movements.

The new electronic tracking device - called the Automated Personal Location System (APLS) - means that officers will never be out of range of supervising officers.

But many serving officers fear being turned into "Robocops" - controlled by bosses who have not been out on the beat in years.

According to service providers Telent, the new technology 'will enable operators in the Service's operations centres to identify the location of each police officer' at any time they are on duty - whether overground or underground.

Although police chiefs say the new technology is about 'improving officer safety' and reacting to incidents more quickly, many rank and file believe it is just a Big Brother style system to keep tabs on them and make sure they don't 'doze off on duty'.

Some officers are concerned that the system - which will be able to pinpoint any of the 31,000 officers in the Met to within a few feet of their location - will put a complete end to community policing and leave officers purely at the beck and call of control room staff rather than reacting to members of the public on the ground.

Pete Smyth, chairman of the Met Police Federation, said: "This could be very good for officers' safety but it could also involve an element of Big Brother.

"We need to look at it very carefully."

Other officers, however, were more scathing, saying the new system - set to be implemented within the next few weeks - will turn them into 'Robocops' simply obeying instructions from above rather than using their own judgement.

One officer, working in Peckham, south London, said: "They are keeping the exact workings of the system very hush-hush at the moment - although it will be similar to the way criminals are electronically tagged. There will not be any choice about wearing one.

"We depend on our own ability and local knowledge to react to situations accordingly.

"Obviously we need the back up and information from control, but a lot of us feel that we will simply be used as machines, or robots, to do what we are told with little or no chance to put in anything ourselves."

He added: "Most of us joined up so we could apply the law and think for ourselves, but if Sarge knows where we are every second of the day it just makes it difficult."

Another officer, who did not want to be named, said: "A lot of my time is spent speaking to people in cafes, parks or just wherever I'm approached. If I feel I've got my chief breathing down my neck to make another arrest I won't feel I'm doing my job properly."

The system is one of the largest of its kind in the world, according to Telent, the company behind the technology, although neither the Met nor Telent would provide Police Review with any more information about exactly how the system will work or what sort of devices officers will wear.

Nigel Lee, a workstream manager at the Met, said: "Safety is a primary concern for all police forces.

"The area served by our force covers 620 miles and knowing the location of our officers means that not only can we provision resource more quickly, but should an officer need assistance, we can get to them even more quickly."

Forces currently have the facility to track all their officers through GPS devices on their Airwave radio headsets, but this is subject to headsets being up to date and forces buying the back office systems to accompany them, according to Airwave.

Steve Rands, health and safety head for the Met Police Federation, told Police Review: "This is so that we know where officers are. Let us say that when voice distortion or sound quality over the radio is lost, if you cannot hear where that officer telling you where he is, you can still pinpoint his exact position by global positioning system.

"If he needs help but you cannot hear him for whatever reason, APLS will say where he is."

Here is a brief summary of the company (Telent) in charge of providing the tracking devices.

telent Ltd supplies a broad range of communications support services to telecommunications operators, as well as to large enterprises and public sector agencies in the UK, Ireland and Germany, leveraging its accumulated knowledge of customers’ networks, its expert field force, its scale and reputation for quality.

Formerly the UK and German services business of Marconi Corporation plc, the company was renamed telent Ltd in January 2006 on the sale of the telecommunications equipment and international services business to Ericsson. telent de-listed on 07 January 2008 following its acquisition by Pension Corporation.

Our broad services capability is demonstrated at its best with the wide range of successful complex projects we have deployed for our customers. Spanning telecommunications network operators, government and defence sectors telent’s Turnkey Solutions capability is second to none.