One Mile Apart: fitting the profile (opinions)

Stop and Search powers are put in place to protect society. This law give police officers the right to question and inspect any citizen for weapons, drugs, stolen property or anything that could be used in a crime. But how do they deduce who to stop and search? 1. If serious violence could take place, 2. If you are carrying a weapon or have carried one before, 3. You're in a specific location or area. All but the second demand a police officer to use their own judgement and determine from who could be a criminal based on their appearance and body language.

Fitting the profile: Joshua Saunders |  Photography: One Mile Away

A recurring theme I've witnessed with my own eyes has been black teenagers and adults stopped and searched by police, while white friends are allowed to walk by without being searched.

Our country's legal system abides by the foundation that a person is 'innocent until proven guilty' but under the stop and search powers, police officers, and from my experience of West Midlands Police, appear to be targeting black males more than any others race. The apparent profile appears to be a black male wearing a tracksuit, chains, or a hoodie. A profile which naturally must mean an individual who fits that description is carry either a gun or a knife, is a part of gang culture or is simply up to no good.

In Channel 4 documentary Miles Apart, which was released a couple of weeks ago this issue became evidently more apparent. The programme recorded former gang members from Birmingham's Johnson Crew and Burger Bar Boys attempting to cease the warfare, which until recently was still ongoing between the two rival groups, as it has been for the past few of decades.

Throughout the course of the film, West Midlands Police pursued host Dylan Duffus and filmmaker Penny Woolcock. The team filmed during the Birmingham Riots of 2011, and also recorded every interaction the pair had with the police, who demanded their tapes several times and even searched Woolcock's house. Fortunately she had hidden them elsewhere in a friend's China cabinet, or the film may never have been made. West Midlands Police went onto threaten the pair and Channel 4 that if they did not put up a credit at the end of their documentary declaring that the police may have been portrayed in a negative then they would attempt to sue them for a second time. The first unsuccessful court case was for Woolcock's refusal to hand over the film rushes, which they claimed could contain evidence of criminal activity.

In the documentary the police were shown in a negative way, not through editing but via the raw footage depicting police officers searching black males for nothing more than a stereotyped and prejudicial fear that assumes that any black individual fitting the profile could be a danger to society. This unfair presumption widens the gap between police and the society they serve, and in future, instead of trying ban a film which accurately represented action of some officers from West Midlands Police force, they should be accountable, learn from it and change.

Social media mobs strike again as Youth PCC Paris Brown resigns

Opinion: The day the ad man stole your best friend

One dog dominating the family's TV viewing, 'Yes we will watch Beethoven again' | Taro the Shiba Inu

(Featured in The Bournemouth Rock - March 2nd)

“When a man’s best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem,” American author Edward Abbey once said. 

The unbreakable bond between man and canine companion at one point was utterly undeniable it stretched throughout life, literature and even videos. 

Consider all of the things that wouldn’t have happened had it not have been for one man and dog...  

Would the world have been as humorous a place without the Youtube sensation ‘Ultimate Dog Tease’ or Bizzle the dog-man's insatiable appetite for DairyLea Dunkers? Could Chance have found his way Homeward Bound if not for the love of owner Jamie? Or even hopeless ‘meddling kids’ Shaggy and Scooby, would they have caught countless criminals if one of them was absent? 

And what about that meadow, would it have been mowed if not for the eponymous one man and his dog*? 

Answer: I think not.  *Google it, for the love of outdated references! 

Soon this unspoken agreement between man and his four-legged friend may truly be over… 

And all thanks to ITV broadcasting the UK’s first-ever commercial aimed to pester your pooch.  

The adverts in question uses sounds and noises set to the frequency of 16,000hertz that are only audible dogs and a miniscule handful of humans. Scientists testing the advert for pet-food company Purina found that dogs: “pricked up their ears and paid attention to the product being advertised.”  

Which then presumably gives the illusion that the dog favours a certain brand and ‘wants’ that dog treat, snack or toy - sending it’s uneducated owner into a spending frenzy. 

This first of its kind ad was shown during the 7.15pm advert break of Emmerdale on Feb 13. Produced by dog food makers Bakers Complete it spoofed the Great Escape, showings dogs hijacked a van full of treats and ending up suspended over a cliff with the snacks on one side and the dogs on the other. 

On YouTube one man filmed his dog’s response to the advert. His Yorkshire terrier reacted by barking at the screen while happily dashing around the room, before getting a toy without any command.  

This for someone unaware of this terrier tempting advert, would think that their pet was trying to tell them something. 

Somewhere right this second, there will be a person out in a supermarket stocking up on the food they believe their pet is in awe of.  

Don't let the ad-man steal your adorable animal | Jordon Cooper

And if advertisers have this power to communicate with our pets through sound what else could they make them do? Poop on the carpet, piddle in your tea, run away from your loving home? Howls of horror! The possibilities are worrying and endless. 

Leading us to a world dominated by ad-men and women who would steal your Labrador’s litters and convinces your mad mutt to abandon you, all for a quick sale. This grim reality faces all pet owners – it may have started as just barking for the moment but in the blink of an eye you’ll be pet less and without any way of preventing it…  

Well that or you could just never turn your television off mute…

Opinion: Frankie Cocozza saint or sinner?

To be published in the Bournemouth Rock Feb 16. 
(Frankie Cocozza: anti-christ or all things nice?)

Frankie Cocozza – the name that will either leave your heart aflutter or fill your fists with fury.  

Please note: if you’re the latter you’re probably not going to enjoy this piece too much. 

I pose it to you that specimen F, mister Cocozza, is not anywhere near as bad as you are led to believe.  

First of all, women surely you should know better. There is no illusion whatsoever that our lady-loving lothario has any intentions of settling down and making an honest woman of you at all. Any sexual relations with him are simply that and little more than another tattoo on his bum. Frankly, let’s face it if you’re sat expectantly waiting for him to call you the next morning, you may want to bring snacks. Those delusional dozen who think otherwise are what a good friend of mine would describe as ‘oxygen thieves’. 

Well how about the cocaine ey, Frankie coke-up-the-nose-a? I hear you say. Guilty, while it’s not the best excuse, we’ve all made mistakes. I mean mine personally don’t include Class-A drugs on an every day basis, but surely being booted off the X-Factor and ruining an already tarnished music career is punishment enough!  

What about his dreadful music? Okay now, no need to get nasty. I’ll admit his cover of ‘I’ve got a feeling’ was torturous to listen too. Apparently scientists are in the process of implementing it as a replacement to the dog whistle next year. But in a world where Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black and Vanilla Ice can all be played on the radio a wannabe 19-year-old singer from Brighton is the least of our worries. 

To conclude, since being booted off X-factor and sadly ending as the runner-up in Celebrity Big Brother, I can hardly say he has been a reformed character or that he left his sordid stunts behind him. But at a time when dark clouds overhang our ‘broken society’ I cannot begrudge the lad a bit of ‘living like a rock-star’ fun.