Aha! Violent crime figures in dispute because police have been under-recording in 18 constabularies including Met. Nevertheless, overall figures continue to decline

Lots of good links from this article, so I have given it a separate posting.

It will make a great film. Allegedly, a security guard smuggles Belgian hackers into a Japanese bank in London. They installed cloning software to steal passwords, then returned at night to try to transfer money into bank accounts elsewhere in the world.

This isnt really crime, but its such a different take on things that I feel like including it on the blog for general interest.

EU aid to Melarus, ukraine and Moldova to fight human trafficking, corruption and smuggling achieving little, Court of Auditors say.

Article from The Observer magazine that argues that the Mafia in the US is in terminal decline. Except that the author covers himself right at the end. he may only be talking about the Gotti family and the credit crunch may re-empower the loan shark. Worth a read to tease out the arguments, though.

Article in Independent arguing that burglary robbery up significantly in UK in final four months of year, according to individual constabulary figures. The size of the increase suggests another change in methodology has occurred, but the Indy insists it’s the credit crunch. When interviewed, police spokespersons disagreed.

This is the Schengen Information System II. Plagued by idiots who believe IT salesmen and try to get it to do too much! This article mentions some of the specific problems, but there are a number of others. These deal primarily with the compatibility of Member States hardware and software systems, but there are legal … EU SECURITY DATABASE UPGRADE COULD BE SCRAPPED

Solano Cortez Jorge, suspected Colombian drug smuggler to be extradited to US. He and seven others arrested last October. 500K of cocaine allegedly seized. West Africa has become part of the smuggling network in recent years.

New York Times piece on fraudsters trying to con homeowners into paying money to avoid foreclosure…which doesnt avoid it at all. There are, apparently legitimate cpm[anies in this sector…and total scammers. Surprise, surprise, the sector isnt properly regulated. Coming across the Atlantic soon, if not here already.