| 4 Chinese women among dead in US shooting | |
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| Apr 5, 2009 16:00 |   |
 | Source: Agencies | 2009-4-6 | NEWSPAPER EDITION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOUR Chinese women were among the 13 people killed last Friday in a shooting spree by a lone gunman at an immigrant services center in Binghamton, New York. Another Chinese national was injured. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi spoke to his United States counterpart Hillary Clinton on the phone yesterday. "This was a very serious incident and the Chinese government is deeply concerned about it," Yang said. "We grieve over the death of the Chinese nationals and other victims, and our condolences go to the injured people as well as the victims' families," he said. China hoped the US would provide the victims' families with timely and sufficient assistance as well as help with getting visas for America, Yang said. Clinton extended condolences to the Chinese victims and their families. She said the shooting was a tragedy and investigations were under way into the cause. She pledged every effort would be made to offer medical treatment to the injured Chinese and to provide the victims' families with timely and comprehensive assistance to get visas to the US. In New York, Deputy Consul General Shi Yong said he was already in contact with some of the victims' families and acting on their requests had already communicated with relevant departments in China so visits to the United States and other relevant issues could be dealt with. Chinese consuls have already visited an exchange student from China who was among the wounded, he said. The consuls also visited the school where the student studied, and an insurance company so as to ensure the best possible treatment for him and to facilitate visits by his family. The student, who sustained gunshot wounds to his arm and leg, is in a stable condition following surgery, Shi said. |
| Apr 5, 2009 16:02 | #1 |
| Thirteen people were killed and four others wounded in the shooting spree. Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan described the shooting as "a tragedy that affects many different people from many different countries and their families and friends." Police are still reaching around the globe to notify families of those killed by 41-year-old Jiverly Wong, who was apparently upset about losing his job at a vacuum plant and about people picking on him for his limited English. The process of notifying families has been slow because of the many different languages the victims spoke and their far-flung homelands. Raini Baudendistel, executive director of the Crime Victims Assistance Center of Binghamton, said yesterday that her agency's counselors were "trying to provide emotional support and guidance and make referrals as appropriate." She said victims' families were eligible for up to US$6,000 from the state crime victims board to help pay for funeral expenses. It remains unclear why Wong, strapped on a bulletproof vest, barged in on the citizenship class and started shooting. Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said: "He must have been a coward." Wong had apparently been preparing for a gun battle with police but turned the gun on himself when he heard sirens approaching, he said. Police and Wong's acquaintances portrayed him as an angry, troubled man who struggled with drugs and job loss and perhaps blamed his adopted country for his troubles. "He felt degraded because people were apparently making fun of his poor English speaking," Zikuski said. Until last month, he had been taking classes at the American Civic Association. Wong, who was born in Vietnam, moved to the US in the early 1990s. |
| Apr 5, 2009 21:29 | #2 |
| Another needless tragedy, possibly brought on by an individual seeking a better life in the States only to find false utopia and scorn. These events do not bode well for those individuals staunch in the "right to bear arms" And I am very suspicious of these type of stories being overplayed as an excuse to justify disarmament of the citizens. Ammunition is already a scarce commodity and what good is a firearm without ammo? 'Nuff said |
| Apr 5, 2009 23:51 | #3 |
| GUESTEXAS | Guns do not kill, people do - which part of it don't you understand |
| Apr 6, 2009 00:21 | #4 |
| A shotgun answer you have provided and you're the part I don't understand But, neither does anyone else so I'm not too bothered or concerned with it. |
| Apr 6, 2009 08:33 | #5 |
| Gary, stupidity cannot be replace, is part of ignorance. Your Great Britain is not better, only worse, because of the degree of hate crimes. Murder rate increasing amid epidemic of knife and gun crime The murder rate has risen in England and Wales in the past year, crime figures are expected to show next week. Amid rising concerns over an epidemic of knife and gun crime - there were six fatal stabbings in one day this week - some forces have reported a doubling in killings. On Thursday, there were four stabbings in London, one in West Bromwich in the West Midlands and a sixth in Tarleton in Lancashire. On Friday, a 17-year-old youth was shot dead in Sheffield's Burngreave area in what was described as the latest in an escalating war between youths from rival "postcode gangs" in the area. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised further measures to tackle knife crime would be announced on Monday, following on from the announcement of a 75-strong task force aimed at tackling knife crime in the capital. His pledge came as Metropolitan Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the recent murders "graphically illustrated" the need for everyone to pull together to end the spate of deaths. "There has been a tragic death toll from knife crime in London over a 24 hour period," he said. "Four men have been killed - one a teenager - and a fifth remains critically ill. Each is an absolute tragedy. "The dreadful loss of life in just 24 hours graphically illustrates the need for everyone to pull together to put an end to this unacceptable violence." Next week, the Home Office is set to release annual police crime statistics for all 43 police forces in England and Wales. |
| Apr 6, 2009 08:34 | #6 |
| A survey of 24 forces by The Daily Telegraph found that 12 had recorded a jump in murders and two showed no change in their murder figures in the past year. Although the overall number of murders was up fractionally, six forces saw increases of 50 per cent or more, while the murder rate in North Yorkshire and Norfolk doubled - although they were relatively low. Metropolitan Police reported the most incidents, with 167 murders in 2007/8, up from 158. There were other big rises in Lancashire, where murders went up by five to 48 and in Avon and Somerset where the number of homicides jumped from 11 to 16. Overall, the number of murders for the 24 forces surveyed increased from 459 to 461. Separate figures obtained by the Tories' shadow police reform minister David Ruffley showed that there had been a 21 per cent increase in the numbers of homicides in the past decade, from 609 in 1997 to 734 in 2006/07. Over the same period, the numbers of male victims rose by 40 per cent, from 395 in 1997 to 547 in 2006/07. There was also a 29 per cent increase in the numbers killed by sharp instruments, such as knives, from 200 in 1997 to 258 in 2006/07. Mr Ruffley said: "This makes a mockery of repeated Government promises that violent crime is lower than 10 years ago. "The Government's claims that violent crime is down just do not measure up with the everyday experience of people in Britain today." The Daily Telegraph also collected statistics for incidents of violence against the person from 26 forces and found that one in five forces had reported an increase. Overall, the forces reported 568,000 violent attacks, down six per cent from 607,000 in the year before. Five forces recorded an increase in numbers of violent crime, with the biggest in Northamptonshire where police recorded a five per cent increase in assaults to 10,610 incidents. Just three of the 26 forces recorded separate figures for knife crime and the only force to record an increase in knife crime was Thames Valley, which logged 240 incidents, up from 236. Elsewhere the Metropolitan Police recorded 10,108 incidents, down from 11,717 and Humberside Police recorded 642 incidents, down from 783. Gun crime was also down in all three. |
| Apr 6, 2009 08:35 | #7 |
| The Met reported the most incidents, with 174,000 incidents of violence against the person, down from 180,000 the year before. Most of the forces reported crime statistics for the year to the end of March, however three used figures to the end of May and two for the year to the end of June. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was said to be pleased that the violent crime statistics are likely to show a fall. A Home Office spokesman said: "The British Crime Survey shows that violent crime has fallen by a third over the past 10 years and we are determined to drive it down further." However experts have cautioned against reading to much into police figures because often people's perceptions of crime can be far worse. Richard Garside, from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London, said: "Just because the police are recording less violent offences doesn't necessarily mean less are happening. "I don't put too much weight on police violence statistics because they're very susceptible to police recording patterns and individuals' decisions about reporting crime." |
| Apr 6, 2009 08:37 | #8 |
| GREAT BRITAIN.....'This crime ruins people's lives' The case of Kirk Reid - yesterday convicted of assaulting 25 women - has exposed severe failings in rape investigations. Rachel Williams talks to a teenager whose own allegation was so badly handled that it led to a damning internal police inquiry • The Guardian, Friday 27 March 2009 • Article history Rebecca suffers distressing flashbacks, both of her rape and cross-examination. Photograph: Teri Pengilley/Guardian In spring 2005, Sally noticed that there was something wrong with her daughter Rebecca. The 15-year-old was constantly crying, taking two or three baths a day, and was unable to sleep, being plagued with nightmares. Sally pleaded with Rebecca to explain what was upsetting her, but to no avail until her daughter finally woke her one night at 4am. She said that six weeks earlier she had met a man who had seemed friendly, but the next day he had raped her. Sally and Rebecca went straight to the police and were initially impressed by the response. A specially trained officer took Rebecca's statement; she was treated with sensitivity and felt she was being taken seriously. She handed over her mobile phone for testing and a few days later made an official video statement. But as time went on mother and daughter became increasingly concerned that no arrest had been made. This was despite the fact that officers had been given a mobile phone number, address and car registration details for the alleged attacker. Unknown to them, this was not the only failure. No attempt was made to obtain forensic evidence from the flat where Rebecca claimed she had been raped. No one went to the local shop where she had gone in a distressed state afterwards, and although both her mobile phone and the man's were sent away for examination, the wrong tests were carried out. By the time this mistake was recognised it was too late to obtain the correct information. When the case came to court, the defendant was found not guilty. Sally's voice grows soft as she remembers the moment that she told Rebecca the verdict. "She was crying and she just kept looking at me, saying, 'They didn't believe me, mum, they didn't believe me.' I said, 'It's not that they didn't believe you, it's just that if you haven't got the evidence you can't find someone guilty.'" Earlier this month it became clear just why the case had floundered. Having made a complaint about the police handling of the investigation, a damning internal inquiry revealed a string of mistakes that had been made by the inadequately supervised, overburdened and untrained police constable who was left - in breach of the Metropolitan police's own rules - to handle it. This showed that there weren't enough detectives in the elite Sapphire sex crimes unit; in fact, the unit's then manager was pleading with her superiors for more staff, pointing out that the car crime, burglary and robbery teams all had more detectives. Another senior officer in the Sapphire |
| Apr 6, 2009 08:38 | #9 |
| unit told the inquiry that it was "not at all" a priority for management, claiming the motor vehicle crime team had greater priority. The report, by the Met's directorate of professional standards, found that an arrest could have been made within days of the family going to the police, rather than three months later. And while it did not conclude that the missing evidence would necessarily have led to a conviction, it ruled that the mistakes did harm the presentation of the prosecution's case. At the end of the trial, the judge called the error over the phone evidence a "disgrace". Complaints about police handling of rape cases are hardly unusual. It is thought that at least 47,000 adult women are raped every year in the UK; police in England and Wales recorded 13,774 allegations of rape last year. And despite reassurances that the investigation of rape is improving, the conviction rate remains at a dismal 6.5%, compared with a figure of 34% for criminal cases in general. The government estimates that between 75% and 95% of rapes are never reported to the police, but of those that are, only a quarter end up in court, and complaints persist that women are not being taken seriously, witnesses are not being interviewed and potential evidence is going uncollected. The fallout from this is significant, both in personal terms - for the women who go through the judicial process, only to see their attacker acquitted - and in terms of the ongoing danger to the public. This has been brought home forcefully twice this month, both in cases involving Sapphire officers. Yesterday, chef Kirk Reid was convicted of two rapes and 24 sexual assaults and it emerged that officers in Wandsworth, south London had missed several opportunities to stop him over many years. Police identified that a serial sex attacker was on the loose in 2002, and identified Reid as a suspect in 2004. But despite crossing their radar on several further occasions he was not arrested until January last year. Detectives believe he is behind at least 71 attacks. The Reid case comes just two weeks after taxi driver John Worboys was convicted of 19 charges of drugging and sexually assaulting 12 women in London. Police had failed to apprehend Worboys for six years, despite receiving numerous complaints from female passengers. They had even arrested him in July 2007, after a 19-year-old student told officers in Plumstead, south-east London, that she believed she had been sexually assaulted in a black cab and the police identified Worboys through CCTV footage. But they believed his denials and released him on bail. A few months later the case was dropped. In the next seven months Worboys went on to attack another 29 women, and police now believe that he could have drugged and attacked more than 100 female passengers over a 13-year period. |
| Apr 6, 2009 08:40 | #10 |
| The police response in both the Worboys and Reid cases is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The failure of the Sapphire units in all three of these cases is shocking. Set up in 2000 as part of a comprehensive reform of police rape investigations, London's 32 Sapphire units are supposed to be centres of excellence, and were designed to improve the conviction rate for rape. The 24-hour investigation teams include specially trained sexual offences investigation officers who arrange medical and forensic examinations and take the victim's initial statement. And it is true that the conviction rate for rape in London has improved since Sapphire was implemented: in 2006 it was 6.4%, compared to 3.6% in 2002. But the Reid and Worboys cases, and Rebecca's experience, show that serious problems persist. Representatives of Women Against Rape, which worked alongside Rebecca and her mother on their complaint against the police (Sally is now a campaigner for the group) believe that one way to change this is for heads to roll when specific failures are identified. "They won't solve anything until people are held to account," says the group's Ruth Hall. "It's not enough to say lessons have been learned - they've been telling us that for 30 years." The group also suggests that there needs to be a distinct change in police priorities. "The problem really starts at the top and this report proves that," says Lisa Longstaff. "The priorities for downgrading rape and under-resourcing rape in relation to other crimes are set by the very highest in the police. It's about orders from the top that make it clear this is a priority crime to be investigated ... In many cases the police just aren't doing the job once someone reports a rape to them. They're not interviewing witnesses, they're not taking forensic samples, they're not visiting the crime scenes. They're dismissing a lot of reports because of who the woman is and the circumstances in which the rape took place - if she's been drinking, or she's young, or has a history of mental health problems, or is an immigrant." After the trial in summer 2006, Rebecca sank into a depression. Now 19 and belatedly finishing her A-levels, she has flashbacks not just of the alleged attack but also of being cross-examined by the defence barrister. She is scared of being alone with men, panics when she hears someone walking behind her, and is having counselling after having self-harmed following the trial. |
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