Some kids tried to break into my house by smashing a double-glazed window at the rear of my property. Thankfully, the muppets made so much noise that the neighbours were alerted and scared them off. The neighbours also called the police, who did actually turn up to examine look at the crime scene.

Now, in fairness, I don’t expect any CSI-type examination, nor do I expect the police to catch the idiots. How could they?

I visited the police station today to report it and get a ‘log number’ for my insurance claim. The crime happened in a small town where car break-ins so rare that they are reported in the local newspaper. When I entered the station (or barracks, as my relatives call it), there were two Guards having a bit of banter in the lobby. One of them politely asked what I wanted. When I replied that I wanted to report a crime, he got all excited and the two of them vanished, not to be seen again. The Guard who was actually manning the desk eventually turned up. As I said, it’s a small town so I just had to mention the address and she knew about it.

I didn’t have to tell her about the crime but, after getting the log number, she started to ask me for my name, address and date of birth. Not many people know that the Guards have a policy of recording everyone that comes into contact with them. It’s to do with their super-duper PULSE computer system (Police Using Leading Systems Effectively). Technically, I’m a victim of crime and now the police who fight crime now more about me than the crime itself. I now have a file on the police database and the criminals do not. And I’m not 100% comfortable with that.

There’s a phrase, ‘What have I got to hide?‘. Another way of looking at it is, ‘What have I got to lose?‘

I wanted to find out more about PULSE and Garda policy towards it. I’m sure they’ve nothing to hide but the search function of the Guards homepage doesn’t work! The only information about PULSE I can find on the official Garda website is this tidbit on their IT page:

PULSE (Police Using Leading Systems Effectively)

PULSE is the largest IT system within An Garda Síochána. The system is available to all members of An Garda Síochána nationwide and ensures that accurate up-to-date information is available to all members in responding to the demands of a modern police force.

Development and enhancements to the system are on-going. The most recent major development is the introduction of Fixed Charge Processing to process fixed charge offences or fines on-the-spot and enable the effective recording of penalty points resulting in the “penalty points” being integrated into PULSE.

If you search Googe.ie for ‘Garda, Pulse’, 50% of the entries on the first page are negative. Indeed, this one for the Data Protection Commissioner is interesting. The title is:

Gardai- Inappropriate data on “Pulse system” -data deleted when access request received- not fair to person- could frustrate the provisions of the Act

The Data Protection Commissioner keeps mentioning ‘the prevention, detection or investigation of crime’ when discussing PULSE so I guess these are central aims of the system. Now obviously, some will question why I’m so exercised about giving the police my date of birth. I guess it’s because I believe I live in a free country and I believe I’m allowed to go unhindered in the course of my business (there’s probably even something in the constitution about it??).

PULSE is considered a great success among (sic) law enforcement agencies throughout the world and the Guards would have us believe that several of them have visited Ireland to study it’s implementation. To my mind, it’s a nascent tracking system for a country’s citizens and not to be encouraged.

Before you make up your mind, think about those two phrases again: What have I got to hide? and What have I got to lose?.

Nobody actually openly accused Bertie Ahern of lying yesterday. But if you were to look up a thesaurus, you’d find that just about every possible alternative word for ‘lie’ was used by Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore when describing the Taoiseach’s evidence to the Mahon Tribunal…

China has been forced to mull the possibility of allowing double-barrelled surnames – a break with the ancient tradition that citizens adopt one of a hundred single character surnames…

…In fact, other less common surnames bring the official total of permitted surnames to 161, but this doesn’t do much to offset the fact that there are now 93 million Wangs in China – closely followed by 92 million Lis – something which is causing the authorities a bit of a problem.

Best comment was by Simon Holt who wrote: “Looking through the Beijing phone-book must give thousands of Wong numbers“. Well, it was a new one to me!

9pm*
TG4 Paisean Faisean **: One girl looking for love must choose between three guys, whose challenge it is to woo her by picking her an outfit.

BBC2 The Elephant’s guide to sex: Getting elephants in the mood for love is just one of Dr Hilebrandts jobs. the Doc is just one of a growing number [really! There's more than one?] of pioneers using a hands-on approach to animal reproduction…

C4 Ulrika – Am I a sex addict?: Ulrika Jonsson presents a revealing and personal documentary exploring sex addiction.

RTE2 and Channel 5: CSI Miami. Both are probably repeats.

It’s funny and sad how ‘sex’ is treated in both countries while the BBC2 elephant documentary is just plain odd.

But, but, what’s that buried near midnight on BBC1? Hmmm. There’s a show on Peter Singer. Peter Singer (wiki) is an Australian philosopher whose writings made me become a vegetarian way back when. I’m trying to remember stuff from a long time ago but, to use the jargon, he takes an extreme utilitarian viewpoint (wiki). At first blush, his views are quite radical and even outrageous. I’ve never jumped completely on his bandwagon but he has an interesting mind. Religious groups hate him and think he’s immoral. So he can’t be all bad, then. It’s past my bedtime so I’ll be taping it and I’d encourage you do the same.

As you’ve probably guessed, I’m a bit grumpy because, last Tuesday, Sky showed the last episode ever of Stargate SG1. I’ve now got nothing to watch (sob, sob) so I’ll have to read a book or something. Maybe I could volunteer to help the elephants at Dublin Zoo??

*Programme descriptions are from saturday’s Irish Times TV listings.
** I’m told it means ‘Passion Fashion”.

Well, I was down there this week and it’s gone! Maritime House is still there (could be gone by now?) but the statue’s gone. I hope they’re keeping it somewhere safe and it’ll make a reappearance on the quay in the near future… How sad.

Ironically, I’ve some friends going to see Mamma Mia in the Point tonight. Must ask them tomorrow if they noticed?

And, co-incidence indeed, I’m listening to The Waterboys right now and they’re playing in the Point on March 18. Spooky!

And the Waterboy’s song is The whole of the moon. And we’ve just had a lunar eclipse a few days ago.

Oh deary me, I really should go and lie down in a dark room for a little while.

Dear isadub,

In the UK we often take the right to blog for granted. But what if a post on isadub landed you in prison?

In China, internet sites are blocked, chat rooms are monitored and journalists and bloggers are arrested.

Amnesty International is deeply worried about the restriction of the right to freedom of expression in China. Right now we’re appealing for the release of Shi Tao, a journalist arrested in 2004 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for sending an email to a pro-democracy website in the US about press restrictions around the anniversary of the crackdown on peaceful protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

You can do something now to help:

You can do something now to help. We are asking for you and your readers to write to the Chinese authorities demanding the release of Shi Tao, as part of our irrepressible.info campaign against internet repression. See here for more details.

To show your support for freedom of expression on the internet add this link (advertisement) to your blog and help Amnesty International find more people to stand up for human rights.

Thank you for your help,

Drew Davies
(Amnesty International)

I know they’re GAA posts in the Phoenix Park but the rugby match is being played in Croke Park, innit.