DAVID VIDECETTE
How does someone just disappear? How do you unpick a cold case from a time before widespread CCTV, the ubiquitous mobile phone, or personal computers? Where do you look for witnesses, more than three decades later, when you have no detailed records, just a name and sometimes an age or even just a job title?
Read MoreOver the past year alone, police have dealt with an average of 430 moped-enabled crimes per week in London. What simple things can we all do to avoid becoming a victim?
Read MoreLondon and New York: Roles reversed as crime rates diverge. Why London is turning into 1980s New York, thanks to a failure to respond to the 'Broken Windows Theory'.
Read MoreThe knife crime epidemic: How did we reach crisis point in London and what does stop-and-search have to do with all this?
Read MoreAs our security services and police became more proficient at spotting, in advance, those purchasing or acquiring the precursor materials for explosives - terror groups changed their approach.
Read MoreThe assailant didn't use a firearm to kill and maim, and he didn't use explosives - he turned something that most of see and walk past every day, into a terrifyingly effective weapon.
Read MoreNowadays, there is simply no criminal investigation that does not have an element of CCTV involved. In my opinion, investigations into all sorts of incidents are damaged and curtailed if these cameras don't exist. The police can, retrospectively, track a suspect from one point to another in London using the CCTV that is available.
Read MoreI'd been working on the burglary squad on my borough for nearly three years. We were the best performing burglary unit in London and as a fresh-faced police officer in my twenties, I was proud to be part of the team. There was nothing anyone could teach me. I'd been there, seen it, done it, and bought the T-shirt.
Read MoreAs a former detective, I want my fiction to be as true to life as it can be. But I also want to be entertained, because in real life, investigating crime is rarely very glamorous at all.
Read MoreKen Livingstone's idea that the lead 7/7 bomber, Mohammed Siddique Khan, was so upset by government policy that he felt the need to murder people is absurd.
We are talking about a mass murderer akin to Fred West, Dennis Nilsen and Charles Manson - a psychopathic lunatic. Does anyone talk about what political decisions might have motivated those people to kill and murder scores of victims?
Read MoreWith events in Paris still fresh in the memory, both the French police and security services will be trying to track down the exactly where the explosives were made. So, how do you find a bomb factory?
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Hi,
I'm David. Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog.
I'm a former Scotland Yard Investigator with twenty years' policing experience. I have particular specialisms in Counter Terrorist Operations and Organised Crime, with in-depth experience of working on the London 7/7 and 21/7 bombing investigations.
I am about to publish my first novel and I will be blogging about my views on various subjects - from terrorism to TVRs; from television to the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Enjoy.
