6 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: OCTOBER 2017 P eople were still reeling from the violence in Char- lottesville and the murder of Heather Hey- er, but it’s important to consider and remember the positive as well as the negative. At the same time all that was going on in Fair- fax County, a police offi- cer made the day of a boy celebrating his birthday. The kid was having a “police themed” birthday party and somehow the Fairfax County Police Department found out about it. And you should have seen the looks on the kids’ faces when an officer showed up in his cruiser to surprise birth- day-boy Benjamin. “Thank you for inviting us to swing by your po- lice themed sixth birth- day party. “It was great meet- ing you and your sister Madeleine, and we had a blast!” the Fairfax Coun- ty Police Department posted to Facebook. There was no informa- tion regarding the name of the officer in the pho- tos. If you’re someone tasked with getting this type of positive police news up on the agency’s Facebook page, it might make sense to more thoroughly identify the people in the photos. That being said, it would certainly be understand- able if the officer wishes to remain anonymous. “The police mans came to my berfday and he turned on the lights and sirens and it was my bestest favorite birthday ever!” In London, only special squads of police officers are armed. And accord- ing to the Evening Standard, London’s firearms officers will have head-mounted cameras, says a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Dept.” About 1000 new body cameras will be issued to the specialized units in ad- dition to the ones already in the field. The cameras are being issued to cops from the Met- ropolitan Firearms Com- mand, and will be mounted on the baseball caps and ballistic helmets officers assigned to these units use. The switch to the head- mounted cameras comes after a police review of re- portsthatthebody-mounted cameras given to thousands of London’s officers were unfit for use. It turns out if the officer raised a rifle to their shoul- der it blocked the lens of the camera. Commander Matt Twist, in charge of the Firearms Command, said firearms officers want the cameras and they want the footage to be clear. “It provides a document- ed and accurate account of the threats officers face and the split second decisions they make,” he said. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the cams would foster greater trust between Londoners and their police force. “This technology is help- ing to drive down com- plaints against officers across London and will increase accountability,” Khan said. Armed units in UK switch cams