National Crime Squad

The National Crime Squad (NCS) was a British police organisation which dealt with national and transnational organised and major crimes. Formed in April 1998 after the amalgamation of six former Regional Crime Squads it merged with HM Customs National Investigation Service and the National Criminal Intelligence Service on 1 April 2006 to become the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Subsequent to the Police Reform Act 2002 the NCS Service Authority reported directly to the Home Office and had nationwide and international jurisdiction. It did not handle security matters, referring such matters to the appropriate security service.

It primarily dealt with organised crime, major drug trafficking, murder for hire schemes, illegal arms dealing, human trafficking, computer and high tech crimes, money counterfeiting and laundering, extortion, kidnapping and murder relating to any of the above. Lastly, it augmented and supported regional forces throughout the United Kingdom.

Its police officers were seconded from police forces from England and Wales, supported by directly recruited specialist and police staff members. It was headed by a Director-General and had its own service authority. The first Director General was Roy Penrose, OBE QPM, and upon his retirement in 2001, William Hughes, CBE QPM became the Director General before moving onto establish the Serious Organised Crime Agency as its founding Director General. Trevor Pearce CBE QPM previously Deputy Director General took over as the third Director General before becoming an Executive Director and later Director General of the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Crime

In ordinary language, the term crime denotes an unlawful act punishable by a state. The term "crime" does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition, though statutory definitions have been provided for certain purposes. The most popular view is that crime is a category created by law; in other words, something is a crime if declared as such by the relevant and applicable law. One proposed definition is that a crime or offence (or criminal offence) is an act harmful not only to some individual or individuals but also to a community, society or the state ("a public wrong"). Such acts are forbidden and punishable by law.

The notion that acts such as murder, rape and theft are to be prohibited exists worldwide. What precisely is a criminal offence is defined by criminal law of each country. While many have a catalogue of crimes called the criminal code, in some common law countries no such comprehensive statute exists.

The state (government) has the power to severely restrict one's liberty for committing a crime. In modern societies, there are procedures to which investigations and trials must adhere. If found guilty, an offender may be sentenced to a form of reparation such as a community sentence, or, depending on the nature of their offence, to undergo imprisonment, life imprisonment or, in some jurisdictions, execution.

Tarn Adams

Tarn Adams (born April 17, 1978) is an American computer game programmer, best known as the developer of Dwarf Fortress since 2002 with his older brother Zach. He learned programming in his childhood, and has been designing computer games as a hobby. He quit his first year of a mathematics post doctorate at Texas A&M to focus on game development in 2006.

Early life

Adams was born in Silverdale, Washington, US, in 1978. His father, Dan, worked at a waste water treatment plant and used to manage data. Adams credited his father for teaching him to code and his closeness to his brother, Zach, to their family's constant shifting due to their father's work. In high school, he formed a close friendship with Alan Ames, an aerospace engineer and a supporter. Adams and Zach grew up playing computer games and, with notebooks in hand, drawing their own renditions of the randomly generated creatures they encountered and logging their journeys in detail. In fifth grade, he wrote his first animation game with Zach. In an interview explaining his reluctance to socialize, he said, "I was a get-home-from-school, get-on-the-computer kind of kid." Adams stated that the main reason they started writing games was to be able to play them themselves, and complicated and unpredictable behavior guaranteed replayability.

Squad

In military terminology, a squad is a sub-subunit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition (Australian Army, Canadian Army, and others), this organization is referred to as a section. In most armies, a squad consists of eight to fourteen soldiers, and may be further subdivided into fireteams.

The equivalent to squad is the Gruppe, a sub-unit of 8 to 12 soldiers, in the German Bundeswehr, Austrian Bundesheer and Swiss Army.

Standard NATO symbol – squad (7 or 8 – 12 soldiers) – in NATO armed forces:

Organization

United States

United States Army

Historically, a "squad" in the US Army was a sub-unit of a section, consisting of from as few as two soldiers to as many as 12, and was primarily used for drill and administrative purposes (e.g., billeting, messing, working parties, etc.). The smallest tactical sub-unit being the section, which was also known as a half-platoon (the platoon itself being a half company).

Strike Force

Strike Force may refer to:

See also