and a lawyer?
I just had the privilege of working somewhere that enabled me to learn the ins and outs of what should be the process in cases like this. Unfortunately the ideal hardly never makes it to the ground!
One other interesting thing was that all the "Finds" of reasonable merit were all reported on a monthly basis internally. Without going into specifics, it is shocking have many IEDs get found every month; a regular supply of well over 20 per month, and these were the ones worth writing about. Upon reflection of this it would not surprise me if there were a 1000 trekkie's out there (just in light of the 'start with flash it's simple' common misconception) getting their fingers burnt.
Still on the subject though, i can see why people jump in at the deep end with this. The reason is that 'flash' is so damn simple to make that doesn't require any apparatus, with the exception of a pair of scales.
Being only a begineer, i know i shouldn't be saying this but in this hobby, you have to start somewhere
trekkie does have a very valid point here. With all the dodge web sites out there it is far from difficult to become disillusioned as to the "simpleness" (along with a very false sense of safety) of flash powder. Wide spread education is the key here. Once the UKPS has found it's path along the lobbying route, being in a defensible position a more outreaching approach could be taken to catch newbies before they end up on dodge web sites. But without support (hint hint, become a member everyone) the UKPS will not be able to grow into all of our expectations.