crime

So the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith suggests that young thugs should be harassed and hounded by the police. Sometimes I wonder whether peoiple live in the real world.

Let me give the Home Secretary two examples of who young thugs are allowed to do exactly what they want, and why at some point I really would not be surprised if there was an upsure in vigilantism in the UK.

1) Two yobs driving their mopeds on a toddlers play area opposite my house. We call the police - but instead of getting put through to Newark, we are passed to possibly Nottingham and then Worksop who take that long taking details we think what's the point. Previous experience of this hasn't even brought a police office out. The local police station shuts at 5:00pm according to locals.

Now gobsmacked as I was the police actually sent a car up, and as luck would have it he pulled the little bastards over. Another neighbour went out and gave them a rollocking for driving over his garden (criminal damage I would have thought). The punishment for driving over pavements gardens and the like? A letter to their house. Oh well that will put a stop to it won't it. I'm glad my three points have finally gone off my licence this month - or I would be seen to be more of a criminal than them!

2) Problem family lives close to my wifes grandparents in council accomodation. This week we learn one of them was caught with some stolen lead. Funnily enough on Tuesday - some time after the police had previously caught him, yet again he had more lead on his bike. The Chairman of the local tennants group has pointed out there are stolen bikes in the shed they use. The kids do not attend school. The Council do nothing to evict this family, or enforce attendance at school. The residents have asked if one of the five cameras pointed inwards at the local police station could possibly point outwards to the trouble spots. Oh no - apparently because of data protection issues? Again absolute nonesense.

To the Home Secretary. People like me and my family are now more and more reluctant to even bother calling the police because NOTHING IS DONE. I havent reported whoever scratched one of my hub caps all over when parking near to the station, as nothing will be done. But perhaps when we see crimes being committed it would be nice to think a police officer could possibly come from the station which is less that a mile away? Or how about this as an idea - maybe some regular patrols would actually prevent the anti social behaviour taking place in the place. Just a thought.

These kind of incidents are happening up and down the country and they are getting worse, and I for one am getting sick and tired of the softly softly approach of the police, and then judicial system that seems to be more on the side of the criminal than the victim.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •  

I can't be the only one who was a little surprised to read that apparently 40% of motorbikes are not taxed. Now whilst I have nothing against motorcyclists - well apart from when they overtake me on dangerous roads, or speed through speed cameras which read your front number plate I have to say that this statistic is pretty shocking. It makes me wonder if 40% have no tax how many have no insurance?

I think the most amusing quote about the Public Accounts Committee report appears on the BBC newsonline site which states, "It was also physically difficult for the police to detain motorcyclists as they can easily turn round and drive off, the report said."

Well there you go then criminals. If you want to get away with a robbery, or pretty much anything just get on yer bike, because you can just drive off and the police can't catch you.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •  

The police reforms discussed in the media today, aimed at cutting bureaucracy and freeing up police time, seem very sensible.  It is also noticeable that the reforms come from the police themselves, not from some incompetent government minister, which probably goes a long way to explaining why the police would benefit so much from them.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had this to say:
 
She said she accepted the need for an urgent reduction in red tape, adding that it would "make a real difference to every community".  "Sir Ronnie has identified several measures through which we can cut bureaucracy," Ms Smith said.  "Just from his proposal on case file management, we could save 400,000 hours of police time - that is the equivalent of 200 officers." 

I'm sure this is true, but maybe you should ask where all the red tape and bureaucracy came from in the first place? A power-hungry centralised government perhaps?

 Tom Richmond

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •  

The Madeleine McCann story just gets more and more complicated.  Most of us woke up this morning to the incredible headlines stating that the DNA extracted from the blood sample found in the car hired by Kate and Gerry McCann was a 100% match to Madeleine, and yet within a couple of hours some newspaper websites have begun changing their tone as it becomes apparent that such a claim might not have been made as the infighting between the scientists starts to emerge (which in itself is baffling).
 
How are the public supposed to follow a news story that lacks clarity and objectivity on the part of the media?  The need for a quick headline has got in the way of high quality journalism too many times in this saga.

Tom Richmond

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •