Great Britain's Police: Government is 'criminalising middle England'

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | May 14, 2007 | John Steele

[Stoat]

Government is 'criminalising middle England'

By John Steele, Crime Correspondent
 

Last Updated: 5:21pm BST 14/05/2007

 

 

 

Rank and file police leaders have criticised the Government for imposing a target-driven culture on officers which has led to "ludicrous" decisions, such as arresting a child for throwing cream buns at a bus.

The Police Federation of England and Wales said judging officers on the number of arrests, cautions and fines they achieved was causing them to "criminalise middle England", by taking action on minor behaviour which would have been dealt with by discretion and common sense a decade ago.

On the eve of its annual conference in Blackpool, the chairman of the Federation, Jan Berry, released a dossier of absurd cases.

These include:

• A Cheshire man who was cautioned by police for being "found in possession of an egg with intent to throw"
• A child in Kent who removed a slice of cucumber from a tuna mayonnaise sandwich and threw it at another youngster was arrested because the other child’s parents claimed it was an assault
• A woman in the West Midlands arrested on her wedding day for criminal damage to a car park barrier when her foot slipped on her accelerator pedal
• The child in Kent who was arrested for throwing buns at a bus
• A 70-year-old Cheshire pensioner - who had never been in trouble with the law - who was arrested for criminal damage after cutting back a neighbour’s conifers too vigorously
• Two Manchester children who were arrested under firearms laws for being in possession of a plastic toy pistol

  A major theme of the conference will be whether judging officers on arrests, cautions or on-the-spot fines is undermining the criminal justice system and taking the focus off more serious, less easily-solved crime.

  A spokesman for the Federation, which represents 130,000 rank-and-file officers, said the power to use discretion should be returned to the officer on the beat.

  "We have got into the situation where everyone is so busy chasing targets and securing ticks in boxes we are on the verge of distancing ourselves from middle England."

  Ms Berry added: "We have police officers who are considering leaving the service over this because it is not the job they signed up to do. These examples we have compiled are ludicrous but when people are being pushed to show results they will use anything they can to demonstrate they are doing a good job."

  "Just talking to people and giving them a few words of advice cannot be counted as easily as a ticket can be. But sometimes it is just as effective as taking someone to court."

  She will raise the issue with the outgoing Home Secretary, John Reid, when he attends the conference on Wednesday.

  The conference will also hear a withering attack on the senior management of the police service from a newly-elected woman leader of the Federation’s 108,000-strong constables section.

  Julie Nesbit, an officer in South Yorkshire, will say: "The police service lacks proper leadership and direction from the Association of Chief Officers (Acpo), to such an extent that the service is facing a slow and painful melt down. It is astonishing that our police chiefs are in such disarray and the general public will be the victim."

  She predicts "more undetected crime, fewer calls answered and communities who will increasingly point the finger of blame at my members. The public see fewer constables on the streets today even though the Government claims that numbers are up."

  Miss Nesbit will ask whether the public realises "that, in the detection of crime, it is planned that detective constables will be asked to manage a much bigger caseload by instructing civilian staff to carry out the spadework both in the office and on the ground?  

  "This plan is a charter for criminals across the nation to run rings round inexperienced 'Hercule Poirots’ without having to face the prospect of meeting a genuine police detective."

  There are also fears among rank and file officers that there is a significant loss of experience in the modern police service.

  A study by the magazine Police Review, published at the weekend, shows that more than 40,000 officers in the 43 forces in England and Wales– almost one third - have less than five years’ service.

[VaBthang4]

"Every time time a kid gets suspended or expelled from school because he makes his fingers into a gun and goes bang. Every time someone is arrested and/or convicted of a hate crime. (read that as a thought crime). Ever time someone is kicked out of school on gay appreciation day because they are wearing a traditional family T-shirt. Every time a border guard gets a prison sentence for shooting and armed drug smuggler."

1 out of 4 are civilian police matters.

Grow up.

[VaBthang4]

Okay, well move up to Idaho and barricade yourself in then.

~grin~

[ChildOfThe60s]

"the same crap is happening here in the good old US of A."

---------------

Oh no it isnt you dummy.

But once the control freak, do gooder Liberals get a lock on power...slowly but surely, then it will be.

-------------------

Oh yes it is. And it started in the public school system where they have over-codified everything and "criminalized" all sorts of little mischiefs. We are not there yet, but we certainly are on the wrong side of the slippery slope.

[JamesP81]

bump for later

[Vaquero]

Your clueless.

go back to DU.

[Stoat]

Funny you should mention British slang books. I have one I bought years ago, but I doubt this would be in it.

Slang is a language form that changes very rapidly, and so these web-based dictionaries are oftentimes quite a bit more up to date than a published book.  Some sites update more frequently than others, so when searching for a term check another site or two if you don't find what you're looking for at first.

 I actually bought it to write a book about an episode in American history (still in the planning stages after 30 years) which was close enough to the Revolution that I thought it would be relevant!

I'm hoping that you'll soon get beyond the planning stages of this work that you speak of, as your contributions online have always been engaging, insightful and welcome, and I'm guessing that a more studious effort of yours would be quite well received by publishers and readers alike..  :-)

Regarding slang terms as well as mainstream words accepted in polite society around the time of the Revolutionary War, you may possibly find the Oxford English Dictionary to be of some slight help, as word origins and variations going back hundred of years or more are commonly discussed.  Be sure to look in the "full" (17 or so volumes) version found at better libraries, as the 2-volume abridged versions will likely be missing precisely what you're looking for.

[Stoat]

going back hundred of years

Correction: should be "hundreds of years"

[Stoat]

Is Middle England anything like Middle Earth?

If the Walsings are criminalized at the drop of a hat, I would hate to think how they must treat the Niberlungens.

Sadly, in modern England they would probably prevent Brunnhilde from wearing her classic headdress.

 

Such attire would likely be viewed as being considerably more of a detriment to the common good than a child throwing a pastry at a bus.

Is Middle England anything like Middle Earth?

If the Walsings are criminalized at the drop of a hat, I would hate to think how they must treat the Niberlungens.

[dsc]

“Seems to be a growing, lucrative business (383% growth rate). These are total numbers of people under correctional supervision.”

Interesting. However, while it does account for the decline in crime, it doesn’t support your point.

[rednesss]

Locking people up is not accounting for the decline in crime. Violent crime rates are at the lowest levels since the early 70's. The data is out there, just look it up. Go here: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov for data from the DOJ's Bureau of Justice.

Still don't think that the Justice/Corrections Industry is a booming industry????

[dsc]

“Locking people up is not accounting for the decline in crime.”

Of course it is.

[rednesss]

I know you are but what am I??? This sounds about like the level of argument that this has devolved to.

[dsc]

I’ve been waiting for you to make an argument that supports your point.

Still waiting.

[rednesss]

Well whatever you do don’t look at the DOJ graphs above and make any interpretations of them. I guess that would tend to support my argument that crime rates are dropping and the amount of money going into the prison industries is rising by leaps and bounds. But don’t look at the graphs. Or believe the data, it comes from the government.

[dsc]

“Well whatever you do don’t look at the DOJ graphs above and make any interpretations of them. I guess that would tend to support my argument that crime rates are dropping”

Oh, I looked at them. Yes, crime rates are dropping, and that is because more money is being spent on incarceration. Those facts don’t support your tendentious interpretation thereof.

[rednesss]

Me thinks you are putting the cart before the horse, unless you think that people are put in jail before they are charged and convicted in a court of law. Minority Report was just a bad Tom Cruise film, not reality.

[dsc]

“Me thinks you are putting the cart before the horse, unless you think that people are put in jail before they are charged and convicted in a court of law.”

Crimes don’t come one to a perp. Most people never commit a violent crime. A small number — mainly young black and hispanic men — have a high CPB (crimes per barbarian) rate. Putting one of those savages in jail and keeping him there has an effect on the crime rate that is greater than preventing one crime.

“Minority Report was just a bad Tom Cruise film, not reality.”

Wouldn’t know. Didn’t see it. However, there is no such thing as “just a film.” They become part of the zeitgeist.