UK NEWS
PUBLIC LOSE FAITH IN POLICE FORCED TO MEET TARGETS
Police have lost the confidence of the middle-classes
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Correspondent
THE public has lost faith in the police while officers spend just 14 per cent of their time on patrol.
Law-abiding citizens are being criminalised for misdemeanours because it is easier to hit Government targets, it is claimed.
But real crooks are “getting away with it.” A child stealing a Mars bar is as significant to an officer for his detection rates as solving a murder, said the research for think-tank Civitas.
In one case, a youth was arrested, put in a cell and cautioned for putting his foot in a lift door to stop it closing.
Police have now lost the confidence of the middle-class and retired people in particular, but there is also “widespread public dissatisfaction,” warned the report.
It said: “Complaints against the police have risen, with much of the increase coming from law-abiding, middle-class, middle-aged and retired people who no longer feel the police are on their side.”
The study added that police “seem intent on criminalising those whose offences, if they can be regarded as offences at all, are trivial” because it helps meet their targets.
“They are accused of concentrating on easy-to-deal with offending like speeding, while the real criminals seem to be getting away with it.”
Middle class citizens are also increasingly complaining about rudeness and neglect of duty by officers.
Many officers are expected to complete a certain number of “sanction detections” a month, either by charging, cautioning or fining an “offender.”
Arresting or fining a normally law-abiding person for a minor offence is a good way of achieving this target and pleasing the Home Office, said the study.
It highlighted the case of a 19-year-old foreign student who was arrested, detained for five hours and cautioned for holding open the door of a lift at a London Tube station.
“This reveals the bizarre stratagems created by the target culture,” said the study. “In a city where knife crime is exploding and the public are crying out for more police on the streets, three officers are tied up for half the night arresting a man for holding a lift door open with his foot.” In another example, up to 2,000 cases of drunk and disorderly suddenly became public order offences because they can be counted as detections.
“Suddenly there were no drunks. They were still being arrested but not for inebriation,” said the study.
Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation, said: “Police officers are struggling to bring common sense to the increased demands of a target-driven culture, which is all too often resulting in arrests to boost statistics rather than to do what is right for the public.
“This vicious circle then further alienates us from the majority of law-abiding people.
“Action must be urgently taken to allow police officers to act with discretion, accountability and the consent of the public we serve.”
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THE REALITY HERE.
30.05.08, 5:21pm
During The Tories 18 years in Government, the politice force, like all other vital services in this country was grossly under funded for income tax cutting purposes.
This New Labour Government came into power promising to keep to right wing tax and spend and they have.
Consequently the only way to get more bobbies on the beat is to pay more income tax.
We only get what we pay for, as the saying goes.
We Brit's pay less income tax than EU workers but nobodies saying this, least of all the politicians because increasing income tax is not a vote winner.
• Posted by: Robinhood • Report Comment
PUBLIC LOSE FAITH IN POLICE...
30.05.08, 4:31pm
The real criminals are getting away with it and will continue to do so.Frontline police officers are only too aware of the general lack of faith that the public has in the service today.The rank and file are often mystified at the decisions made by senior officers when it comes to policing the streets, decisions which are clearly influenced by political correctness and red tape beurocracy which do nothing but stifle the average copper's attempts at catching the bad guys and making a real difference to the comunity they serve.
The public are concerned about real crime that affects them directly. Burglary,Robbery,Theft, Vehicle crime,Violence against the person so vividly portrayed in the news by the recent murders of young men cut down in their prime as a result of knife culture.
Police Officers in Greater Manchester who in spite of what the public may think of them, work tirelessly to combat such crime, have been left confused and dis heartened by the fact that senior officers have taken the decision to cut the numbers of police dogs (currently at 80) to 45, that are available as a valued tool in the fight against crime.
Yes I too can hear the real criminals laughing at this decision.
The reason?
Cost? No
Performance? No
It is the "vision" the force, together with its "partner agencies " and "stakeholders" has for the future.
Hmm why should Britain tremble?
• Posted by: walter75 • Report Comment
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