Police chief’s fury at danger of ‘soft justice’
Dangerous criminals are walking the streets because there is no room in prison, one of Britain’s most senior policemen warned yesterday.
They are avoiding jail or being released early due to a chronic shortage of prison places, said Mike Fuller, chief constable of Kent Police. [>
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He said the Government’s failure to provide extra cell capacity is making policing more difficult. [>
The one thing that criminals dislike is going to prison and the thing they enjoy is being put on probation or given a community order which means they can go out and commit crimes again
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And he claimed it had led courts to hand out “soft” non-custodial sentences. [>
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“The feeling is police do their bit, they catch dangerous offenders, and sentencing policy is determined by prison places,” he said. [>
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“Sentencing policy would appear to be determined more by the number of prison places rather than the seriousness of the crimes people have committed ... people committing serious and violent crimes are not receiving as long sentences as they should, making the job of police more difficult ... the Government has underestimated how important sentencing is to public confidence.” [>
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Mr Fuller, seen an outside tip to be the next commissioner at Scotland Yard, also said police forces are over-inspected. [>
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He said many hours of his time each week are wasted answering to 13 official national bodies, which often give contradictory advice and uncosted recommendations. [>
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“There’s always somebody inspecting us, or we’re under the threat of inspection,” he added. [>
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“Probably at least a third of my time is spent dealing with inspection, inspection processes, preparing for inspection, accounting to inspection bodies.” [>
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Retired judge Keith Matthewman QC also attacked the Government’s approach to tackling crime. [>
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“The one thing that criminals dislike is going to prison and the thing they enjoy is being put on probation or given a community order which means they can go out and commit crimes again,” he said. [>
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“They can do this because there are not enough police on our streets.” [>
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Kent Police released details of recent cases. According to the force, a burglar with 100 previous offences received a suspended sentence and then committed another burglary. [>
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Last week a man failed to appear in court having been given bail while awaiting sentence for 255 thefts from vehicles. Police arrested him and he was granted bail again – only to fail to show up at the time the court had ordered. [>
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A Ministry of Justice spokes-man said: “Since 1997 the Government has increased prison capacity by over 23,000 places. Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts.” [>
