MORE SPIN FROM LABOUR ON OUR FAILING JUSTICE SYSTEM

Extracts from Labour's Home Secretary, Alan Johnson's speech to the 2009 Labour Party Annual Conference:

"Crime is the area of government policy where statistics matter the least and perception matters the most. But the fact is that we have an excellent record to defend".

COMMENT : Statistics matter the least? You would say that, considering the actual level of crime (10million incidents) is twice that reported to the police (4.7million) and the Home Office admit that the higher figure is the most reliable. To admit they matter would mean you having do accept that crime is out of control and the public have lost confidence in reporting it. Tell the victims of crime that statistics matter the least, especially the ones that the Government policing system couldn't respond to because of endemic police bureaucracy, misdirected priorities and ivory tower minority projects.

"Overall crime is down by 36% since we came to power, violent crime by 41%, domestic burglary by 54% and vehicle-related theft by 57%."

COMMENT : What you mean is, you've found better ways to manipulate and misrepresent the statistics. If you mean that fewer people report crime because they have lost confidence in the system, we agree. However, the fudging of crime statistics has caused the general public to take your statistics with a pinch of salt, as political spin. Vehicle related thefts are now swallowed up in re allocated offences, such as burglary, robbery, or simple thefts. Your headlines earlier this year announced that vehicle crime was down by 10%. Yet Jacqui Smith revealed that 18,600 vehicle thefts were not reported as such, being absorbed into other offences. When added back into the vehicle theft numbers, take into account the under reporting and vehicle crime is INCREASING not decreasing. Your numbers are flawed by a serious corruption of the numbers for political gain.

"These achievements are a tribute to our policemen and women. There are more of them than ever before, supported by 16,000 Police Community Support Officers with a budget 60% higher than we inherited in 1997".

COMMENT : Yes, the crime figures are a tribute to our police officers, who do a very difficult job, despite a corrupted criminal justice system. 16,000 PCSO's without the powers to defend themselves and the public adequately. The funding for 16,000 PCSO's would have been better spent putting 12,500 regular officers, with full powers on the streets. 142,000 police officers in England & Wales. How many of them are involved in frontline duties?? The public would be shocked to hear that Government initiatives and projects, supported and promoted by the more senior politically directed officers take the vast majority of those officers off the streets, engaged in adminstrative, office based duties. A ridiculous number of officers are engaged in wasteful activity rather than actually doing the job we need them for, protecting our community and citizens.

The fact is, the thin blue line has become so transparent it is barely visible. Go to any police station between the hours of 9am - 5pm... try and get a parking space. Then revisit the same station at 10pm. That picture tells the story of the ineffective use of police resources when on the street policing is really needed. But hey, there are some lovely flow charts and tables to look at in those offices.

How much of that 60% budget funds frontline officer resources and how many millions are wasted on Government "Wendy House" ideas and projects?? All forces have been presented with a 10% budget cut for 2010/2011, based in part on the manufactured statistics and detections devised and implemented by the Home Office you represent.

"We need to ensure that any breach of an ASBO is prosecuted. Above all, we need to make it clear that anti-social behaviour isn't a low-level nuisance to be tolerated, it's a major source of insecurity and unhappiness that has to be tackled wherever and whenever it occurs".

COMMENT : 60,000 ASBO's with over half being breached, with the Criminal Justice System a toothless tiger to deal with it. The kids are laughing at authority because adequate powers were not put in place to deal with breaches of ASBO's. The penalties for breaching ASBO's are so pathetic, more than 50% have done so repeatedly with NO repercussions. Tell the victims of their behaviour how effective ASBO's have been without the necessary follow up powers to deal with breaches.

"It was Labour that introduced specialist domestic violence courts and helped put 720 fully trained independent domestic violence advisers in place. More arrests are being made and conviction rates are rising".

COMMENT : Domestic violence is an important issue that needs effective solutions. Yet again though, the Home Office saw this as a means of manipulating statistics and detection rates. No one would dispute the benefits of the extra steps now being taken to protect vulnerable victims in these circumstances. However, look more closely at the crime figures you boast about. Ask the front line officers how many cases they have been forced to deal with where complaints are withdrawn but the offence remains on the books for the purposes of ticking the detection box, criminalising thousands more people that the victim does not want to see prosecuted. Genuine cases where vulnerable parties are victimised and want to proceed are applauded, but there remains a massive distortion of the real picture by the Home Officer and senior officers pursuing detections at all costs.

"Gordon Brown has been integral to all of these achievements and he has led the way in addressing the biggest global economic and political challenges of our age".

COMMENT : This is the same Gordon Brown that did the deal with Gadaffi, trading justice for commerce over the Lockerbie bomber and the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher? How can the British public ever trust a man who would make such a despicable trade off?

Mr Johnson, you may choose to dismiss the statistics, the British public certainly do, they carry no weight when presented by a party that has manipulated and distorted them beyong truthful recognition. You may make your promises at Conference time, when it suits your political ends. However, the front line police officers know the real truth of your falsehoods. The general public are not stupid. They know the Government have been conning them these last twelve years on crime and policing. The see the evidence in the decay of our social fabric every day on the streets of Britain. So don't feed us your spin about crime being slashed, the figures are worthless and the words and hollow promises of your party are no longer trusted.

Britain may not yet be broken, but it is deeply wounded by the lies and spin we have been fed.

The wounds can be healed with transparent reform and back to basics policing unfettered by excessive political influence.

The Government to which you have pinned your flag of loyalty, no longer inspires the confidence and support of the public.

We look forward to witnessing a better future, with a Government whose actions will speak louder than words, delivering the justice and society we seek, with honesty and transparent solutions that will go a long way to regain the trust of the public.

The Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Ltd

OFFICER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT LOW POLICE MORALE

LOW morale, not enough officers and a failing justice system are among the sentiments of rank and file police, a serving officer said today.The experienced officer did not want to be named, but spoke out amid a backdrop of crushing financial pressure from the government for the constabulary to slash millions of pounds from its budget. 

The modern police service faces many more challenges to its morale than ever before and many of the matters talked of here echo the sentiment of other articles from these pages. If the escalating problem of low police morale is the effect, what are the causes? 

Behind the scenes at this site, we are compiling hundreds of examples of officers voicing the same concerns about the decline of the service they love. The problem is not confined to a few disillusioned officers in small pockets of the country. This is a growing problem across all police forces in the UK, from an ever increasing number of rank and file frontline troops.

The balanced observations of one front line officer sum it up well. 

A POLICE OFFICERS VIEW FROM THE STREET

“I still love the job as much as I did when I first joined, but things have changed and not necessarily for the better. We see many times in the course of our careers all that is wrong with society and how inhuman people can be. Often a smile or joke can be a release valve. It seems more and more that we are not allowed an opinion or a sense of humour.

One thing that I have noticed more than anything is morale. I have never seen it so low. I talk to officers with five to six years service counting down the time they have left and that should not be.

My opinion for it being so low is down to a number of things; staff shortages, excessive workloads, a feeling of being let down by a seemingly uncaring senior hierarchy, the inability of the service in general to stand up for itself, and being let down by the judicial system.

I can say hand on heart that the vast majority of officers I have worked with over many years have been professional, caring, keen, and take great delight in locking up the bad guys.

On staff shortages, if you read the headlines from certain quarters they say we have no staff shortage problems. If the general public really knew that almost on a weekly basis and in some case daily, major towns have no officers to deploy to incidents as they are tied up on jobs or stuck in the custody areas.

It is not uncommon for officers to be drafted in from other areas leaving them short of cover, with specialist departments being used to backfill. Custody is regularly filled so that detained persons are taken to other stations. If this is the case then two officers are sent for escort and booking in.

Then the amount of time the booking in process takes, and then if that person is deemed as at risk he/she is put under constant supervision with a police officer. That means yet another officer down. You don't have to be brilliant at maths to see what the consequences are especially when I have known up to three constants on the go at the same time.

Officers who take crime reports are then allocated them to investigate. Obviously the more serious and involved are taken up by CID. As you can imagine an officer is not just given a couple to sort out but the list can be quite extensive.

The problem is that the list will continue to grow as more and more are allocated to that officer. With all the best will and dedication in the world some are not going to be investigated perhaps as fully as they could be.

This is not because the officer does not care. With time restraints and supervisory pressure, workloads must be trimmed. And I think you can guess the consequences.

The fact that a lot of offenders do not go to court is not down to the individual investigating officer or the service. It is down to the government department charged with prosecuting of suspects at court. They too have pressure to increase their conviction rates, so if they are not satisfied that there is a more than good possibility of a conviction they drop it straight away.

This is despite all the paperwork submitted, numerous interviews, and sometimes compelling evidence in the officers' eyes - and, most important of all, the expectations of the victim.

It does seem to be that before long they will only take on the guilty pleas.

Do I feel that we at times let the victim down? Yes. But we are not entirely to blame, the system is. I believe the system is squarely on the side of the offender rather than the victim. The younger and persistent offenders I come into contact with have no fear of the system or its punishments.

They look on young offenders' institutions as a holiday camp where they get free food, free games, free gym membership and are even allowed to keep together with their friends. They do what ever they like, when they like.

As police officers we are paid a good wage, and I for one have enjoyed every minute of it. I love my job and the satisfaction of getting a good result for the people who we serve. I feel the senior hierarchy needs to back us more and listen, not just preach. Yes, like all organisations or firms money is tight and cuts and financial savings have to be made, but not at the expense of the officers on the beat who are the backbone of the service and the ones getting the flak day after day on the streets.

We are the ones that have to face the job and all it entails face on and not from the comfort of a desk.”

Source : http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/

To read the full article, comments from his Chief Constable and Crown Prosecution Service click here.

COMMENT

Critical areas of police service policy and procedure is not only affecting officers morale. Many of the problems highlighted here are having a severly detrimental effect on public confidence in the police as a whole. Regrettably, the front line bobby is the thin blue line where the public aim their dissatisfaction. The target should really be the politicians and senior officers who set the policy these officers have to work with.

The general public want to see a more visible police presence, improved response times and common sense policing. Despite protestations from the Government to the contrary, there remains an excessive "performance culture" within the job. Combined with a lack of discretionary policing this has resulted in a service that is more consumed with political correctness and meeting statistical targets than the 'back to basics policing' the public and front line officers would like to see.

A disproportionate amount of time and resource is wasted on issues that affect a minority of the public. Meanwhile, the Government and senior officers perpetuate the the 'con' about declining crime figures and rising public confidence. The general public are not stupid. They are not taken in by statistics that are manipulated for the media or surveys that are not representative of the real public view.

The time for transparency is now. Clear the decks. Accept that the service has become swamped with bureaucracy and the quality of our society needs fixing fast if the country is not to slip into irreversible moral decline.

This will not happen within the time left with this Government. It seem likely that another party will be in power before any significant change will be seen. Will they be any different? For as long as politicians keep using crime and policing as a convenient political football to grow their overstaffed and excessive empires, then the answer is no.

A radical, honest and transparent approach is needed if public and police confidence is to be restored.

Acceptance that a system is not working is a first step. Forget blame, we don't care what or who caused it, we just want it fixed. Learn the lessons that are staring us in the face. Dismiss the performance culture policing, listen, HEAR and ACT upon what the front line coppers are telling us is inherently wrong with the service. Make every effort to eliminate committees and projects that detract from basics. Reverse the trend of spending 90% of the time and resource planning how you will improve things and 10% of  the time actually doing it. Stop giving us statistics and headlines we stopped trusting long ago. Give the police their dicretional common sense freedom that will enable them to do the job they joined for.

Are there any politicians and senior officers courageous enough to take the action needed? 


Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited

POLICE FEDERATION BLAST LIBYA POLICE TRAINING AS NAIVE

The decision to send UK police officers to train their counterparts in Libya was "naive and insensitive", the chairman of the Police Federation said.

Paul McKeever said the scheme would spark anger over the killing of Pc Yvonne Fletcher.

She was shot 25 years ago outside the Libyan embassy but the Government has allegedly agreed her killer would not be tried in Britain.

He said: "Whilst it may be customary for countries to look to the UK police to provide expertise and training I find it incredible that the Foreign Office has been so naive and insensitive imposing this particular request on the National Policing Improvement Agency.

To read the full press association article click here.

Crime Analyst Team
Nice 1 Limited

GORDON BROWN SHUNS BEREAVED VICTIMS FAMILIES

It seems somewhat of a contradiction that the Government plough so much funding into committees to encourage a "Victim Focused" strategy of policing, yet fail to deliver when it comes to supporting the tragic real victims, the families that experience bereavement through criminal acts. This includes families of police officers.

The work of the National Victims Association has been repeatedly spurned by Gordon Brown and his Government that are only too ready to pose for photographs and strike scandalous deals with Mr Gadaffi and his Libyan terrorist regime.

THE NVA

The National Victims Association provide a comprehensive advocacy, advice, counselling and support service to families bereaved through murder or manslaughter, and are widely regarded by many Government Ministers, statutory agencies, Police forces and Churches as the leading Charity specialising in this field of work. Their website provides details of their ground-breaking work, campaigns on behalf of bereaved families and the fight to obtain core funding from the Government.

BROKEN PROMISES FROM THE GOVERNMENT . . .
Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker MP made public promises to murder victims' families which were subsequently broken. He assured his audience that he would both fund and attend a conference in 2009, then refused to do either.

After numerous complaints about him breaking his promises, Mr Coaker wrote to David Hines of NVA, astonishingly claiming an entirely different interpretation to that of the 100+ bereaved families present. His letter and the reply of David Hines are available and we invite anyone interested to draw their own conclusions.

The next day, following a letter to Mr Coaker from Tim Boswell MP in which Mr Coaker was asked about not delivering on his conference pledges, Mr Coaker wrote to Mr Boswell. His letter was utterly and knowingly untruthful, claiming as it did that the Government had provided substantial sums of money to fund NVA’s core activities. The truth is that since 1992, NVA has received not one penny in core funding from any Government.

What Gordon Brown says...
“Every child is precious and irreplaceable and the death of a child is an unbearable sorrow that no parent should ever have to endure.”
House of Commons, 25th Feb 2009

What Gordon Brown does...
The Prime Minister has, for over a year, resolutely refused to acknowledge multiple requests to meet several NVA parents bereaved through murder. In May 2008 and on behalf of the families of 38 homicide victims - including one triple murder and two serving police officers - NVA wrote to Prime Minister Gordon Brown requesting a meeting to discuss their plight. He refused. Read the National Victims Association first letter to Mr Brown here.

Government Funding : The Truth

Because of the Government’s consistent refusal to tell the truth about NVA funding, the charity have now published a letter sent to Justice Minister Maria Eagle MP in April 2009. We also detail below, every payment ever received from the Government.

Core Funding - Amounts Received

1999 : Nil
2000 : Nil
2001 : Nil
2002 : Nil
2003 : Nil
2004 : Nil
2005 : Nil
2006 : Nil
2007 : Nil
2008 : Nil
2009 : Nil

Conference Funding : Amounts Received

1999 : Nil
2000 : Nil
2001 : Nil
2002 : Nil
2003 : Nil
2004 : Nil
2005 : Nil
2006 : Nil
2007 : Received £10,000 (50% of total costs)
2008 : Received £10,000 (50% of total costs)
2009 : Cancelled due to lack of funding

Project Funding : Amounts Received

2007 Project Costs £48,000, Received £25,000, Shortfall £23,000
2009 Project Costs £48,725, Received £30,985, Shortfall £17,740
2009/10 Project Costs £73,000

Yet another example of this Governments true motivation.

This is political spin at it most abhorrent, where tragic families most in need of compassion and support are denied assistance, where justice for murdered police officers is traded for commercial gain, and where the words "Victim Focus" only count for something if they can be used to political advantage.

Shame on you Mr Brown.

OPEN LETTER TO RT HON CHRIS GRAYLING MP - SHADOW HOME SECRETARY

Nice 1 Limited have today written to the Shadow Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP, outlining some of the concerns felt by the authors of this site, many serving, retired and former police officers and associated personnel, and many supportive members of the public.

As the first approach letter on the subject of this and other sites, detail of the concerns over the state of crime and policing in the UK have not been included at this stage.

The letter invites Mr Grayling to digest information on presently on this site that will be updated over coming weeks and months with articles, features and analysis reports. We urge him to adopt a transparent strategy if and when he assumes the office of Home Secretary in the future.

Any replies will be documented on these pages and should there be a lack of response, we will look to start directing more detailed messages on these subjects to those that will put their shoulder behind the drive for change.

To read the letter in full click here

Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited

WPC YVONNE FLETCHER - A GROWING SENSE OF DISGUST WITH THE GOVERNMENT

Following our post earlier this week about the Government bargaining away justice for the killer of WPC Fletcher, there have been a number of press articles expressing national dismay at the scandalous action taken.

"Gaddafi embraces Lockerbie bomber and thanks his 'courageous friend' Gordon Brown for releasing him"


Read the article in the Daily Mail by clicking here The shocking story will undoubtedly upset you as much as it did us.

And here are a few more on the same theme . . . .

Government 'sold its soul' over Libya trade deals, claim poilce


Telegraph.co.uk
The Government "sold its soul for trade deals" with Libya by agreeing that the killer of PC Yvonne Fletcher will not be tried in Britain, police officers ...
 
Police Federation: Labour has 'sold its soul' over Lybia deals ...


From the excellent Cranmer Remember New Labour's 'ethical foreign policy'? Remember Robin Cook's Sermon in the Foreign Office – a mission ......

Politicians urge Gaddafi to offer visas to Yvonne Fletcher police

Times Online

A group of MPs and peers will fly to Libya this month to try to persuade Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to provide visas to the Metropolitan Police to track down ...


When you read of the deal that was struck, and the connections referred to in these articles, regardless of whether you are supportive of the British Police, you will get an insight into the lack of integrity, conscience and morality that exists in the present Government.

How can we trust anything that emerges from this shower of treacherous creatures?

Yvonne. You paid the ultimate price that could be paid by a Police Officer. The majority of British public are grateful to you. It's unfortunate that the people in power seem unable to display the appropriate sense of decency and respect for your memory.

May you rest in peace.

Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited

THE TRUTH ABOUT CRIME & POLICING IN THE UK

Click above image to view full size

The Crime Analysis Team at Nice 1 are collating articles that will be published on these pages over the forthcoming weeks.

The articles will detail many of the "home truths" about crime recording and reporting, and the bureacratic and procedural obtsructions to officers providing the public with a better service. The articles will show that front line officers are frustrated at ridiculously excessive paperwork and processes that inhibit their ability to be truly effective.

Manipulated statistics and detection policies combined with excessive influence from politically correct committees and strategy teams, have turned the average officer into a box ticking, form filling adminstrator, who is in constant and non-sensical fear of being tripped up over administrative and procedural errors.

The vast majority of UK police officers are conscientious people who want to provide the very best service they can for the general public. These pages will show how, over many years, a web of deceit has been built around the real conditions faced by these officers in their attempt to perform their duty.

Grass roots police officers are indoctrinated into protecting themselves against nuwarranted attack from both their senior management teams (SMT's) and the very system they are forced to implement. As a consequence, you and I, the average UK citizen, are being deprived of the protection and response our millions in taxes is paying for.

Who are the culprits? Certainly not in the main, the bobby on the street, (the few that remain). Some (not all) senior officers, Home Office officials and politicians have combined down the years to create the flaws and inadequacies that exist within the service today, for their own purposes of political, career and financial advancement. The rot unfortunately, is not confined to the police service. The UK criminal justice system is severely flawed in many areas.

All is not as rosy as presented in Government and judicial headlines. It is not in their interest to reveal the truth of their systematic failures to the public, particularly not in the twelve months leading up to a general election.

Through these pages, we will present the information as we discover it for you to make up your own mind. We will, where appropriate lobby officials, raise questions, conduct polls, national surveys and petitions.

"Res Ipsa Loquitur" is latin for"let the facts speak for themselves".  We will present the information that will speak for itself.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first steps. The first steps that will be taken from this site will aim to bring this information to the forefront of public attention. We are not so unrealistic as to believe that we alone can bring about dramatic political and procedural change. Our aim is to encourage informed public debate about these subjects which affect the wellbeing of our society. Complete transparency for subjects that are within the public interest that do not conflict with matters of state and national security is a worthwhile goal.

Bookmark these pages and this site to keep informed of the progress. If you wish to contribute, we will understand that you may consider the content contraversial and that you may wish to remain anonymous with your submissions, through this or other sites we are monitoring.

The Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited

PARTY POLITICAL POLICING?

On reading an article in the Independent, we are even more convinced that there is too much political intrusion and embedded influence within the police service at the highest levels.

The Conservative party are proposing that directly elected police commissioners should be introduced to the UK forces, similar to systems that operate in the United States.

Sir Hugh Orde, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said he was opposed to the idea and warning that public apathy voting could lead to "lunatics" being elected to take charge of forces.

Whilst there are strong arguments for both sides here, the involvement of Sir Hugh must be questioned.

As a police officer, Sir Hugh is bound by the police regulations as much as all officers of every rank.

THE POLICE (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2004

7. Policy background:

7.1 In carrying out their functions and exercising authority, police officers must be seen to be impartial in their dealings with all sections of the community.

7.2 It is particularly important for maintaining public confidence in policing that the Police Service does all it can to root out police officers and recruits who may have racist views or may be perceived to have racist views. This is particularly important in maintaining confidence in policing of minority ethnic and faith communities.

7.3 Regulation 2(1) provides that members of police forces must not take part in activities which are likely to interfere with the impartial discharge of their duties or are likely to give that impression to members of the public.

7.4 Regulation 2(2) provides that members of police forces shall not take any active part in politics and shall not belong to any organisation proscribed by the Secretary of State

7.5 The Secretary of State has determined that no member of a police force may be a member of the BNP, Combat 18 or National Front.

COMMENT

If the police service are to successfully argue that there should be less political interference, then we would ask if Sir Hugh should "lead by example" and interfere less with party politics?

The voters get the politicians they vote for, with all of its downsides. That is democracy in action. We might not all agree with the views of the far right or left, but then it's down to the electorate to make those decisions through the ballot box.

There are many that will agree with the sentiments expressed by Sir Hugh, and they have the perfect right to that stance. But when a senior police officer becomes involved in future party political issues, the line that separates "Police" and "Politics" becomes distinctly blurred.

We sympathise with Sir Hugh in as much as his concerns are for the policing problems that may result from such a proposal. There are right and wrong ways of getting a message delivered and it must be questioned whether the pages of a national tabloid are the right forum.

Sections 7(1) and (3) seem to be the appropriate items to consider in light of the article.

To read the full article click here

In conclusion, our comments are made here to draw attention to the growing overlap of politics in the police force. We neither condone or condemn the actions of Sir Hugh, but would ask if the potential consequences of his public involvement in the matter, might have an adverse effect on the opinion of the police service in general.


The Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited