Just Go Home!

                                  Another Arrest Caused by the Police

I was out on foot patrol in the town recently in company with a young PC. It was about 2.30 a.m. and we were standing minding our own business near one of the towns nightclubs. Club patrons often congregate here and it is not uncommon for arguments and fights to break out between those who have had too much to drink. A police presence usually provides a deterrent to this sort of behaviour.

As people walk past us I give some cheery 'Good Nights' and hope they all find a taxi and go home quietly. Two lads walk by and I bid them a good night. One says "It's the filth. I don't like you lot." The PC with me suggests he has a word with him. No, I say, just ignore him and hopefully he will go home. The two lads stop about 20 yards down the road. A minute later the one who spoke earlier comes back. He says. "Why are you hanging around here? Instead of picking on innocent people you should be catching murderers and rapists." Most police officers have heard this a dozen times. I politely tell him why we are there and wish him good night." He doesn't go. "I don't like you lot. In fact I hate pigs. You're all a bunch of arseholes." No one else has heard this comment and, of course, I am not at all offended by it as Justice Bean has decided such language should not offend me.

The lad has had a good drink and I could arrest him for being drunk and disorderly but I really just want him to go home, so I say. "Fair enough, we're all entitled to our opinion. Good night." We walk away towards the club hoping he will just go home. The lad follows us. "Yeah, go on. Fuck off! Fuck off and do something useful. Bunch of fucking arseholes." Now, I don't care what Justice Bean says, if you tell me to fuck off you are going to be arrested. I turn around and walk back to the lad. I arrest him for being drunk and disorderly. As soon as I take hold of him he resists. He tries to pull away, thrashes his arms around, then says he is going to knock me out. There is a torrent of abuse and threats while I subdue him. His friend decides he is going to intervene and the PC with me has to keep him away while I end up with the drunk lad on the floor.

He is eventually handcuffed and I await a vehicle to take him to the police station. He is continually being abusive and threatening. His friend is still hanging around nearby. A police car arrives and the arrested lad doesn't want to get in it so we have another scuffle and a little pain compliance until he gets in. I can then hear air escaping. His idiot friend is round the back of the police car letting one of the tyres down. He gets arrested too.

I wrote an article several months ago about working with probation officers and how they generally accepted that many public order incidents are caused by the police. This has become so commonplace that I believe magistrates almost accept there must be some truth in this. The penalties certainly reflect this.

The idiot who let the tyre down sobered up and was given a Fixed Penalty to pay. The idiot who got arrested in the first place has a history of violence and public order offences. He has eleven previous convictions. He was charged with being Drunk and Disorderly and Resisting Arrest. He pleaded guilty at Magistrates Court. In mitigation his solicitor stated on his behalf that the arresting officer had been rude to him and the cause of his poor behaviour. He was fined £50 with £30 costs.

I have little confidence that this penalty will deter this man from any similar behaviour in the future. So this man will become another crime statistic and it is the police, not the rest of the failing justice system, that will take the blame for not reducing crime.

Hacking, Working with Probation and Supervision

I've gone out of my way this week to talk to people about the phone hacking issue. It is clear to me that the general populous are thoroughly bored with the subject. There is an acceptance that this has happened, the politicos are trying to score points, millions will be wasted on inquiries and little will change. The terrible events in Norway have now taken over the front pages and even Amy Winehouse shooting up her last dose of heroin is up there above the hacking story.

So moving on and back to the sharp end; this weekend my team were joined by a Probation Officer who wanted to come out on patrol with the police and see what it is like from our perspective. I like these attachments and hope that we can genuinely show partners what we have to deal with and that they will learn and take something back from this. There is always some trepidation, I still worry that an officer may say something stupid, but after two years of weeding out the idiots I am confident they will acquit themselves well.

After almost two nights with various officers I met the Probation Officer to have a chat about her experience. She told me that she had been surprised at how tolerant officers were. In the face of drunken abuse, threats and violence she felt that officers had shown remarkable restraint and maturity. She told me that whenever 'clients' had been arrested for drunk and disorderly or public order offences they always said that the arresting police officer had wound them up. This excuse is so commonplace that most Probation Officers accept that D & D and public order offences are actually caused by the police, hence no one ever gets recommended for any substantial penalty in the Probation Officers report. Worse still, Probation Officers when compiling their reports for any offence simply interview the 'client' who gives their account full of bullshit excuses and lies, which the Probation Officer's generally accept. So when the case comes to court the prosecution case is outlined and then the defence outline their case, which is supported by the Probation report. Two one to the defence and their story is accepted as the truth.

We hadn't finished our conversation when a neighbourhood officer called for assistance nearby. I attended with the Probation Officer. On arrival we find two neighbourhood officers, a drunken idiot and a gathering crowd all in a residential street. The drunken idiot is shouting at one of the officers. "Fuck off you bald cunt." The officer is trying to reason with him and to calm him down and send him home. The other is standing there like a lemon. After repeating the abuse twice more I told the officer to arrest him. "What for?" says the officer. He later told me that abusing a police officer was not an offence. I end up arresting the idiot before more embarrassment is caused. He wants to fight but he is drunk and he finds his face kissing the tarmac before he knows what is happening. The crowd are the residents of the street and not the usual drunken town centre morons. So instead of abuse and threats I got a cheer and a few claps from the residents who obviously thought it was about time someone did something.

Back at the police station I have a frank discussion with the Neighbourhood officers, including suggesting they might like to think about a change of career. I will speak to their supervisor, hope they are not equally useless, and tell them to put the officers on performance measures. I have one request for supervisors. Don't send useless officers to Neighbourhoods or CID. Deal with them and if they cannot be developed then get rid of them. In my Force Neighbourhoods have become infested with ineffective officers. We cannot afford to carry them. If we had good Neighbourhood officers our jobs would be so much easier. 

Update 24th July - I have just found out the officer who failed to make the arrest has not arrested anyone this year. How can an officer be out working the streets and not make an arrest for almost 7 months. I am going to be on his case from now.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Consequences

I have touched on this subject before and it links very much to the Edlington case and other similar cases.

I am convinced that the major factor in the breakdown of our society and recidivism rates in this country is the woolly liberals, (small l) who cannot seem to grasp the fact that poor behaviour MUST result in negative consequences. If you have not read the Winston Smith Blog, I commend it to you. The blog vividly portrays life in children’s services and young peoples care homes. This in one area where the liberals have been allowed to take over, unimpeded by the press and public opinion. Once you have read a few of Winston Smith’s accounts, ask yourself; is it any wonder that two thirds of children in the social care system are involved in drugs, have serious criminal records and nearly half of those end up in prison?

The liberals have almost taken over the education system and likewise we have a huge swathe of young people in various ineffective projects outside of school or in school dragging it down to the detriment of those that wish to learn. The present Government has great difficulty understanding the differences and the perceived inequalities of private and state education. We are constantly being told that it is unfair that some can pay to get a better education than others. The reason most people send their children to private school is to get them away from the poor influences that infest the state sector and lower the educational achievement of most pupils. Private schools do not tolerate poor behaviour and address it far more effectively than the state sector. The liberals have ensured that there are only ineffective consequences in the state sector and so this spiral continues.

The liberals have taken over a large section of law and order and the same applies here. The murderous James Moore received numerous Court Orders and I know from my own experience that he will have had lots of nice chats about his behaviour and how he needs to change. But not one of those chats would have said you must not do this or if you do something bad will happen. That would be far too oppressive and so his poor behaviour NEVER resulted in negative consequences and he went on to murder an innocent young boy.

I am a great believer in the Supernanny school of life. If you have ever watched one of those programmes you will have seen that there are badly behaved children and there are always reasons why. Usually it is because the parents are ineffective. There are often other factors involved that need to be addressed. The first thing that Supernanny does is set the rules. If the rules are broken there are negative consequences. The work to address parenting or other issues then starts but always, always, the rules are set first and if they are broken there are consequences.

I am not suggesting that children or offenders are flogged or imprisoned at the drop of a hat. I totally accept that work needs to take place to address the problems of the individual or family but this must always follow the negative consequences. If we ignore consequences we are wasting our time with the good work and reinforcing a society where people feel they can behave as they wish regardless of others.

We have got to win back this argument and ensure that the woolly liberals infesting education, children’s services, the Youth Offending Team and Probation are thrown out or re-educated. Their behaviour is also appalling and they need to understand that consequences exist and apply to them also. We are all guilty of allowing this to happen.