UK POLICE ARE "ARREST SHY"!
A report has revealed that British police make fewer than half as many arrests as their American counterparts!
"Arrest shy" police officers!
A report from The Institute of Public Policy Research has branded the current system of police authorities as "unaccountable, remote and weak", and is one reason why public satisfaction with the police is lower than in the past!
The proportion of people who said the police do a "good or excellent job" fell from 64 per cent in 1996 to just 48 per cent in 2004/05! The IPPR's Guy Lodge said: "Recent efforts to increase police accountability to the Home Office through central targets have had only limited success and have made policing less responsive to local needs and circumstances." ("Arrest shy" police) In May a separate report warned that the middle classes in Britain have lost faith in a police service which targets the law-abiding simply to meet Government targets. A study by the Civitas think-tank revealed soaring complaints from this group about "neglect of duty" or "impoliteness" by officers. The report also said police were treating incidents as crimes which they would previously have ignored. Examples included a man arrested for placing his foot in the door of a lift, and children chalking on a pavement! The report proposed a series of changes, including a "radical step" to give local councils control of community policing, setting budgets and priorities and appointing local police commanders. The Government has already announced that it is considering introducing "directly elected representatives" to oversee police forces for the first time, with more details due in a new Police Reform Bill expected later this month. Mr Lodge added: "The Government rightly accepts the need to improve police accountability and give the public a greater say in shaping policing priorities through direct election." But does anyone truly believe that this government will ever let anyone, apart from themselves, have any say at all in how their politicised police force is run - this is just another headline grabbing initiative which will soon be forgotten in the next flurry of headlines and broken promises! DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT - JOIN NAVIGOR TODAY !
16 June 2008