Silent Crime impact: “It undermines the whole system of justice”

National World - LocalTV

The government has promised to halve serious violence, tackle the scourge of violence against women and girls, and rebuild public confidence in policing by getting police back on the beat.

Transcript

00:00The police force are the first people we call when we've had a break-in, a car theft, an

00:09assault, or any sort of manner of crimes.

00:13Here people get a crime number for the insurance, and of course that's the end of it, and the

00:18idea that what they've been subject to will never be investigated.

00:23It makes people feel uneasy, so that sense that criminality is being unpunished and in

00:29deed, of course, we've heard so many stories in recent weeks about jails being full, and

00:34indeed those who've gone to prison being released early.

00:37So it kind of undermines the whole system of justice, because of course there is the

00:42idea of catching these people, putting them, or giving them the adequate punishment, and

00:47if that requires prison, so be it.

00:49With that in mind, what sort of a role does political leadership play in ensuring that

00:53law enforcement agencies are adequately supported to solve crime?

00:57People do want to see community-based policing, because of course policing is of the community

01:02and for the community, and therefore, of course, if they could have a local police officer

01:08who they could talk to about the issues, and they would be on top of what's going on, because

01:12quite often it's the low-level stuff that's what causes the most aggravation.

01:16Quite clearly, if there's a major incident, we expect the police to respond.

01:20But ultimately, in terms of leadership, it will always come from central government,

01:25and of course the message we're getting from central government at the moment is

01:29the pot is pretty empty.

01:31In fact, there is no money, as that famous memo from the 2010 election went.

01:38And so the reality is, what does any extra resources be spent on?

01:44Is it the health service?

01:45Is it education?

01:46Is it defence?

01:47Of course, that's another big problem.

01:49Or is it about policing of the community?

01:51So big questions.

01:54And dare I say, I think it's certainly an issue that didn't get enough attention in

01:57the most recent election.

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