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Police and politicians must return to basics with zero-tolerance approach towards low-level crimes to win back public
Police and politicians must return to basics with zero-tolerance approach towards low-level crimes to win back public

The Sun

time14 hours ago

  • Politics
  • The Sun

Police and politicians must return to basics with zero-tolerance approach towards low-level crimes to win back public

Policing must get back to the basics VOTERS are fed up to the back teeth with the failure of successive governments to crack down on crime. As a shocking new poll shows today, half the public say the country is fast becoming lawless. 1 Even more — 56 per cent — say things have gone further downhill over the last five years. The violence and mayhem we see daily in our streets, from shoplifting and muggings for phones to brutal stabbings, have created a real sense of despair. The findings are a particularly damning indictment of the Tories. Law and order has traditionally been one of their strong suits, but their legacy after 14 years in power is crime-ridden chaos. But there is no good news for Sir Keir Starmer either. More than half of Brits said Labour is performing 'poorly' on crime. And a staggering 57 per cent said they had no faith in the Government to get control of the streets. This disastrous collapse in confidence should be a wake-up call for Labour. For starters, ministers must order Chief Constables to curb all woke policing and focus resources on combating street crime. Cops should spend less time poring over tweets and more nabbing proper villains. Inside UK's crime capital where residents fear for lives and lay out razor wire to stop thieves They should also take a zero tolerance approach towards low level crimes such as vandalism and soft drug use. Earning bit on the side OUR revelations today from a migrant hotel whistle-blower should make very sombre reading for Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. It is shocking enough that asylum seekers used taxpayer-paid accommodation to make a sex video for OnlyFans. But the scale of illegal working the whistle-blower reports — in kebab shops, barbers, car washes and takeaways — is staggering. This is the heart of black-market Britain which the Government must tackle. Serco, the firm responsible for maintaining the hotels, report all such breaches of the rules to the Home Office. What are they doing to punish the offenders? Ofwat's filthy rich WHILE sewage spilled into our rivers and seas, senior bosses at the regulator body that is supposed to be monitoring water companies pocketed £2million last year. The useless Ofwat, which also blew £6million on consultants, should be scrapped right away and replaced with a regulator with real teeth. Its performance has much in common with a sewage pipe. They both stink.

Brits have NO faith in Labour to keep our streets safe – and it's not hard to understand the reasons why
Brits have NO faith in Labour to keep our streets safe – and it's not hard to understand the reasons why

The Sun

time16 hours ago

  • Politics
  • The Sun

Brits have NO faith in Labour to keep our streets safe – and it's not hard to understand the reasons why

THIS new polling confirms what many of us already knew — Britain has become a lawless country. It lays bare the lack of faith the British people have in Labour to make our streets and communities safe. 2 2 And it's not hard to understand the reasons why. Total crime is now 50 per cent higher than it was in the 1990s. Police no longer investigate or attend shoplifting or theft. Violent repeat offenders are released early and two-tier policing has completely eroded trust. People feel that Keir Starmer is not tough on crime and he goes easy on the criminals. As for Conservatives, they have broken Britain and their own brand is broken, too. They are no longer the party of law and order. The decline that we see today began during their 14 failed years in office. Successive Tory governments cut thousands of police officers but oversaw an explosion in the population. It is clear to me that they should be in hiding for the damage they have done and must simply never be forgiven. Reform UK will fix broken Britain and restore law and order in our country. The British people deserve nothing less. This is a topic you'll be hearing a lot more about from us over the next few days and weeks. Career criminals will be put on notice. This is a national emergency and, after years of complacency by the other parties, it's clear that lawless Britain needs Reform.

Met Police chief says force 'stretched' and justice system 'frustrating' - as he admits London's 'shameful' racism challenge
Met Police chief says force 'stretched' and justice system 'frustrating' - as he admits London's 'shameful' racism challenge

Sky News

timea day ago

  • Politics
  • Sky News

Met Police chief says force 'stretched' and justice system 'frustrating' - as he admits London's 'shameful' racism challenge

It is "shameful" that black boys growing up in London are "far more likely" to die than white boys, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has told Sky News. In a wide-ranging interview with Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the commissioner said that relations with minority communities are "difficult for us", while also speaking about the state of the justice system and the size of the police force. Sir Mark, who came out of retirement to become head of the UK's largest police force in 2022, said: "We can't pretend otherwise that we've got a history between policing and black communities where policing has got a lot wrong. "And we get a lot more right today, but we do still make mistakes. That's not in doubt. I'm being as relentless in that as it can be." He said the "vast majority" of the force are "good people". However, he added: "But that legacy, combined with the tragedy that some of this crime falls most heavily in black communities, that creates a real problem because the legacy creates concern." Sir Mark, who also leads the UK's counter-terrorism policing, said black boys growing up in London "are far more likely to be dead by the time they're 18" than white boys. "That's, I think, shameful for the city," he admitted. "The challenge for us is, as we reach in to tackle those issues, that confrontation that comes from that reaching in, whether it's stop and search on the streets or the sort of operations you seek. "The danger is that's landing in an environment with less trust. "And that makes it even harder. But the people who win out of that [are] all of the criminals." The commissioner added: "I'm so determined to find a way to get past this because if policing in black communities can find a way to confront these issues, together we can give black boys growing up in London equal life chances to white boys, which is not what we're seeing at the moment. "And it's not simply about policing, is it?" Sir Mark said: "I think black boys are several times more likely to be excluded from school, for example, than white boys. "And there are multiple issues layered on top of each other that feed into disproportionality." 'We're stretched, but there's hope and determination' Sir Mark said the Met is a "stretched service" but people who call 999 can expect an officer to attend. "If you are in the middle of a crisis and something awful is happening and you dial 999, officers will get there really quickly," Sir Mark said. "I don't pretend we're not a stretched service. "We are smaller than I think we ought to be, but I don't want to give a sort of message of a lack of hope or a lack of determination." "I've seen the mayor and the home secretary fighting hard for police resourcing," he added. "It's not what I'd want it to be, but it's better than it might be without their efforts." 0:39 'Close to broken' justice system facing 'awful' delays Sir Mark said the criminal justice system was "close to broken" and can be "frustrating" for police officers. "The thing that is frustrating is that the system - and no system can be perfect - but when the system hasn't managed to turn that person's life around and get them on the straight and narrow, and it just becomes a revolving door," he said. "When that happens, of course that's frustrating for officers. "So the more successful prisons and probation can be in terms of getting people onto a law-abiding life from the path they're on, the better. "But that is a real challenge. I mean, we're talking just after Sir Brian Leveson put his report out about the close-to-broken criminal justice system. "And it's absolutely vital that those repairs and reforms that he's talking about happen really quickly, because the system is now so stressed." Giving an example, the police commissioner went on: "We've got Snaresbrook [Crown Court] in London - it's now got more than 100 cases listed for 2029." Sir Mark asked Trevor Phillips to imagine he had been the victim of a crime, saying: "We've caught the person, we've charged him, 'great news, Mr Phillips, we've got him charged, they're going to court'. "And then a few weeks later, I see the trial's listed for 2029. That doesn't feel great, does it?" Asked about the fact that suspects could still be on the streets for years before going to trial, Sir Mark conceded it's "pretty awful". He added: "If it's someone on bail, who might have stolen your phone or whatever, and they're going in for a criminal court trial, that could be four years away. And that's pretty unacceptable, isn't it?" 7:21 Challenge to reform the Met The Met chief's comments come two years after an official report found the force is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. Baroness Casey was commissioned in 2021 to look into the Met Police after serving police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard. She pinned the primary blame for the Met's culture on its past leadership and found stop and search and the use of force against black people was excessive. At the time, Sir Mark, who had been commissioner for six months when the report was published, said he would not use the labels of institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic, which Baroness Casey insisted the Met deserved. However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who helped hire Sir Mark - and could fire him - made it clear the commissioner agreed with Baroness Casey's verdict. A few months after the report, Sir Mark launched a two-year £366m plan to overhaul the Met, including increased emphasis on neighbourhood policing to rebuild public trust and plans to recruit 500 more community support officers and an extra 565 people to work with teams investigating domestic violence, sexual offences and child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Giving cops licence to kill isn't the answer: incoming acting minister Cachalia
Giving cops licence to kill isn't the answer: incoming acting minister Cachalia

The Herald

timea day ago

  • Politics
  • The Herald

Giving cops licence to kill isn't the answer: incoming acting minister Cachalia

Giving the police a licence to kill is not the answer to crime, says incoming acting police minister Firoz Cachalia, who will take up the job on August 1. In an interview at his home in Johannesburg with Sunday Times deputy editor Mike Siluma, Cachalia said tough talk does not reduce crime and may worsen it. 'We've had ministers and national commissioners who appear to think the problem can be solved through tough rhetoric. Strong language and firmness must be communicated to the public but I do not believe that skop, skiet en donner brings down crime. What it does is criminalise the police because they then start acting unlawfully.' Cachalia said police must be equipped, trained and empowered to use force but only within the bounds of the law. 'Shoot to kill — giving the police a licence to murder is not the answer [to reduce crime]. The police have to be well protected, well trained to use force, but they must be able to use force within the limits of the law.' Tackling violent and organised crime requires professional detective work, not political slogans. 'When you have highly trained detectives, with good [solid] information and intelligence — that's the way to deal with syndicates. If you want to deal with organised crime you need your smartest people, your most capable people who know how to carry out these investigations, see the patterns. I believe in professional and effective policing.' Cachalia takes up the post amid instability in the police ministry after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged police minister Senzo Mchunu and senior police officers interfered in investigations. Mkhwanazi also claimed to have evidence of police involvement in high-profile crime syndicates. TimesLIVE

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