Government vows to protect communities in Crime and Security Bill

19 Nov 09

The Crime and Security Bill is touted as a protector for our communities, at least in part by requiring parents to take responsibility for their own offspring’s behaviour.

There’ll be a mandatory assessment of parenting needs whenever a 10-to-15-year-old juvenile is being considered for an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO), and the imposition of parenting orders where the young person concerned has breached their ASBO. Both are welcome moves and long overdue.

Interestingly – but not surprisingly – the Tory approach would be somewhat different, with David Cameron’s charges looking to break with the use of ASBO’s on youngsters altogether. Under a Conservative administration, ‘troublesome’ youths would have their property confiscated or otherwise face informal punishments negotiated with their parents.

In real terms, the latter would mean repairing/paying for whatever they may have damaged or being ‘grounded’ at home. These proposals are nowhere near strong enough.

Anti-social behaviour and the entire role of parenting in what many now deem to be ‘Broken Britain’ are certain to be key battlegrounds at the General Election, and the Prime Minister – in tandem with Home Secretary Alan Johnson – is extremely keen to revive the reputation of its once-flagship Court orders. Those orders have been severely damaged, with the ASBO breach rate among juveniles currently running at 65%.

Reduction in recorded information

Gordon Brown’s new Bill also seeks to enable the police service to spend more time on tackling crime in our communities by reducing the amount of information recorded on lengthy Stop and Search forms.

If that happens then all well and good. Far too many sworn officers are stuck behind desks desperately trying to meet policing targets set by the Government when they should be out on the streets dealing with miscreants.

Under the Crime and Security Bill, an additional criminal offence will be introduced to the 1952 Prison Act for the possession of a mobile phone behind bars without authorisation. Possession of such is already an offence under UK jail rules, but this latest decision to render it a criminal offence follows on from mounting concerns that some offenders are continuing to operate drugs rings and other illegal enterprises from the privacy of their cells.

You’ll be ‘amazed’ to discover that over 8,500 smuggled mobile phones or SIM cards were found inside English and Welsh prisons during the 12 months to June this year. 255 of those were located in high security prisons. That being the case, it would appear the security regimes in place need an urgent review.

Retention of DNA records

The biggest thrust of the new Bill, though, centres on the issue of DNA records (and, more specifically, their retention by the State). In referring to the Bill, the Prime Minister’s website talks of: “Ensuring the right people are on our DNA database by indefinitely retaining the DNA records of convicted offenders and holding the DNA of adults who are arrested – but not charged – for six years.”

There is also the following comment on Number10.gov.uk... “Protecting the public by allowing the police to take DNA samples and fingerprints at any time post-conviction for a serious crime, and to take them from serious, violent and sexual offenders returning to the UK following conviction overseas.”

For their part, the Tories oppose the six-year idea by arguing that the Scottish model – which adopts five years’ retention for serious violent and sexual offences – would be enough.

It’s worth noting that this Bill also includes powers to retrospectively add profiles of those convicted of serious offences prior to 2004 to the database, in turn enabling the police when they come to tackle so-called ‘cold cases’.

White Paper on policing

Looking at what’s ‘on the table’, then, one can probably surmise that the most controversial elements of what Brown and Co are proposing have yet to see the light of public domain day. For example, expectations are high that a new policing-based White Paper aimed at tackling the highly controversial issues surrounding local police accountability will be published in the not-too-distant future.

On this topic, as things stand both the Labour Party and their blue rivals are making loud noises about introducing monthly beat meetings for the public in EVERY neighbourhood. However, Alan Johnson has already been pretty forceful in ruling out any prospects of an elected police commissioner or elected members of police authorities.

One of the biggest problems faced by our Boys and Girls in Blue (policemen and women, that is, not Conservative front and back-benchers) is the mass of red tape they have to try and cut through on a daily basis. This is alluded to in former Police Federation chairman Jan Berry’s yet-to-be-published review of bureaucracy.

It seems likely that the Home Secretary’s key focus in the run-up to the General Election will be the drive to clamp down on anti-social behaviour.

Anti-terrorist control orders

Other potential areas of controversy that have yet to emerge in public include the future of anti-terrorist control orders. Johnson has pledged to review this area early in the New Year. There are also likely to be new measures aimed at cutting violence against women.

Domestic violence will be tackled with ‘Go’ orders, allowing the police to bar a suspected perpetrator from their home for a fixed period of time even if they haven’t been charged. The idea being that victims of domestic violence will be empowered to feel safe in their own homes rather than having to seek refuse elsewhere. A very welcome development.

Also on the agenda for the Queen’s Speech was the Bribery Bill. Extending to England, Wales and Northern Ireland, in simple terms this legislation makes it illegal to bribe a foreign official to either obtain or retain business. The Bill also makes it an offence for any businesses to fail in preventing a bribe being paid by their employees (or by other firms) on their behalf.

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