Ex-Met chief Lord Stevens to lead Labour police review
I remember Charles Clark and the idea of super-police forces. I am also friends with Kieran Brett who when a number 10 advisor had a role in the launch of SOCA – The Serious Organised Crime Agency. It seems to me that notwithstanding the fact that technically we have not had a significant police review, according to this article, for a number of years (1962 according to this article), we are permanently fiddling at the edges of our policing system – the proposals for directly elected commissioners for example also comes to mind.
What we rarely seem to get is a reasoned review of how effective changes have been or in many cases we don’t even given them long to bed in. SOCA for example established only 6 years ago is now potentially to morph into something else.
Rural places are often perceived as low crime environments and in many cases they don’t have the same level of visible crime or physical violent as urban places. They do however have their own very distinctive crime character and profile, whilst having examples of the staple fare of crimes we usually think about they are centres for laundering money through property purchase, increasing examples of rustling and animal theft, increasing examples of metal theft from key utilities and ongoing centres for animal fighting and baiting. All of which are distinctive and unpleasant.
Let’s hope the distinctive nature and character of rural crime gets some air time in this review. What would be even more interesting would be a consideration, in these tough times, about how to legitimise some of the informal bartering and mutual support which has an economic value but which people feel obliged to “keep quiet” about, as a means of stimulating local support networks and rural mutuality. What do you think?