Crimewave threat as police austerity means the innocent will suffer

Repression: Scenes like this could become commonplace in the UK as austerity forces police to stop investigating crime and people who try to protest are put down.

Repression: Scenes like this could become commonplace in the UK as austerity forces police to stop investigating crime and people who try to protest are put down.

How free do you feel today?

Whatever your answer, enjoy it while you can because new evidence has shown that funding cuts for the police are likely to result in public repression on a massive scale.

A report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has revealed that austerity is crippling the police service across England and Wales, meaning crime victims are being told to do their own detective work.

According to the BBC, “criminal damage and car crime were ‘on the verge of being decriminalised’ because forces had ‘almost given up'”.

Roger Baker, the inspector who led the review, tried to justify the failure by saying: “It’s not the fault of the individual staff; it’s a mindset thing that’s crept in to policing to say ‘We’ve almost given up’.”

In fairness, the report does say: “HMIC finds this expectation by these forces that the victim should investigate his own crime both surprising and a matter of material concern.

“The police have been given powers and resources to investigate crime by the public, and there should be no expectation on the part of the police that an inversion of that responsibility is acceptable.”

The report also found:

  • People received a different response from the police for the same kind of incident, depending on where they lived – so policing is now a postcode lottery.
  • Attendance rates at crime scenes varied from 39% in Warwickshire to 100% in Cleveland – postcode lottery again.
  • About a third of forces were failing to identify vulnerable and repeat victims – a gift to criminals.
  • There was “inadequate” use of technology by the police.
  • Some forces were losing track of named suspects because they did not have effective systems in place.

Enter ACPO, the sinister Home Office-funded Association of Chief Police Officers, to justify the withdrawal of law and order under the Coalition government’s austerity programme.

“The reality of austerity in policing means that forces must ensure that their officers’ time is put to best use and this means prioritising calls,” said Sir Hugh Orde, ACPO’s president.

ACPO has already anticipated that the effects of austerity may give rise to widespread public protest – which is why it lobbied the government for permission to use water cannons on the streets of the UK.

Vox Political stated in January: “This would be of no use at all in quelling violent criminal activities like the riots in 2011 – the police chiefs have already admitted that water cannons would have been ineffective in halting the “fast, agile disorder” and “dynamic looting” that took place during August 2011.

“ACPO is an organisation that has tried to put ‘agent provocateurs’ into legitimate protest groups and promoted ‘kettling’ to stop peaceful protests (as used in the student protests early in the current Parliament), among many other reprehensible activities.

“Considering its track record, it seems clear that ACPO wants to use water cannons against legitimate political protests, on the assumption that the increasing imposition of ideologically-imposed austerity on the country by the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives will lead to more political protests, as people across the UK finally realise that the Tories and their corporate lobbyist friends are actually working against the wider population.

“ACPO’s report on water cannons makes it clear that “it would be fair to assume that the ongoing and potential future austerity measures are likely to lead to continued protest” and “the mere presence of water cannon can have a deterrent effect”.

“The Home Office response? ‘We are keen to ensure forces have the tools and powers they need to maintain order on our streets. We are currently providing advice to the police on the authorisation process as they build the case for the use of water cannon.’”

What we are seeing is – as mentioned in another VP article published today – when austerity is imposed on a service provided for everybody, that service degenerates.

In the case of policing, this means crimes go unpunished as our political leaders force constabularies to focus increasingly on keeping us under control.

We have already seen police officers checking bus tickets rather than investigating crime. Note that the VP article on this subject provoked a flurry of justificatory comments on our Facebook page, from readers who exhibited a concern that we should not let the evidence convince us that anything was amiss.

ACPO has stated that austerity – such as that which is preventing the police from investigating crime – is likely to stir up public protest.

And ACPO – which, let us remind ourselves, is Home Office-funded – has, in a clear conflict of interest, advised the Home Office to allow the use of water cannon on British streets to put down any such protests, whether they are justified or not. Has it been paid by the Home Office to tell the Home Office what the Home Office wants to hear?

Innocent people exercising their right to protest against injustice will be arrested – while criminals will remain free to vandalise their property and steal from their cars, possibly at the same time.

That’s Tory-run Britain for you: The criminals run amok while the innocent are imprisoned.

Now how free do you feel?

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4 Comments

  1. phillevans September 4, 2014 at 12:32 pm - Reply

    Governments govern only by consent else they are gangsters. Policemen police only by consent else they are hired thugs for the government. Laws are only legal whilst they reflect the common beliefs and values of a society or they are irrelevant bureaucracy.

    This government is destroying the fabric of british society by waging an ideological war on those things we have been proud of for so long (the NHS, the Welfare System, our schools and universities.) They have already precipitated one unofficial police strike (what else were the “riots” two years ago where police openly watched as streets were torn apart by petty criminals?) They are alienating even their blue-rinse power base and still not giving enough to their corporate backers.

    Soon, this government will come to know what Alan Moore put best: “People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.”

    One solution…

  2. thelovelywibblywobblyoldlady September 4, 2014 at 4:06 pm - Reply

    Ah ACPO….a publicly funded private company, who also have another company ACRO
    This is how it works…the police arrest you for, oh I don’t know some trumped up charge of say wearing a loud shirt in a built up area. They take your DNA and fingerprints and it’s off onto the DNA database you go. You’re released without charge.. end of story (or so you think) Now, lets say you fancy going to the good ol US of A, you can’t get a visa because you’re on the DNA database, you’re sort of described as innocentish or guiltyish, depending on your point of view. In any other country, if you’re on the DNA database (including EU countries) you are guilty of a crime, so you won’t be accepted in to the country until you get…wait for it…drum roll please … a certificate from ACRO (at a cost of £70) explaining the position.
    What would they do without the British Taxpayer (and we’re all taxpayers cos even kids, grannies and the unemployed pay VAT) we’re like the gift that keep on giving.
    And people wonder why I hate the police!

  3. Thomas M September 4, 2014 at 4:22 pm - Reply

    Tories are supposed to be pro law and order, one of the few things that the right wing are generally good at most of the time. But this government care only about staying in power. If they carry on messing up everything protests are going to get bigger and bigger and more and more violent on both sides.

  4. Mr.Angry September 5, 2014 at 9:01 am - Reply

    These are very sad times, if what the the HMIC are saying can be substantiated why are they not protesting on the streets. I am aware they have on one occasion but they should be joining other union groups and having a mass demonstration. Police officers should also refuse to Police peaceful demonstrations, that would show this government the discontent felt by every person in this country under this Tory led coalition.

    To hell with the oath the PC’s take do the ministers stick to their rules think not. The whole country should rise up in one foul swoop.

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