POLICING TECHNIQUES

No 'Stop and Search' Without Due Cause

Much is rightly made of the destructive effect that the over-enthusiastic use of stop and search powers can have on community cohesion. It is not pleasant for anyone to be stopped by the police for any reason, but to then be searched, and searched because the authorities believe you are a dodgy character of some ill-defined sort is particularly difficult to take. If this happens on more than one occasion the tendency to go ballistic is appreciated.

It is however also a simple fact that there is a high crime rate amongst some minority communities and if the police are to conscientiously target crime in an even-handed manner they have no choice but to target high crime areas — which itself benefits citizens in that locality.

Whilst balance in this matter is much more easily described than practised, it is clearly unacceptable to stop and search anyone without good explicit cause (this is where a certain amount of form-filling for officers is therefore justified). Conducting stop and search in hope of a bit of useful intelligence or to deter further crime, however, is not acceptable.

The Science Underlying Forensic Evidence Reviewed

The entire growth area of forensic science has led to many miscarriages of justice in recent years, so should be reviewed from a purely scientific basis to ensure that assertions made in court purportedly on the basis of forensic science are in fact supported by the science.

Early Engagement With Offenders — A More Proactive Approach Taken

In the case of repeat vandalism of a bus shelter for example, rather than just endlessly repairing at massive taxpayer expense, after 2 attacks hidden video surveillance cameras could be installed near the shelter. In cycle-theft black-spots, expensive bikes with a weak lock and fitted with a state-of-the-art tracking device could be planted to attract the attention of thieves. In locations typically attracting graffiti, existing graffiti will be regularly overpainted and the freshly-painted areas kept under hidden surveillance for any repeat offending.

The aim of these policies will be to engage with those committing even relatively minor offences early on, rather than allow them to just casually create misery, mayhem and distress for others for many years until they either eventually just 'grow out of it' or descend into more serious offending.

Likely Offenders Targeted

Names, addresses or license plates that are regularly reported to the police as offenders — e.g. obviously anti-social dangerous drivers, etc — should be subject to possible surveillance, with plain clothes special constables with cameras 'lying in wait' for, say, an abusive or dangerous driver's next outing.

Similarly, a 'Weirdos With Wires' initiative could also be trialed — with people who tend to attract abuse by just quietly going about their business being fitted with hidden cameras, so that the gratuitous verbal abusers intent on making everyone else's life a misery, can themselves be targeted and then processed by the justice system.

A 'Grassers' Charter' — With Rewards Paid For Video Evidence Submitted By The General Public

The public should be encouraged to submit video evidence of crime to the police, with significant rewards paid for anything leading to a conviction. The rewards should be of sufficient size to enable those wishing to do so to make a full-time career out of providing video evidence to the police.

Possible Use of Lie Detector Tests

Whilst there can be reliability issues surrounding the use of lie detectors, we will consult with authorities in this area to see whether there is any area where the use of lie detectors could fairly be used so as to aid the cause of justice.

Murder Investigations Subject To Peer Review

Recent experience in such investigations has revealed that even with the best will in the world and the most professional of endeavours critical case-solving evidence can sometimes be overlooked. To ensure such horrendous crimes are stopped at the very earliest opportunity, the conduct of investigations should be subject to scrutiny from an independent police unit with experience of similar cases.

Investigative Journalists Rewarded, Financed and Given Public Credit For Major Cases Solved

Many senior journalists have something of a knack for sniffing-out hidden facts and wheedling information out of people, particularly when it comes to dodgy dealings, and they should be given financial rewards and assistance to do just that, as well as public credit when they achieve some success.

Credit Card Fraud Investigated By The Police, Not Banks

Incredibly, the banks and not the police are now responsible for investigating the vast majority of credit card fraud. This has often meant that no action is taken against offenders even when such basic details as the actual address they operate from is known. Appalling. The government should return responsibility to the police whose remit is wider than that of merely making money for shareholders to enjoy.

Review of Policy of Granting Immunity Deals To Informants

Whilst obtaining quality intelligence on crime, particularly organised crime, is and must remain a top priority, the policy of offering informants immunity from prosecution for sometimes very serious offences in exchange for information seems a step too far. We will review this practise with a view to the deal offered to informants being scaled back to a reduced sentence, rather than to no sentence at all.

The General Public Encouraged To Suggest New Anti-Crime Measures

The general public should be encouraged to come forward with their own take on fighting crime and promising ideas should be rewarded and tested in small-scale pilot schemes.

Abolition of All Police Records Held on People Not Convicted of A Criminal Offence

Whilst a proactive approach to deterring and catching criminals is important, in the interests of privacy, justice and to prevent damage from likely informal 'information leak' from such databases, this must not extend to constructing files on most of the adult and child population. Already, 4.8 million people, many of them children, have their DNA samples on police computers, this is 8% of the entire population, more than any other country in the world, and quite ridiculous. The recently introduced Vetting and Barring Scheme now requires anyone working with children or vulnerable adults 3 times a month to register with the Independent Safeguards Authority. This will mean parents and volunteers driving children to sports or social activities being scrutinized as potential paedophiles and is so ludicrous it will mean more than 11 million adults will have to register or face criminal prosecution and a fine.

Sadly, this is another example of government with control-freak tendencies and a paedophilia fixation abusing its authority. Already people's careers have been ruined by unsubstantiated accusations, parents have been deterred from helping-out at all manner of school activities and children's lives have been impoverished as a result. Experts themselves know that most child abuse will not be prevented by these draconian, intrusive measures and however appalling the crime of child abuse, governments must govern for the benefit of the whole of society in a balanced and just way. Wholesale meddling and vetting of a sizeable proportion of the nation's adult population, the vast majority of whom have no criminal convictions, in order to spare a tiny number of acts of child abuse is neither balanced nor just.

The ordinary child and citizen should remain completely out of police records until they commit a criminal offence, so all government and police database information on adults and children who have not been found guilty of a criminal offence should be deleted.

Privacy As Standard When Making Reports Or Enquiries At Police Stations

Many police stations offer an invaluable walk-in service enabling members of the public to ask a quick question about some aspect of the law or to report potentially illegal activity. This helps build the trust and active engagement that is so important to effective policing. However, all too often there is little or no privacy as people talk with the officer on duty. This is completely uncceptable.

Nearly every conversation at a police station is of a personal nature and many relate to being victimised or expose the person reporting an offence to potential retribution from lawless elements that (perhaps for different resons) are often attending the police station too. People should and must be able to interact with officers in privacy, without needing to make embarassing requests for a special interview room. We will therefore require all police stations to update their walk-in facilities to make this basic of civic life a reality — and we will require more than just token screening that does little or nothing to prevent conversations being overheard.

False Statements and False Accusations Treated Very Seriously And Fluff 'N' Nonsense Complaints Not Tolerated

— This is not primarily about wasted police time, important as that issue is, but about the very considerable distress caused to those on the receiving end of false accusation, and the fact that a question-mark raised against someone is subsequently very difficult or impossible to completely remove. This a particular concern in this modern, digitally-networked age where authorities and corporations feel themselves entitled to kept records on practically everyone about practically everything, and then share that information with others in their own particular 'information keepers' club.

In this context, the making of deliberately false or misleading statements to the police regarding even relatively minor offences (for e.g. neighbour disputes) must therefore be treated very seriously — all misrepresentations will automatically be treated as civil offences and misrepresentations regarding criminal offences will themselves be treated as criminal offences.

Under a Fair Britannia Party government, the pompous, report-people-for-(next to)-nothing brigade will be put on notice that the occasional minor slights and abuses of everyday life are an inevitable part of living in this imperfect world full of imperfect people, and that taking gratuitous offence in order to lodge a bogus or personally vindictive complaint with the authorities against fellow law-abiding citizens will not be tolerated. Those persisting in such anti-social antics will, themselves, be held guilty of committing the offence of wasting police time.