Tag Archives: crime

Do music lyrics cause crime?

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Police dog at Haringey Police Open DayBusy, busy day! First port of call – Haringey Police Open Day held at St Ann’s police station. Beautiful weather – so I wasn’t expecting many people to be there, but there were. How far we have come in terms of community relations and making the police part of the local vernacular! The police have worked bloody hard to achieve this. So in the courtyard there was face painting, police motorbikes, a police dog (gorgeous – a six month old pup called Oscar being trained); first aiders, a history of identity parades and much more. So it was fun!

Haringey is a hugely diverse area, and actually does very well in terms of integration. We have huge challenges – but as demonstrated after 7/7 the communications between our communities is there. There wasn’t a single incident or attack following the bombings in our area – and it is this work and all the work by the various faith, race and umbrella groups that achieved this. Full marks to Haringey Police for walking the talk!

Straight on to Campsbourne Community Residents’ Association where there is an open day for residents to look at the plans for the little square of grass on the estate. There are two alternatives – both very imaginatively designed – and people who come are asked to express their preference. There are also some alternatives for what should be painted onto the paving stones as play equipment is not to be installed. Amongst the choices are hopscotch, clocks and so on. I am reassured that the option of hopscotch is by far and away the most popular – thus proving that just sometimes the old ones are the best ones!

Straight on to Jacksons Lane Community Centre for a two-hour panel debate on Gun and Knife crime. It was a very interesting and lively debate. The officer in charge of Operation Blunt, two mothers from Mothers against Guns, a youth worker and myself, plus a chair.

The audience (which was small and only just outnumbered by the panel) was up for participation – so despite the small numbers I thought some valuable ideas were raised. The most interesting contribution was from a young guy at the back. We on the panel had been banging on about youth diversion etc – and he was saying that you needed to get in and show young people how to earn money (enterprise).

Coincidentally at the police station I talked for a long time to a guy who is running an enterprise effort called BusKids (excuse spelling, may not have got that quite right?). This is a programme to go into schools and teach teenagers money management and entrepreneurial skills to set up small businesses and so on.

The other ruck at the meeting was over reference (by me and others) to gangster rap and hip hop. There was a debate as to whether this was or was not in any way responsible for the rise in gun and knife crime. I think it has an influence but probably not a direct correlation. It sets an atmosphere rather than directly making someone go out and do something. In the end solutions have got to be about changing a whole culture and changing life chances.

Just time for a quick wash and change before it’s on to the 40th Anniversary Ball of the Highgate Society. I grab a dress I have never worn and shoes that are incredibly uncomfortable and off I go. The Highgate Society does and has done over many, many years, the most incredible job of working to improve and protect Highgate. It’s a grafting organisation. Day in day out, year in year out, good people work for the betterment of the local and local people – from planning issues to ensuring the future of Highgate Village.

It is much undervalued I believe, for the work it does. Highgate gets scant attention and support from either Haringey or Camden councils who both seem to write it off as being somehow not part of their borough. Reverse snobbishness – which abandons a large swathe of people who have a variety of incomes from indeed the very rich to quite frankly the very poor.

The Ball is held in Highgate School’s dining room on the side of one of the playing fields. It is so beautiful – the epitome of an English cricket green with the evening sun falling and sparkling. I dance once – with the new Chair of Highgate Society – and then just before midnight I decide enough is enough and walk home bear footed carrying my high heels in my hands and sink gratefully into bed.

Haringey Police Consultative Group

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Spent whole morning and lunchtime at a conference about the future of the Police Consultative Group (PCG) in Haringey. The Met Police Authority are cutting the funding – which is terrible. Haringey’s PCG is active, useful and works really well with the local Commander and all the groupings.

There is a very dedicated group of activists involved – and it isn’t really fair that they will have funding cut to equalise funding to all PCGs across London. I remember well from my time on the PCG that there were some that local MPA link members said were obsolete, non-functioning and needed to be ended – and then others that are active and quite vibrant like Haringey.

Anyway we all say at tables and had sessions addressing a number of issues around how local people could hold the authorities, politicians and police accountable; about the different levels of engagement; about young people and so on. Reasonably useful – but not sure about whether we reached conclusions.

Even more usefully, I met a couple of guys who work with young people. And one was lobbying me basically to stop politicians paying so much attention to the kids who go off the rails but to pay more to those who are positive role models but who might just need a bit of help or funding to get on – into uni – or whatever. And to spend money on a centre for the kids who are good but just need somewhere to go – not just pay attention and money to the negative.

And actually, that evening I am involved in a crime think tank (or anti-crime more accurately), so I bring it up and get it in to the consultative papers that Lib Dems will debate and take forward.

Off to prison

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Spent the morning in Brixton Prison. I was there for the launch of a new book on Restorative Justice. Prison is unremittingly grim. I know it is meant to be – but sometimes it is portrayed as barely different from our lives on the outside. That is so not the case – and I wish more people could be taken to see and feel the claustrophobia of and harshness of the environment where we incarcerate criminals. It’s no cakewalk.

As the hysteria between Tory and Labour crescendos towards locking up everyone and throwing away the key – to show who can be tougher – I am more and more convinced that we need to concentrate on what works; what is effective. The overflowing prisons and increasing rate of offending demonstrate incontrovertibly that the Government’s policies are not working. For all the headline grabbing toughness – it’s a load of baloney. They keep on preferring headline grabbing new laws to properly enforcing the ones that are already there. And the Home Office – after years and years in which Labour could have sorted it out – is still a mess. Whether it is prisoners walking out of prisons, sentences that mean nothing, probation not coping and people being lost track of – it has almost become farcical.

So whilst I am quite a toughie myself in terms of sentencing and enforcement – what I am completely clear about is the need to reduce offending and re-offending – and you can’t do that by simply locking people up. We certainly need to lock up those who might harm us – possibly permanently if the danger is severe. But we also need to make sure that those who will come out of prison one day come out in a state where they get a job, live a decent life and neither re-offend nor become a permanent burden to the tax payer. Otherwise – things ain’t going to get better.

Thus – restorative justice (which has long time been a Lib Dem theme) is now being heralded as one of the ways to do this. Making a criminal meet with the victim they have created can be a powerful step. It brings it home. It’s not easy on the victim – but there is a magic that happens (not for all but for some) when they are confronted with the harm they have done. For the first time the reality of the hurt gets through. And some are so affected that the work to make them change begins within themselves. I know – the dangers of being called soft etc – but I tell you – tough methods on their own do not work. The proof is in the criminal pudding. And the better results on pilots where restorative justice has been implemented are impressive.

So – an interesting morning. Walking away from the prison into the sunlight makes you realise how amazing it is to be free – and how close to hell being in prison actually can be.

Do a long interview with Politics Junkie – which is a website just as it says for the sad! Then a quick SI (Statutory Instrument). We are in agreement with this one – which adds bribery and corruption to the crimes that the Serious Organised Crime Agency can investigate.

Last gig for the day is to meet the other judges for the Guardian’s Public Services awards. These are to be judged in due course and a gala presentation next December. Bill Morris (Lord now) is one, and have enjoyable chat with him and several others. I find out what I will have to do. Apparently the judging will take place over a lunch – and the prizes awarded as I said in December. Luckily one of the judges who has done it previous years did mention that a very large box of paperwork will arrive prior to all of that. So there’s where the hard work will obviously have to be done! Anyway – absolutely delighted to be asked to do this as public services deserve more recognition – or rather the people and organisations that keep it all going. The voluntary sector is included – which is great as they often get left out – but they serve the public too.

Ming Campbell on crime

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Had to change my schedule around to be at Ming’s crime speech. I thought Ming did a good job on it – and was disappointed by the leader in the Independent which slags him off and the Lib Dems for not standing up for Liberalism. Bollocks! Press slag us off for being soft on crime and then when we state our credentials more aggressively – slag us off anyway. I do think we should take the world on our terms and I am for going out and being far more bold on our stance. I am convinced that we actually hold the intellectual and policy keys to making the world a better place – which is why both the other parties continually steal or try to steal our territory. It is irksome to see Cameron getting the coverage he does for doing sweet FA other than ride a bicycle with his shoe chauffer in attendance. He ought to have been slaughtered for that.

Then an afternoon of other peoples’ problems at surgery at Wood Green Library. The BBC ‘See Hear’ team arrive to film me after surgery as they are doing more in depth coverage of the Blanche Nevile School for Deaf Children story.

Haringey Council would like to make out that we (the governors, teachers and me) have all made a fuss about nothing – that there was never any intention to close Blanche Nevile. Fly in the Council ointment of course is the letter in my possession from Sharon Shoesmith (Director of Children’s’ Services) to Judy Downey (Chair of Governors) stating in black and white that the school is financially vulnerable and that there is a proposal to integrate the deaf teaching into Highgate Primary and Fortismere and to possibly close Blanche Nevile. I rest my case.

Actually, it is fine by me. I am more than happy to have upped the ante on this – now that the Council has been forced to publicly state that the school won’t close – mission accomplished. They might not admit they’ve back-tracked, but the key thing is – they have, and that will be good news for the children and parents who rely on the school.

BNP and crime

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Campaigning all day on Sunday – except for a journey to a working men’s club in Harlesden to take part in the London part of the Sunday Politics Show on BBC. The club was divided into a big bar and a small bar in which the filming took place. I was there early and so just chatted with Simon Woolley from Operation Black vote and the crew. Tim Donovan was the interviewer and the other guests were Grant Shapps (Tory) and Dawn Butler (Labour) and down the line and only speaking to Tim – Nick Griffin of the BNP.

The two discussions were to be Margaret Hodge’s pronouncement that 8 out of 10 white working class people in her constituency were considering voting BNP and, secondly, the Safer Neighbourhood Scheme.

So – a short film of canvassing in Hodge’s patch and an interview with Griffin. He came over as a racist and a bigot – so at least there was no pretending that that there was anything to do with housing shortages. For the BNP it doesn’t matter what the issue is – they will use whatever is the most obvious local scapegoat to pedal their bile. The word ‘swamped’ peppered Griffin’s language.

However, the arrogance and complacency of Labour in this area left them an opportunity. Political vacuums will always be filled. No wonder the film clip showed a local BNP member taking flowers around to Hodge’s house to say thanks for putting them on the agenda. The publicity we have all been forced into (including this) as a consequence is ridiculous as their ascendance is minuscule. But because of the filth they pedal – we all must always be vigilant against even this tiny blip on our horizon.

My criticism of Labour for their use of the BNP to try and scare Labour voters into voting Labour is that if there really are 8 in 10 white working class (Labour) voters considering voting BNP (which I doubt) – then where the bloody hell was Margaret for the last four years? Did she not know that there was this undercurrent of frustration and unhappiness amongst her constituents? So why the surprise? It is hard not to be cynical and believe that part of her tirade was scare-mongering. And quite frankly – this cynical use of the race card in reverse is as bad as the Tories use of it at the General Election last year. This is dangerous stuff.

The second issue on Safer Neighbourhoods was kicked off with Dawn Butler bringing out the lie that Labour have been peddling that the Lib Dems and Tories voted against the Mayor’s policing budget at the GLA. Tim Donovan did my work for me. He turned on her and pointed out that this was completely untrue. And Tim would know – as he covers the GLA and was there covering the budget debates. As he pointed out – the Lib Dems and Tories both voted on a separate vote for the police budget. And actually – we also put in an extra £20million to increase British Transport Police numbers in London to 272. Voted down by Labour. Anyway – it was good to see that lie rebutted – and not by a politician, by the interviewer himself.

Then she kept trying to say that crime had risen in Islington. The truth is – by the Home Office’s own statistics – that Lib Dem-run Islington has seen a drop in robbery of over 25% between 2002 and 2005, whilst Labour-run Brent (where Dawn is MP) has seen an increase of over 16% and violent crime in Labour-run Brent increased by almost 40% between 2002 and 2005

What drives me mad is the unquestioning repetition of Labour’s false mantras. They trot out absolute rubbish – and believe that repetition of the message will damage their opponents – regardless of the truth. Maybe it works – I don’t know – but no wonder the public don’t believe politicians any more if the truth doesn’t matter.

After campaigning rest of day – get home to find article in the Sunday Times on the meeting that I will be attending with a small group of other MPs from the cross-party group on Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy (MSBP), a condition where people supposedly fabricate illnesses in their children to gain attention. It wants a review of Government guidelines issued to social workers, police and teachers.

The reason for this is that it would seem that many parents are being wrongly suspected of this or variations on this – and the agony of being involved or connected with child protection issues when you are innocent is incredibly stressful and upsetting.

When the group first approached me – because of a local case of this type – my main concern was that in trying to get the balance right over when Social Services should intervene, it might lead to a raising of the threshold for intervention and thereby miss serious child abuse. Coming from Haringey, where the Victoria Climbie tragedy involved the failure of various people to intervene at the appropriate moment, I am naturally concerned that we don’t make it harder for appropriate intervention to occur.

However, the group persuaded me that actually Social Services were failing at both levels – both too many false accusations but also too many occasion when intervention wasn’t occurring. So that is what this is all about.

DNA records

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Campaigning all day – and then suddenly – whilst stuffing envelopes with Neil and Monica I remember that I have to do a live radio show. Luckily, I remembered with a half hour to spare. This was for a station in the Midlands and on the revelation through my Parliamentary Question that 24% of citizens who have a DNA profile on the national DNA database (NDNAD) are from ethnic minority communities. This compares with 8% black and ethnic minority members in the general population.

I have come to two conclusions. Firstly – the police are clearly arresting a disproportionate amount of innocent black men. I believe that this is because wherever discretionary powers are used – those powers are used disproportionately. This means that all the work we have all been doing, including the police themselves, to eradicate disproportionality is clearly not working.

I often think whilst a proportion of this – hopefully quite small – is actual racism that the vast majority of it is conditioning. But policing should be about intelligence and evidence – and the challenge has to be to become so professional in carrying out duties that there is no way of telling what an officer is thinking on a personal basis. So – back to the drawing board on how to reduce the conditioning or counter it – so that disproportionality is diminished.

The second conclusion I have come to is that until disproportionalilty in policing is conquered – that this database has unintended consequences. I don’t think, that whilst the new powers to take DNA from those arrested was taken through Parliament that the outcomes had been thought through. It is unquestionable that DNA has moved forward the technological ability to detect crime. So – I have come to accept that a database of those charged and convicted or those cautioned is legitimate. I have also come to believe that checking DNA taken from those arrested and checked against cold cases is legitimate and valuable. Many murders and rapes have been solved that way. However, if DNA that is taken is kept on those who are not charged, cautioned or matched against cold cases – therefore innocent – there can be no reason to keep those DNA records and they should be destroyed.

I think this needs to come back to Parliament for debate. On Thursday in a debate about Forensic Science Services (too long to go into here) I made the same point. Andy Burnham wouldn’t let me come back on the issue of bringing it to the floor of the Commons as he seemed to think that the original debate was enough. I disagree profoundly with him. And for both reasons – the principle of innocent until found guilty which is subverted by the retention of the DNA of the innocent and for the reasons that the database itself is biased towards collection of black and ethnic minority DNA – this issue must come back to the chamber.

Clause 35 – common sense on hacking

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Police and Justice Bill committee in the morning. Bill committee all afternoon. I tried to get some oversight (i.e. safeguards) into the latest extension of the surveillance society. The Bill would mean air flight passenger lists being given to the police even with no crime committed – but Hazel was stony ground as per usual. Ms Blears rarely gives an inch – and even when we score – the Government won’t admit it. They simply table their own version of our or the Tory amendments.

But a small victory. Clause 35 is about computer hacking. The way it was written, it would mean that IT companies couldn’t carry out their own hacking tests on their own computers, because that would be hacking. And other such silly things! (More details on The Register).

We’d tabled an amendment to deal with this. I now notice that we have a new Government amendment which does the same thing. Imitation is the best form of flattery!

Crime scam in Haringey

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I received an email from a local resident who had experienced a con-man attempt and who asked that I publicise it in case anyone else might be caught by it. So thank you to my constituent and this is his tale.

The gentleman received a knock on the door from a woman purporting to be a neighbour who had just got home by taxi and did not have the £18.00 fare. She didn’t convince him and she left empty handed. At the time he couldn’t decide if it was genuine or a con. He thought about contacting the police but did not in case it was a genuine plea for help. Of course that is what the con men and women are preying on.

On Tuesday this gentleman had a visit by the local uniformed officers who asked if he had been approached in the manner above and, therefore, confirming that it was a confidence trick. He felt that they will obviously move on to different area of the borough so it might be worth warning people through my means of communications.
You have been warned!

Today is the debate on animal welfare and finally I get to vote against tail-docking of dogs. I have no hesitation – despite arguments about working dogs needing to be exempt. It’s fashion for the most part – and cruel!

Another phone call from Ming’s office – and I am now also London Spokesperson!

Securicor and crime

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Early email from colleague to let me know that I appear sixth on Adam Boulton of Sky TV’s list of the ten most fanciable MPs. Flattered – I log onto the website and see who the others are in the list. It is a mixed gender list. How Adam reached his conclusions is a mystery. The comment by my photo brings me down to earth pretty swiftly! I just assume Adam has made a mathematical error! (I wished). Better to be talked about than not talked about – I guess!

I go to Millbank to film a package for a two minute intro to the Politics Show to air on Sunday as a pre-cursor to an interview they are doing with Chris Huhne re LibDem leadership. Dirt has been (attempted to be) dished recently with Michael Crick trying to find fault with Chris’s expenses when he was an MEP (report on Newsnight). It’s interesting that the diggers can come up with so little. The man must be a saint. I heard information too that Labour were looking at his expenses during the leadership election to see whether they could pin anything on him. I guess you know you’re doing a good job when your enemies are so desperate to do you down. You go boy! I knew I was getting there in Hornsey & Wood Green by the number of personal attacks on me by opponents.

I meet with Securicor Group 4 at 11.30am. There’s an interesting conundrum. Their proposition, which they are putting to the Minister (Hazel Blears), myself and the Tory police spokesperson. is to reclassify attacks on Securicor vans. The current situation is that if is when you attack a Securicor van carrying cash it is rated as a business crime – and therefore the attention and response of the police is not as high as for a public crime. Their argument is that they perform a public service – carrying cash to ATMs etc so that we, the public, can get our cash out whenever and virtually wherever we want. They are not allowed to be armed (quite rightly). However, covering the pavement between the highly fortified vehicle and the bank is a hazardous task.

In fact, 72% of all attacks on ‘cash in transit’ in Europe occur in Britain. Other countries have a range of defences, from armed guards to police coverage – and useful planning like the back of vehicles being able to dock directly into the building being delivered to. Coverage of more delivery points by CCTV would be good too.

So they presented their case to Hazel Blears – who I understand is sympathetic. I am sympathetic to a point – but would want partnership working as I don’t think police can be diverted to protect every delivery (for what is still a profit-making – and good luck to them – company). It’s an interesting question as to what the right balance is between them making reasonable efforts to look after themselves and them getting extra help from the police. Think about your own home. We think it’s reasonable for people to take some steps to protect their own property (locking doors, having decent locks etc) but also for the police to respond quickly when needed.

So – certainly worth thinking about reclassifying their status in terms of police response – but first need to know what relationship is to other businesses who might feel they too have this requirement, like banks. Very interested in more CCTV coverage of delivery points – as this might act as powerful deterrent. Though that depends on the CCTV working – unlike most of the CCTV coverage in my own high streets of Muswell Hill and Crouch End. I gather resources (or lack of them) mean that only 1 in 5 of the cameras is in operation. Absolutely bloody useless if they are not in operation and not monitored. That’s the challenge there. Anyway – food for thought.

Parliament is winding down today – as we go into recess tomorrow for a week – and I am having a week’s holiday. I know – shock horror!