In a display of complete and utter shock today, the public learned that criminals, liars and thieves…… commit crime, tell lies and steal! This is the kind of story The Police Inspector Blog was made for.
And then, to complete gasps of horror, if they have been released from prison early for committing crimes, telling lies and stealing, actually RUN AWAY rather than go back to prison!
Too add to the horror of it all, we then learned that the overburdened police (who successfully locked them up in the first place) are too busy to rush about looking for them all over again!
Maybe we just think it’s not worth it.
Some of the criminals released early, who then run away when they breach their licence, actually murdered people. And then we are surprised when they run away.
But hold on! I thought prison didn’t work? So why run away?
One thing I do know is that every time we see on the briefing that a particular dangerous and violent prisoner has been recalled to prison we think:
1. Why the hell is he out already? He was only sent away a few months ago!
2. Who decided he should be released? Does that person live in the same street? I think not.
3. What does the previous victim think?
4. Stop everything we had planned to do this shift while we rush about looking for him (again).
Contrary to popular belief, we do not live in a police state and it can be a devil to find someone again if they really do not want to be found. We actually usually rely upon the fact that most of them are creatures of habit/ too stupid to hide properly/ too easily ‘grassed’ by their so-called mates for a bit of cash.
There is absolutely no point in allowing prisoners to be released early and then being bewildered when they go on to commit more crime and run away to avoid going back inside.
On the presumption that the criminals pleaded “Not Guilty” in the first place, the question is:
Why should decision-makers believe proven liars (who promise to not re-offend etc)?
Prison Works.
How much more pain and misery will be inflicted on the Great British public until the politicians finally get it?
Hopefully with all of these cuts in budgets that are coming someone will wake up and get it.
Law and order is simple, arrest plus effective punishment equals a long stretch and a satisified victim and a villan in prison means no crime.
I love the way Jack Straw is proud of the fact that so many more prisoners are being recalled now than before 1997 as if it’s something to be proud of.
He just doesn’t get it…
They get recalled because they went on to reoffend while on licence. Therefore the decision to recall means that the original decision to release early was wrong!! The increase in numbers should be something to be ashamed of.
Recalling larger numbers of offenders isn’t ‘being tough on criminals’. Not releasing them early in the first place is.
I’ve arrested individuals who have had as many as 140 previous convictions. This fact alone proved to me, many moons ago, that our criminal justice system is a farce and short sentences interspersed with ‘community punishments’ do nothing other than encourage these morons to continue offending. A couple of long stretches and hey presto, end of problem.
The expression ‘Police State’ is used as a perjorative indictment of government policies, rather than the police force (sorry – service) itself. Unfortunately it’s the messenger that gets the blame.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we lived in a country where Justice and Railways provided what was said on the tin?
Sentences without discounts or licence, and fares reflecting the distance travelled, as opposed to age, time-of-day or social status.
Ahh! Dream on Curmudgeon.
Yes, as I have argued here before, a “police state” is actually a bureaucracy state. The only thing the police have to do with it is that they are neutered, in favour of the chair-polishers, who used to work with card indexes and now employ computer databases.
It happened this way in both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. If Gulag Archipelago is still in print, it is well worth ploughing through for lessons in all this. The Gestapo and NKVD/KGB were first and foremost office-dwellers.
Yeah, the cops still picked up criminals, and took their lumps in the process, but the apparatchiks concentrated on political enemies. The criminals were treated with kid gloves compared with the enemies of the people: short sentences, early release and so on.
Begin to sound familiar? All we need are the enemies of the people. The politically incorrect, the dissident and the honest citizen are being forced into the frame as we speak.
Ahhh yes, the enemies of the people, or is it the enemies of the state.. such as Nightjack who expose the weaknesses of the system/state???
Oops, have I gone too far again? (Excuse me while I step outside and await the bus to re-education camp 12)
Don’t worry Bloggs A Lotte, you’ll be released on licence from Education Camp 12 within a week anyway.
Enjoy your Sky TV whilst you’re there
As a MOP 1/2/3 all enter my mind when they say some nutter has been released.
I think that every prisoner that is released early and re offends the person who signed the get out of jail free card should be slung into the jail as well. That way less people would get let out because there would be consequences for it.
A bit like telling parents if their kids skip school they will go to jail.
But Ronnie Biggs is safe behind bars, and won’t be causing any mayhem. So that’s all right then….
…He stuck two fingers up to this country when he went on the run for 35 years and now guess what …he needs [your] tax paying help.
You been reading the Daily Mash again ?
As someone who occasionally watches over the fax machine for recall notices, it makes me smile that one of the tickboxes on the recall form is “Poor behavior”, and that it is the one usually ticked.
Wasn’t that why they were locked up in the first place?
Most of them get emailed to the local area Tasking Unit (another middle management mess if ever I saw it) only to be allocated to core section the next day, which is why you will never be seen on a non urgent call during the early shift…
What you said, only you said it better.
Sigh.
Are you two actually the same person?
One mistake ok, it is very rare to be caught on the first attempt to get free board and lodging at holiday camp anyway, so you get second chance not to mess up, but surely if thee repeat your offense then the sentence should be tripled each time thee get caught and no time off for saying yes sir, but get 14 hrs daily cleaning the streets with soap and water and they should all wear pink panties if the be deemed to macho.
Sweat a little, and trow away those bar bells, television and all other rewards for being an oaters a****.
It should be punishment not a reward.
The Hard cases should be paraded daily in thongs and pink bras.
The only good thing is that having found said naughty person and arrested him/her for absconding or on a recall there’s very little paperwork.
See there’s a silver lining to every cloud…..
I would disagree with Hibbo that CCTV & DNA do nothing to those we are worried about.
I have personally locked up drug dealers, burglars and rapists based soley on DNA. We know that there are thousand of murderers behind bars because of DNA.
I have personally locked up some really nasty assaults based on CCTV evidence from town centres.
So you are wrong these two areas really do hit the criminals hard.
What they don’t do is have any effect the law abiding majority, so what if youre caught on a few cameras as you shop – honestly does that really matter? At least if you’re robbed there’s a good chance we can review the footage and catch the baddie!
If you’ve never been arrested your DNA will not be recorded….but even if you were and innocent what does it matter, unless you are a criminal and planning to do crime does it really matter??
I was trying to organise the re-capture of an escaped psychiatric patient from his secure unit. As always, the best weapon in our armoury on these occasions is publicity. My draft press release stated that as he was `dangerous, the public shouldn`t approach him`. The hospital manager was unhappy about that, stating, `He’s not dangerous unless he fails to take his medication`. The frontline staff (nurses) all rolled their eyes upwards. Where do these managers come from? They seem to be everywhere.
Am I right in guessing that as he had escaped then he wasn’t being force fed his medication and was therefore *shock*horror*gasp* dangerous?
You are right, those managers are everywhere.. sad really.
I would simply ask the manager in that case to confirm that he/she will be taking responsability for the escapee’s actions.
If they dont splutter over their retraction at this point, then they would more likely be at home being a patient of a mental ward rather than managing one.
The problem is, Gadget, that the justice system is full of ex-public school boys.
I’ve seen and heard enough in public schools to know that their mantra of ‘everyone deserves a second chance’ is firmly inbred in them, right from their school days – because headmasters insist on it!
These people also believe in ‘forgiveness’ because so many of these ex-public school boys do bad things to require it!
Hence you might recall so many summing up speeches from judges which knock you sideways for their lightness of touch – whilst anyone with any common sense listening is fuming with rage!
My suggestion is:
get rid of the public schools
= get rid of public school boys
= get a better social mix of people in the top jobs e.g. the judiciary
= a return to normality (but we’ve never really known this state)
= keeping the criminal where they should be (i.e. banged up for a long stretch)
They talk about the state of this country! Just one guess which group of people are responsible for it!
“Look at this,this is like 25 pages.At some point the Criminal Justice System is going to need to explain why this suspect was out on the street”-Head of North Carolina Law Enforcement at a press conference as he brandished the criminal record of Patrick Burris who had just been shot dead by police officers investigating a suspect vehicle report-Burris was a suspected serial killer who in the past week had shot dead FIVE innocent members of the public.
Compare this to the UK-can you imagine any ACPO officer standing up and saying something like this?The person making the most noise would come from the IPCC who would have prejudged the whole issue before anything had been investigated.And then look at the politicians that weasel Straw and his reaction to the butchering of two french students….
Retired Sgt.
Love it. I can’t see any member of ACPO ever wanting to get in to the spotlight and do anything.. well unless it’s to get their MBE or whatever it is they get these days!
And heaven forbid that a serving PC should stand up and actually speak the truth (in public, exposed, etc) because the press would have him hung, drawn and quartered by tea time!
Speaking, as I do, with no legal knowledge whatsoever, but with considerable anger at being mugged by one of these people a few years ago, can I just ask the following question: why is it not possible to sue the individual who releases a proved repeat offender onto the streets to steal, threaten, rape or murder?
In my case the individual had been freed after arrests for three violent assaults within the three months before he attacked me.
Someone, a NAMED individual sat down, examined his case and then decided to release him
He was then bailed after my attack and committed a serious sexual assault on a woman.
He was then bailed again.
It turns out he had been released early from every one of his previous sentences.
If real sentences were given for crime which actually meant what they say, I’m quite certain that crime would fall. Not only because the perpetrators would be in jail, but also because those outside would start to realise this was happening and maybe think twice about a possible crime.
Its time to stop “time off” for good behaviour; it should be “time on” for bad behaviour. Its time to stop “concurrent” sentences; if someone gets caught for a dozen cases of shoplifting and gets 6 months for each, he should serve the full six years. If this means that someone gets 150 years as in the U.S., so be it. And we need the law changed so as to add a fixed mandatory amount on the sentence each time (s)he is convicted of the same offence, so my shoplifter would get, say an additional 3 months each time (s)he is convicted, six months the first time, 9 months the second, a year the third, etc. And if the individual is so thick that he doesn’t realise what is happening, I’m sure most of his mates will.
Brian E – 2nd para – you’d think it’d be obvious, wouldn’t you?
If there was any logic to it all; criminals who have previously offended on bail or have failed to respond to bail shouldn’t get bail. And likewise, offenders that have previously breached their licence shouldn’t be eligble for early release. And persistant offenders that prove they are beyond rehabilitation should serve longer and longer sentences.
But as we all know, there is no logic to it all! So we will continue to roll our eyes and shake our heads in disbelief when the powers that be express surprise at their own stupidity.
And we will continue to lock them up only to see them NFA’d or given a meaningless community punishment or a custodial sentence that is merely an inconvenience rather than a punishment!
I remember when you had 24,000 hits. Back in the day, eh?
)
Q – why is it only ACPO and desk-bound or at least not front line bobbies who ever get a QPM? For “Services to Policing”!!!
Someone must know.
R/T, for the same reason that a frontline officer won’t get a QSR (quality service report for the personal file, not even an official commendation or award) for any of the following –
1. keeping someone alive long enough for LAS and HEMS to arrive and stabilise them despite intestines hanging out and two puncture wounds to the heart.
2. talking a depressed suicidal mother of two off a roof.
3. catching someone jumping off a bridge trying to kill themselves and nearly getting pulled over themselves.
However, run the catering unit for a couple of years, or save some cash whilst in the duties office by resourcing directly from desperately short response teams instead of paying overtime then you’re well away. That’ll be an MBE and a commissioners commendation for the last two, and sod all for the first three because we are supposed to do them apparently and therefore aren’t deserving of recognition. And people wonder why we are cynical??
Stuck Record
The parents of the two French Students murdered by Sonnex are apparently looking to sue both individuals including the Justice Secretary Jack Straw and the British Govt for the way they allowed Sonnex to be on the loose.
I also understand that a Consultant Psychiatrist who released a madman who killed within a few days of his release is being sued by relatives of the victim
Now if the Great British Public did this or at least threatened it on a regular basis then perhaps just perhaps….
Remember GBP only YOU can change things-despite what bullshit you may be told YOU can change it—–
Hibbo – this is (at least partially) the ‘Ooman rights act at work again.
Hibbo/Vetnurse. Agree re: the culpability but think it should only apply when the judge has gone against the reports from partner services (e.g. police, probation etc). Which they usually do.
An old friend who shall remain unamed submitted an early release assessment once that was blank (accidentally). Nobody called them on it. Upon inspection and digging into the paper trail they found it had been stamped and pushed into the pile…
Hibbo,
What’s wrong with the nothing to fear, nothing to hide chestnut ?
As a serving officer I have given my DNA voluntarily (I think the whole of the Police in the UK has, but I may be wrong)
I also work for a force which has one of those “beacons” but it has another name. There is one in the car and we have them built into our personal radios.
I would look forward to a country wide ANPR system.
I have nothing to fear from any of this – and more to the point why should I? I’m law abiding, have no plans to break the law.
You ask ‘What’s wrong with the nothing to fear, nothing to hide chestnut?’
The answer is this – it’s a common logical fallacy, a false dichotomy. It oversimplifies a complex subject into a statement of obvious bias. In reality, it’s not such a simple either/or choice. I have plenty to hide. None of it is anything the police would be interested in and very litte of it is anything I have any great ‘fear’ of being exposed*. But the fact that I’ve never committed a crime in my life doesn’t suddenly grant the police or any other force of authority in this or any other country the right to pry into every aspect of my life, nor should it mean that I should feel A-OK if anybody decided to go checking up on this.
Why should They** need to know whether I went to the cinema after work, what I saw there, what brand of pizza I eat, who I talk to, which hand I jerk off with? The answer is that unless I become a criminal, they *shouldn’t*. This information is of no benefit to them that doesn’t come at expense to me.
On the flip side, I’m more than happy to offer information to the authorities that helps me, them or somebody else. On the way back from work today, I witnessed a motorbike/car collision. I promptly stopped, helped pick the bike up, made sure there were no injuries – and stuck around for the police, making sure they’d got my phone number and address for the purposes of resolving any issues.
But the minute you tell me that such information *has* to be known, accurate and up-to-date at all times, along with much more personal information, by law… that is the day I stop being a law-abiding citizen.
*OK, that’s a lie, but none of it is anything that’s illegal. Nothing that would get me marked down as anything other than a curiousity.
**’They’ here representing not a single shadowy Illuminati style conspiracy, just any person, department or agency in any position of power, or even those not. Basically, anybody.
As the good people always keep quiet or mum , nowt gets changed, so much for democracy. Only the complainers vote?
The golden pen always trumps common sense, or stated another way the rich, no matter how the loot be obtained have the life boat , so they can and do say “I am all right Jack [straw] “
Hibbo, do you carry a mobile phone? Do you use a credit or debit card?
When my force asked for our volunteered samples and I refused the subtle threats started. I supplied mine but deliberately spoilt the sample knowing it couldn’t be used. By the time the requests came out for repeat samples (a few people obviously did the same as me) there was something else for the bosses to concentrate on and I simply ignored the request. I know how useful DNA, fingerprints and CCTV are, that if you do nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about. Thats not the point. The state is chipping away at our privacy. I don’t usually (if ever) agree wih Hibbo he’s right when he says things are going too far, We will soon have ANPRs all over the place, cars will have tracking devices noting our speed and driving habits. The govt can already view your lifestyle by accessing your electronic spending habits. This nonsense about DNA and fingerprints from all arrested persons even if they are NFA’d 10 minutes later has to stop.
I told my teenager daughter a few years ago if you are stopped by the police or PSCO and asked for your name refuse unless you were warned by a cop you may be arrested as she was being reported for summons. By giving her name she would appear on my force computer system as a new stop/check record
butterfingers- haven’t finished
This record would be created to boost someones PIs. We have managed to hack off large sections of the public. I’m not sure how we wil get their support back.
I agree prison doesn`t work.
If by ‘work’ you mean turning criminals into law-abiding citizens.
If, on the other hand, you mean preventing criminals from making the lives of the law-abiding into a total misery, it actually does work. As long as you do it properly.
Prison might also be an opportunity for rehabilitation, re-education, turning over a new leaf, gaining insight into the error of your ways, finding a way to live and let live alongside your fellow man (or woman).
Note the word ‘also’, meaning ‘in addition to’ or ‘as well as’.
Because the primary purpose of prison was, and still is, to keep criminals and those that would harm us in a place of safety. Our safety.
But in this country policies, procedures and paper trails have taken the place of the actual stuff they were brought in to support. The work.
Social workers, and the kind of people who let murderers out for ‘good behaviour’ for or admitting they are guilty (you couldn`t make it up!), actually believe they are doing their job if they have followed all the procedures and ticked all the boxes.
This country is the poorer not because of a global financial recession but from the loss of decision makers, leadership and the power of independant thought.
And now (probably to the sound of hundreds of blog-watchers exiting by the back door I`ll sing it again “Political Correctness” aaaooow!!
hahaha – I love your post title!
Hibbo – my fingerprints and DNA are on the database – voluntarily as well as it happens, as they went on before it was mandatory for all police officers. Our Airwave radio system is equipped with GPS trackers anyway but the Met are upgrading so that we can be pinpointed more accurately while on duty. If they weren’t doing this as a way of spreading us out even thinner than we are already then I would be happy about it, but as it’s going to be happening anyway and despite our protestations about removing more frontline resources I’m rather ‘meh’ about it.
If you really want to you can pretty much track a car from point to point if you work hard enough, so a cross country network would only be a bad thing if (inevitably) the government decided to use it as a revenue means, naturally we’d get the blame as the Police would be the public face of the system, just as with speed cameras which we ALL hate. Otherwise as for intel and crime tracking the capability of the system would be exceptional.
As for centrally held data, the Home office and MOD are as bad as each other and it only seems to go missing when some incompetent prick decides to leave their blackberry/laptop or data storage on the train/bog. Same with sidearms actually.
As a slight aside, I have found the perfect job for Jacqui Smith when she gets turfed out at the next election!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8138665.stm
Regards,
TaffyMedic.
[...] Criminals Insist On Being Naughty SHOCK! In a display of complete and utter shock today, the public learned that criminals, liars and thieves…… [...] [...]
TaffyMedic
‘Scuse the pun but – ‘Wicked!’
Have you voluntarily given your DNA to the database?
No but would if everyone had to
Would you allow your bosses to make you wear a permanently active locator beacon (for officer safety of course)
Yes wear one very day – Airwave radio
Are you looking forward to a cross country ANPR network so every single car journey you make is tracked from point to point?
Yes
The biggy though, is would you trust the government and civil service/public sector to handle all this data?
No!!!
even easier. don’t bother putting them away at all
http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/Police-warn-burglar-freed-by.5444079.jp
I’m passionately in favour of rehabilitation programmes in the justice system and rehabilitation options within prison. I’m passionately in favour of them as early intervention. However by the time somebody’s going into prison they’ve had their chances with intervention and it’s time to keep them away from the public and protect society.
This isn’t rocket science. Why don’t they just do it?
what about police officers who lie to cover up their wrongdoing? As the saying goes ‘no matter how high you are the law is always above you’