Dissin'

Tony Blair has announced new 'ideas' as part of his co-called 'Respect' agenda. Read the story here.

One of his key ideas is to organise regular meetings between police, council officials and the public to deal with issues. I fully agree with the idea of police accountability. The police serve the community, and should have no other master. What is typical of New Labour however is the fact that Blair has failed to expand his ideas into greater detail. How will these meetings work? Who will organise them? I fear that a committee will be formed, causing yet another layer of bureaucracy to flounder into existence. Targets will be set with reports that need writing, and figures becoming the end result. The actual work of policing at its core is again forgotten in the endless challenge of Home Office bean counters.

Further use of police officers as judge, jury and executioner. Police officers are to be given the power to issue tickets for a variety of 'minor' offences. These tickets will be for fines of up to £100. As with traffic tickets, the recipient will have the option of contesting this matter at court. It is likely that the majority of tickets will go unchallenged. This situation is not acceptable. The divide between state, police and judiciary is being blurred. It seems that the government are by-passing potential conflict with the judiciary by further empowering the police.