Dear Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left.
Signed, Liam Byrne

(Outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury. May 2010)
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Saturday 27 February 2010

Convenient criminals

"Convenient criminals" were, according to this site created to dispel the myth of rising crime, and
Labour thought it would be a good idea to judge police performance solely on Targets. Set targets to Police Forces (sorry 'Services') to achieve a certain clear-up rate of crime and that would focus them.
Good idea at the time perhaps, but like Topsy the idea 'just growed'.

You aren't going to read the rest of the blog piece here, you'll have to visit this site to do that. Go on, it's worth it.

Maybe you'll be able to help them out too,
Do you know of someone who was, or were you the victim, and yet ended up with a fixed penalty ticket?

If so these are the criteria we need to meet:
1. Was the person a genuine victim of crime ?;
2. Was the victim (or bystander) issued with a Fixed Penalty Ticket by police and the criminal unapprehended?
3. Are there independent witnesses prepared to set out what happened?
4. Was the penalty paid rather than go to court?
5. Are they / you prepared to be interviewed on camera as part of a non-professional documentary for You Tube and elsewhere ?

If so please post an outline in the comments and we will find a way to get in touch.
Here's an example :
1. 26 year old male, (College sports coach) having a quiet drink with friends is hit in the face by a glass thrown during a fight which erupted at the other end of the pub. Bleeding heavily he is taken outside as police and ambulance are called. Those involved in the fight leave - they know the police are coming. Victim sits on the pavement waiting for ambulance.

Police arrive but the fight is over and nobody to arrest, that's bad news for the officers as with no criminal apprehended they fail the targets set by the Government. They walk out to the victim and this is where he became a Convenient Criminal.

In shock from his wounds and the heavy bleeding he loudly asks the police 'Where's the f***ing ambulance got to?'. Suddenly the police can, and do, issue a Fixed Penalty for a Section 5 Public Order Offence for his swearing and bingo their targets are met. Crime reported, officers attend and a fixed penalty ticket issued. Ticks all the boxes they need for Labour's police targets.
And, in case you missed it here's the link again.

h/t EUReferendum & Muffled Vociferation
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3 comments:

The Filthy Engineer said...

Seems that that is going to be a blog worth watching

Quiet_Man said...

It's not funny anymore (if it ever really was) Some of the examples make me so angry at what has happened to a once respected profession.

Mrs Rigby said...

@ TFE - Yes, it does look interesting.

@ QM - No, it isn't funny any more, and it's even less funny that a lot of people can't see that there's something wrong.