A moral clip around the ear !

At last a bit of common sense from a police force http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6927475.ece

Quote
Ad hoc penalties for offences including assault, theft and vandalism, are being brokered by police officers who are encouraged to use common sense and abandon Whitehall targets.
The officer leading the experiment, Chris Sims, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, told The Times that his force was delivering “bespoke justice�, which was creative, swift and welcomed by victims. Officers, Mr Sims said, were administering “a moral clip round the ear� to offenders.
At the heart of “community resolution� is a 21st-century version of Dixon of Dock Green policing, with beat bobbies exercising their own judgment.

Is this a good idea? ,will it make a difference with todays youth or will they just laugh at it ?

Well, the examples they gave were fairly positive.

[Taf]

Depends how big a cattle prod they give the policemen.....

[punky]

I'm a bit nervous about this.

As a rule the police should not be involved in the dispensing of punishment or justice. They are separate for a reason.

However as Foreverwar says, results seem positive and victim satistifaction at 93% is impressive. If the police can broker a deal which everyone is happy that saves time and money then that's good.

However, i'm still aprehensive:

1. Are these ad-hoc punishments being documented? i.e. Is an assault that ends up with an apology on the street get logged or does it happen again and again?

2. Is there enough protection against possible favouritism/unfavouritism?

3. Are the punishments followed to see whether they are completed adequately completed? Any word on resources being used to chase up non-compliance? If someone doesn't comply after agreeing a punishment are they then able to charge someone for the initial crime?

4. If worried about assaults being downgraded. Although I suspect this is more for petty squabbles and nusiancees that gums up the system.

All good points Punky ,i would hope that most of these bespoke punishments are of the type that would normally end as a formal caution ,the only difference is that maybe the offender is humbled a bit more
I do think that if an young offender is made to personally make reparations to the victim they might regret their actions more

This is what used to happen when I was a kid..and when we had a local bobby very much in evidence on his beat..

What we need are policemen out and about and ready to use common sense and local knowledge of their area.Time to tear up target sheets and to look at the community as people not stats and figures.

[Flyboy]

Although, I agree in part, I am, like Punky, worried about the summary nature of this plan. What checks and balamces are being carried out? How this be monitored and who will do the monitoring.

There is nothing wrong, per se, with targets, it is important that the performance of the police is measured. It is the level at which these targets are set that is the worry.

chief constable Chris Sims does seem to make a lot of sense and i'm surprised we haven't heard of this given the length of time it has been running .A few more chief constables who think like this and are prepared to put these type of ideas into practice are needed i think.What i would like to see now are some hard figures regarding re-offending with offenders dealt with in this manner and maybe an idea as to how much money has been saved

“I intend to change that to refocus our efforts on the needs
of the victim, putting the public at the very heart of what we do. Victims often tell us that in many cases they would prefer a speedier and more effective solution to their complaint rather than taking the matter to court.

“The use of community resolutions is basically the adoption of a common-sense approach to dealing with low-level offences. It
means officers can ask the victim how they want the problem to be dealt with and allow them to be part of the solution.

http://www.constabulary.org.uk/news.htm

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Flyboy

There is nothing wrong, per se, with targets, it is important that the performance of the police is measured. It is the level at which these targets are set that is the worry.

Although the problem with targets is depending on how they are defined and enforced, people can spend more time trying to fulfill targets than they do actually doing their job.

I think this *could* be good. While I don't think giving the police the power to actually assault people would be good, I think that if the police are more visibly patrolling (and I don't count haring round in miscellaneous vehicles here), it might persuade at least some people not to offend.

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Although the problem with targets is depending on how they are defined and enforced, people can spend more time trying to fulfill targets than they do actually doing their job.

I think this *could* be good. While I don't think giving the police the power to actually assault people would be good, I think that if the police are more visibly patrolling (and I don't count haring round in miscellaneous vehicles here), it might persuade at least some people not to offend.

I don't think that giving the police the power to assault people is the idea here Stuart ,it is more a metaphorical "clip" ,a way of showing the offender the concequence of their actions directly without clogging up the court system for months on end .
I do agree with your point about targets ,to often recources get taken away from one area to focus on another to get targets down, only to see the crime figures rise in a different area

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Time to tear up target sheets and to look at the community as people not stats and figures.

Some proper sentencing would be nice as well. Its abundantly clear to most criminals if they are unlucky enough to actually get convicted, which is getting harder by the day, and by some miracle don't get community service/DTTO/probation and have to spend some time inside its not really tough and they'll be out and about in roughly 1/3 of the sentence handed out.

[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by martyh

I don't think that giving the police the power to assault people is the idea here Stuart ,it is more a metaphorical "clip" ,a way of showing the offender the concequence of their actions directly without clogging up the court system for months on end .
I do agree with your point about targets ,to often recources get taken away from one area to focus on another to get targets down, only to see the crime figures rise in a different area

In which case the targets need reviewing and monitoring. More attention to given to how those targets are achieved perhaps and a greater understanding of the issues involved my be a better start. I don't think the abandonment of targets is the answer; just better managed, paerhaps.