CRIME

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According to Home Office data, only one police officer in 58 is on street patrol at any given time. Although manpower has reached a record 143,000 officers in England and Wales, only 2,400 officers at a time make it out from behind their desks to combat crime. In a town of 90,000 people, only four would be on patrol, while more than twice as many would be back at the police station filling in forms. So much for Labour’s claims that it is cutting bureaucracy and increasing the number of officers on the streets.

Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation, said, "People hear about a record 143,000 officersand it sounds a lot, but the reality, as these figures show, is quite different. The Government obsession with targets and data collection, as well as the failure to provide an effective system to share information, has resulted in officers spending less time on the beat and this can only be at the expense of the public."

Figures released to Parliament by Police Minister Tony McNulty show that officers only spend 14% of their time on patrol. For all ranks, 19.3% of the working day during 2005 and 2006 was spent filling in forms, writing letters and sending memos. When shift patterns, holidays and sick leave are taken into account, only 17,000 of the 81,877 officers eligible for patrol will be on duty for an average eight-hour shift. Hours spent on patrol went down between 2004/5 and 2005/6, while time spent on paperwork increased.

Officers count as being ‘on patrol’ when they are visible to the public and free to respond to incidents. When dealing with a crime or query, they are not included in the figures. In an eight-hour shift, even a dedicated patrol officer spends just over an hour on the beat, the figures show. A Home Office spokesman said, "These calculations do not accurately reflect how many officers are engaged in frontline policing at any one time. It is not helpful to isolate patrol policing as if it is the only type of policing that matters, or as if it is unrelated to any other policing." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Mar/07)

Crime levels in Derbyshire are up but the police are detecting fewer crimes, new figures have shown. Performance monitoring statistics, released by the Home Office, show burglaries in Derbyshire increased by 27% in the year to April. There was also a 3% rise in vehicle crime and 2% rise in robberies, while the county force's detection rate fell by 4%. Jill Walden, Derbyshire police spokeswoman, said, "Although the figures don't look promising, in the last six months we've performed better. Burglaries are reduced by 8% and the amount of recorded crime has been reduced by 5.6%. We're constantly monitoring our performance to try to improve it."

In the latest figures, the Government has published Derbyshire's performance figures alongside that of seven other comparable police forces. The force was bottom of the league, behind Cheshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Norfolk, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia, in reducing crime and promoting public safety. It was second from bottom regarding the public perception of the police. But it finished top in its use of resources and third in its investigation of crime. The Derbyshire statistics show 21.3 out of every 1,000 households were burgled in 2002/03, compared to 16.8 in 2001/02, a rise of 27%.

The average is 14.2 among the police forces with which Derbyshire was compared. The force also fared badly in vehicle crime, with 17.5 out of every 1,000 motorists suffering vandalism or theft, compared to 14 for similar forces. Out of every 1,000 residents, 1.1 were victims of robbery - the same as last year. But it compares unfavourably with the average figure of 0.8. Derbyshire's only improvement was in the war on drugs. Out of every 10,000 residents, 3.9 were brought to justice as suppliers of Class A drugs. That compares to 1.6 one year ago and represents a 140% rise in drug prosecutions, beating the average level among similar forces of 1.8.

Police chiefs were quick to criticise the Government figures and called for more "relevant" performance measures. Derbyshire Assistant Chief Constable Chris Cragon pointed out new methods of recording crime, introduced last year, had made a big difference to recorded crime statistics. He said, "I don't think the people of Derbyshire are particularly interested in statistics. What concerns them is how safe their communities are. We're concerned to see a 27% increase in burglaries, but as the Home Office states, that is down to the National Crime Recording Standard."

An illegal immigrant who killed a nine-year-old boy in a hit-and-run horror on New Year’s Day will NOT be punished over the death. Callum Oakford died after being hit by a car driven by Algerian Kamel Kadri who had no licence, no insurance and no MOT. Kadri drove off at Ferring, West Sussex, as Callum lay dying with his brother at his side. Callum suffered multiple injuries, he was rushed to Worthing hospital and died shortly after. But when Kadri appeared in court he was NOT charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Instead he admitted possessing a stolen passport and failing to stop after an accident.

Callum's distraught parents were in court to hear how Kadri dumped the car in a bid to avoid blame. He also destroyed documents relating to the purchase of the car, which he bought under a false name, at his home in Goring, near Worthing. Prosecutor Kirsten Sharp said, “Mr Kadri threw the keys in a rubbish bin. He parked it some distance away from his home. He tried to disassociate himself from the car, which had sustained damage, but neighbours informed police.” Worthing JPs remanded Kadri in custody for sentencing when he could face 10 years on the passport charge. Sussex Police said there was no ongoing investigation into the accident. But they refused to comment on why Kadri was not charged with causing Callum’s death.

Kadri was jailed for TWO YEARS and then had his sentence CUT because the judge who jailed him exceeded his sentencing powers. Judge Anthony Thorpe sentenced him to eight months for failing to stop after an accident and for not reporting it and he was also given 16 months for having a false passport. But the Crown Prosecution Service said the maximum sentence for the motoring offences was six months.

Kamel Kadri landed a cleaning post at Worthing Hospital after presenting fake documents, including a stolen passport, to an employment agency and spent two weeks in the job. Worthing Hospital said Kadri had been strictly supervised during his time as a cleaner and had no access to wards or occupied clinical areas. The spokesman said police checks were being carried out on him, but he left before they were completed.

Recently the windows of a shop in Ilkeston centre were smashed by vandals within metres of the council's much-trumpeted "security" cameras. The police later said that nothing whatsoever of the incident had been recorded. Obviously they're using the wrong cameras! Those big yellow jobbies can (allegedly) calculate the speed of vehicles to the nearest mile per hour and clearly record their registration plates.

Surely such sophisticated technology would have no trouble in spotting the features of real offending criminals. By all means bring in a zero tolerance policy for fundamentally law-abiding drivers who may occasionally stray a little over the speed limit, but how about using similar determination and technology to control the thieving and violent menaces in our society first? It's all a question of priorities! John Wathen

A 14-year-old boy who burgled a house while the owner was being beaten to death was spared jail after a judge said "everyone can make a mistake." The teenager stole a statue from the house in Priestley Avenue, Mickley, near Alfreton, as three men attacked Matthew Murray. Derby Crown Court heard a murder investigation was launched after Mr Murray's body was found in nearby Stretton. Three men, brothers Daniel Poole and Steven Poole, and Richard Greyham all of Mickley, have been charged with Mr Murray's murder and go on trial at Nottingham Crown Court in the New Year. Recorder Anthony Hughes gave the teenager, who pleaded guilty to burglary and cannot be named for legal reasons, a 12-month supervision order.

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