CRIME

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Shoplifters, drunks and vandals will escape paying on-the-spot fines if they promise to behave for a few months. Thousands of yobs will be let off with "deferred" fixed-penalty notices each year. Where once they would have been hauled into court, criminals will have their £80 fines suspended if they sign an Acceptable Behaviour Contract. If the offender behaves for the duration of the agreement, which could be as little as three months, police will cancel the fine.

Separate plans will allow first-time shoplifters to escape any police action if they return their stolen items and say sorry to the shopkeeper. The good behaviour contract will set out a list of requirements such as a shoplifter promising not to steal. Half the 37,500 fines handed out to shoplifters each year are not paid and figures for other crimes covered by Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND) are similar. In 2006, they included 42,300 incidents of being drunk and disorderly, 19,600 cases of criminal damage and 664 of throwing fireworks.

Anthony Hickingbotham has ignored at least 11 on-the-spot fines. The thief should have been jailed but the last time he appeared in court police failed to tell the judge about his record. That let the 26-year-old heroin addict claim the charge of stealing from a shop was "a blip" and he was sentenced to take a drug treatment course. The court in Hull later discovered that Hickingbotham, who has a record of more than 40 offences, had been handed nine fines in the previous year, including eight for stealing. Four offences took place in the same pharmacy.

Hickingbotham said of spot fines, "When I was first given one I thought it was a laugh. I would rather get an £80 fine than be locked up for shoplifting. I have 11 of them now and I haven't paid them." As he smoked a cannabis joint before leaving for his drug treatment course, he added, "They do it to keep the costs down of taking you to court. It's only shoplifting and the prisons are full." (Source: Daily Mail, May/07)

Michael Cresswell, who chopped off his girlfriend's ponytail with kitchen scissors, was jailed for 12 months for causing her actual bodily harm. He was originally cleared of the charge when magistrates ruled that the offence did not constitute actual bodily harm since hair was dead tissue. True. But the case returned to court after two High Court judges disagreed. (Source: Daily Mirror, May/06)

PC Diederik Coetzee won a formal citation for breaking the UK record for arrests by a single officer by making 309 arrests in 2004 patrolling on a mountain bike. But now superiors have told him to steer clear of the street which houses a young people’s day centre and YMCA because he is upsetting young yobs by arresting them! Managers at the Sherwood Street Day Centre in Mansfield, Notts, had complained he was arresting too many “vulnerable young people” and they warned kids in trouble with the law were shunning the centre because of it.

PC Coetzee's chief inspector John Eyre said, “PC Coetzee is an enthusiastic and proactive officer. Recently his work has led to concerns from the day centre that his actions may deter vulnerable members of the community from using the service. In the spirit of co-operation, police have come to an agreement that extra care and consideration will be taken as to where any such arrests take place.” (Source: The Sun)

We are constantly being told not to take the law into our own hands and that we should report crime to the police for them to deal with. As this approach has proved to be a total waste of time on numerous occasions, the Derbyshire village of Hatton, plagued by anti-social behaviour, has taken its own steps, with help from the leader of South Derbyshire District Council.

Councillor Barrie Whyman asked a personal friend who is ex-Army, weighs 20 stones and is 6ft 7in, to 'provide reassurance and moral support' to Hatton residents in an unofficial, unpaid role. Mr Whyman, a former chairman of Burton Magistrates' Bench, said, "He is a very large, imposing bloke, so hopefully his presence will should calm things down a bit. He has made himself available to anyone who needs him. He will act as a sort of deterrent, but I would not call him a vigilante."

Rob Buxton, chairman of Hatton Parish Council, where Mr Whyman announced his idea said, "This is not an official parish council proposal. I think this is a good idea in a way, but it's frustrating that it has had to come to this." But a spokesman for Derbyshire police trotted out the same response and said vigilantes were not the solution to crime problems. He said, "We don't condone vigilantes. They're subject to the same law as everybody else and if they break the law they'll be prosecuted."

If real criminals were dealt with in this manner, there would be no need for people like Mr Whymans friend. The police have already decided that this man is a vigilante and not a deterrent.

Home Office figures show that violent crime in England and Wales has risen 14%. There were 289,500 violent crimes recorded between July and September 2003, compared with 253,000 during the same period in 2002. But ministers say part of the increase has resulted from new methods in the way police record crimes. Overall crime rates remained stable, with significant falls in burglaries and vehicle crimes. Offences of violence against the person rose 17%, serious violence such as killings were up 18%, and serious wounding and sexual offences rose 8%. But the British Crime Survey, regarded by ministers as a more reliable indicator of trends, suggests violent crime actually dropped 3% in the year to September. The BCS also indicates a slight fall in overall crime rates over the same period.

There is also evidence that people are less worried about crime than they used to be. Home Office Minister, Hazel Blears, said changes in police recording procedures introduced in 2002 with the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) explained much of the apparent rise in violence. Better recording, said Ms Blears, meant police forces now had a clearer picture of crime in their areas. Anti-social behaviour and "low-level thuggery", both included in violent crime figures, were also more accurately recorded. "We are also encouraging victims to report crimes, especially violent and sexual offences, and we would expect to see a rise in these figures."

According to the BCS, overall crime was down 1% compared to the same quarter in 2002, while burglary, robbery and vehicle crime, fell significantly. The police figures suggested overall crime remained stable. President of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) Chris Fox said, "It is good news that reported crime generally is not rising, and in many categories continues to fall." But he said the rise in violent crime remained a "particular concern", although he noted the BCS had suggested a fall in violent offences over the period. The BCS figures are based on interviews with 36, 854 adults living in private households in England and Wales. The fieldwork was carried out by BMRB Social Research between October 2002 and September 2003.

Meanwhile, separate gun crime figures indicate a 2% increase in firearm offences in the year to March 2003. The figures came as the Home Office announced that offenders possessing illegal firearms would from now on receive a mandatory five-year prison sentence. It said the gun crime figures showed "a dramatic slowdown" compared to a 34% increase the previous year. But they also pointed to a 46% rise in the use of imitation firearms, with 1,815 recorded offences.