i see jolly ol england is following in our footsteps

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Police want new powers of 'instant justice'

Town centre bans and car crushing orders - without going to court

 

Alan Travis, home affairs editor

Tuesday August 15, 2006

 

Guardian

 

Police are pressing ministers for radical new powers to dispense instant

justice, including the immediate exclusion of " yobs " from town centres at night,

and bans on street gang members associating with each other, the Guardian has

learned.

Senior officers say the powers would be the " modern equivalent of a clip round

the ear from the local bobby " and would ensure the introduction of neighbourhood

policing across England and Wales has " bite " and meets public expectations.

 

Ministers are considering extending police summary powers as a crucial part of

Tony Blair's drive to " rebalance " the criminal justice system.

 

The powers have been proposed by Surrey's Assistant Chief Constable, Mark

Rowley, the Association of Chief Police Officers' spokesman on modernising the

way police work. They include:

 

· Powers for police officers to tackle " town centre yobs " by immediately

excluding an offender from the town centre at night " for an appropriate period "

when they are issued with an informal warning or a fixed-penalty fine.

 

· Powers to tackle disorder by giving the neighbourhood constable, who

understands the local context, the right to issue a three-month ban on gangs who

cause repeat disorder on estates from associating with each other in public or

frequenting a particular location. The ban could include a requirement to clear

up local damage. Breaching the order would lead to an immediate court appearance

with a possible fine, parenting order or Asbo.

 

· Powers to tackle " the yob driver " : those repeatedly stopped in an

unregistered car with no insurance, no driving licence or MOT, could face

immediate seizure of the car which would be crushed. An instant interim driving

ban would be imposed pending a court appearance.

 

· Tackling knife crime by enabling " reasonable suspicion " for stop and search

to be based on previous convictions.

 

Mr Rowley told Acpo's Police Professional magazine that the service had seen

such an erosion in its formal and informal powers that it was now at risk of

being no more than an agency of referral to a " slow and inaccessible " criminal

justice system.

 

The proposals he cited could prove the modern equivalent of the " mythical clip

around the ear from the local bobby " that the media and the public said they

wanted. Such summary justice proposals would make powers, already theoretically

available through the courts, available for instant delivery on the streets with

an appeal to the court later.

 

He said that the massive investment in dedicated neighbourhood policing teams

was increasing expectations among local people for immediate effective action to

tackle anti-social behaviour.

 

" It therefore is time to debate whether constables should be given substantial

additional, discretionary, summary powers to meet these challenges ... Such

powers would effectively bring existing criminal justice system powers to the

street.

 

" We could move from the police referring and the courts sentencing to the police

solving and the courts providing scrutiny, " said Mr Rowley adding that they

would provide neighbourhood policing with the " bite " the public expects.

 

But the proposals have alarmed human rights campaigners. Shami Chakrabarti of

Liberty said: " This looks like instant police justice and a return to the

infamous sus laws. Surely the many officers who are proud of our consent-based

policing tradition will resent the idea of being legislator, judge and jury on

the cheap? "

 

Alan Gordon, vice-chairman of the Police Federation, which represents

rank-and-file officers, said he was not sure that he was in favour of the police

imposing any form of sentence: " The enforcement of the law and then a form of

punishment should be two separate processes. "

 

An Acpo spokeswoman last night confirmed that the proposals put forward by Mr

Rowley and the workforce modernisation committee were being explored. A more

detailed set of proposals would be worked up before being formally proposed to

ministers