Prisons, Guns and CCTV
Law and order issues continue to dominate the political landscape and the media. The Guardian, for example, leads on a £350 million pound black hole in the prison plans just announced by John Reid as Home Secretary. The plain fact seems to be that while the Home Secretary has obtained money for extra prison building he has not been given any resources to run them! In Britain, it seems to me, we have many people who are in prison who should not be there end many who are not in prison who should be inside. A national debate on this whole issue of punishment, deterrence and rehabilitation drawing on the experience of other countries is long overdue.
In my own area, meanwhile , I learned yesterday that Dyfed-Powys police have appealed for help from unpaid volunteers to monitor CCTV images in Haverfordwest.
Now I am the first to encourage the ethos of involving the public in the maintenance of good law and order but this raises serious issues.I am sure that the vast bulk of volunteers will come forward for the right reasons but how can we be sure?
What about training for these volunteers? What about civil liberty issues as they spot their neighbours on CCTV?
I cannot help thinking that this is a cash-strapped police force (and the Welsh forces are up against it because of a poor settlement from Gordon Brown ) having to see how they can make ends meet. That is understandable but cannot be the right reason for going down this route.
The most alarming news of late ,however, has been the spate of fatal shootings in South London– no easy answers here I am sure. It would be a mistake to think that the government can solve it alone although I am sure that there are measures that can be taken to contribute to a solution–measures to encourage community provision and to help families, for example.
