When Tony Blair and Labour first came to power in 1997 he said they ‘would be tough on crime and tough on the causes crime’. Ten years later and everybody knows they’ve been neither and their case isn’t helped by the latest report from the European Crime and Safety Survey, a project run by the European Union Commission and the United Nations.
They class the UK as a high crime country and the first line of their press release says ‘The UK is one of the most protected countries in Europe but common crime is way above the EU average.’ It then goes on to report that Britain is the most burgled country in the EU, has the highest levels of assaults in the EU, has a high risk of theft from cars, a high risk of personal theft and is one of only three countries (with Ireland and Estonia) to be above the EU average
for both pickpocketing and personal theft.
The report also makes the conclusion that people in the UK are not over-concerned about burglary or safety on the streets and are reasonably happy with police performance. I think they’ve missed the point here, people are completely resigned to the government doing nothing to tackle crime and have no faith in the police who seem only interested in padding statistics with minor traffic offences.
You only have to look at the recent prison population story to tell the way its going. The prisons are officially full and judges have been told to jail only people who are a risk to public safety, its a burglars charter to steal, don’t be violent during a robbery and you won’t do time. Tony Blair and John Reid, the Home Secretary, come out with the same line that they’re still dealing with problems left from the last Conservative government, that was ten years ago guys, you should have started building new prisons at least three or four years ago.
What’s even crazier is if you retaliate the police and courts will get tough because in their minds vigilante action is completely unacceptable. We’re definitely in need of a shakeup in the way Britain is run.
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