Reflections

We are into the final stage in this election. I will try and share a video of some kind with you on social media every day from here on in. Today’s is a reflection on issues that have seemed important. See:

And let me just go over the points made because on one or two of them I can offer greater clarity:

1. ON THESE ELECTIONS: For me, as for many, I strongly believe that it is appropriate that party politics is kept out of policing, which is why I stand as an independent. The outgoing Police and Crime Commissioner, Tony Hogg, resigned his party membership just a few days ago because he shares that conviction.
2. ON COMMUNITY PAYBACK: A significant proportion of the £4.5 million annual “commissioning” or charitable budget available to the Police and Crime Commissioner will be used to enable the women and men who are warranted officers and PCSOs in our Police Force to deliver community payback schemes to avoid putting more young people through the criminal justice system.
3. ON DRUGS: Our present drugs policy is utterly ineffective. It has failed. Drugs are a public health issue. Our children are vulnerable. I will set up a drugs working group that will examine all options, even including that of decriminalisation.
4. ON NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH: We need a new approach in which we care for and watch out for the vulnerable, the very young and the very old. And there must be closer liaison between Neighbourhood Watch groups and the Police Force.
5. ON YOUTH DETOX: We will ensure there is adequate youth detox for addicts who are under 21s.
6. REMAND FOSTERING: Will be encouraged. We will look at the whole issue of missing children and repeat runaways from care.
7. RAPE: Our statistics are not good. Again we need to think about ways in which we address this terrible and largely alcohol related crime.
8. WET ROOMS: Will be introduced for drunks.
9. PRELOADING: Will be discouraged. This is a culture that has to be changed.
10. CHEAP ALCOHOL: We will campaign for a minimum price for alcohol.
11. LATE NIGHT LEVY: We will work with, and expect cooperation from, local authorities on the late night levy.
12. THE BADGER CULL: I do not sympathise with this action and will commit seriously to seeing an at least equivalent sum of money to that used by the Devon and Cornwall Police to enforce the cull is in future spent on animal related crime.

On the vulnerable

The vulnerable in our society include the very young and the very old, the abused, the unemployed, the mentally ill, those addicted to alcohol, those addicted to drugs, children missing from care, the many for whom we have a duty of care and love and understanding. In this, the second in a series of online videos in which my policies are outlined, I address the issue of the vulnerable.

 

What I will do

It is exactly forty days before the election for a new Police and Crime Commissioner on May 5^th of this year. It seems a good moment, therefore, to launch this campaign on social media.

This is the first of a series of videos outlining the issues affecting Devon and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. They explain in detail the remedies I propose to adopt.

William Morris, Angwinack, Ludgvan TR20 8BN, Easter Saturday 2016

When is Enough, Enough?

PCC candidate William Morris (photo Matthew Tomkinson)

There has been much in the news lately about the fact that police officers in Devon and Cornwall failed to respond to 999 calls within the 20 minute target time in 27.7% of cases last year. Clearly this is down to cuts in policing. To have lost some 500 officers in the space of five years, a 10% reduction in force numbers, is bound to have dramatic effect. The hard-pressed police in Devon and Cornwall do outstanding work, and crime levels overall are down in the past year, with significant reductions in the levels of crime such as burglary. However, there is no escaping the fact that violent crime is on the increase.

Violent crime resulting in injury in Devon and Cornwall was up by 7.4% in the year to 31st January 2016, with 1645 incidents reported, whilst levels of rape during the same period increased by 17.6%, with 984 rapes reported in Devon and Cornwall.

I take this opportunity to confirm that I will be standing as an independent candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall in the forthcoming elections on 5th May. Which begs the question: how would I deal with violent crime in ways others might not? My intention if elected is to introduce zero tolerance policing in those areas which show the steepest rise in violent crime. Only with such drastic measures do I believe we can curb this unfortunate trend here in the South West. That does not mean that we will necessarily see greater numbers going through the criminal justice system, because it will also be my intention to introduce policies that would enable officers, should they so choose, to issue offenders with community payback orders as an alternative to arrest and prosecution.

All of which begs a further question: where would zero tolerance policies be introduced? Of course, any such policies would have to be adopted in consultation with the Chief Constable, but the kind of areas that show dramatic increases in levels of violent crime are self-evident from the latest crime figures. For example, Hayle in Cornwall, including the suburb of Copperhouse, had 92 incidents of violent crime resulting in injury in the past year as opposed to, 68 such incidents in the year before. There were also 14 rapes in the Hayle area in the same period. That is a 35.3% increase in violent crime in Hayle, and undoubtedly this would be one area in which zero tolerance policing would be introduced were I elected.

In Devon, the small town of Axminster would probably come in for particular attention. Although it only had 52 incidents of violent crime resulting in injury in the past year, that does represent a 62% rise on the previous year’s figure of 32 such incidents, and something would need to be done. Of course there are many areas that show disturbing levels of increasing crime and that would be on our watch list. Bideford for example, if you include Bideford East-of-the–Water, had a 30% rise in violent crime resulting in injury. Ilfracombe had a similar 30% rise in violent crime resulting in injury, and would also be likely to come in for particular attention, as would Torquay, with a 27.7% rise in violent crime year on year according to the latest figures. With a rolling programme of zero tolerance policing of this kind, things would have to be assessed on a month-by-month basis. Indeed, resources might not be available to impose zero tolerance policing on more than a couple of areas at a time, but I believe that the impact would be dramatic, and the effects long-lasting. And it is a programme I am absolutely committed to adopting if elected.