VIOLENCE BY ANY OTHER NAME?

Back in September 2013, the Home Office commissioned HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for England and Wales to look at the way our Police Services deal with domestic violence.

The report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has looked at how all 43 forces in England and Wales responded to domestic violence understandably does not make pleasant reading and contains some grim statistics.

It is time, I think to finally seperate the word ‘domestic’ from what is simply violence and to change the way offenders are dealt with. Serious consideration needs to be given to removing the reliance on initiating prosecution for the repeat offences from the victim to the Police Service, some preliminary work in this direction was done in Lambeth, by the Metropolitan Police Service in the 1990’s, but more work clearly needs to be done.  

While reform of the law in relation to domestic violence is long overdue, there has been some progress but we are continually confronted by grim statistics in relation to domestic violence. The HMIC report has criticised some aspects of the way both Gwent Police deals with domestic violence and the victims of domestic violence.  HMIC has accused Police forces of unacceptable weaknesses in relation to dealing with incidence of domestic violence and this despite domestic abuse being linked to 8% of crimes and police chiefs stating that abuse was a priority.

The HMIC investigation revealed that of some 600 domestic assault files, half did not include pictures of injuries - a standard piece of evidence for a prosecution. Police, the HMIC report noted, receive more than one million calls a year relating to domestic abuse and almost 58,000 victims - the vast majority of them women - were at risk of serious harm or murder.

The report stated that three women a fortnight were being killed by a partner or former partner and a third of all assaults recorded by the police related to domestic violence. In an exceptionally critical report, HMIC have said that chief police officers need to recognise that domestic abuse constitutes a major problem that demanded comparable resources and focus to those devoted to tackling other high volume crimes such as burglary.  The report noted that only eight out of 43 forces were responding well to domestic abuse.

HMIC noted that it had significant concerns about how Gwent Police responded to some victims of domestic violence, it noted where there had been improvements and made specific recommendations for improvement for Gwent Police. Historically our Police Services had a poor record when it came to dealing with domestic violence, with offences of violence in a domestic context being effectively written off. At the end of the day violence against a person, is violence against a person, the setting (‘domestic’ or otherwise) is irrelevant, it is an offence.

POLICING IN WALES

Exactly how our communities are policed and exactly to whom our Police are accountable is an important issue at this Welsh election, even though Policing is not a devolved matter. Certainly well over one hundred plus email's that I have received from concerned Police Federation members over the last few hours show that many of our Police officers are also concerned as to where things are going Policing wise as a result of the proposed Con Dem public sector spending cuts.

Plaid believes that everyone in Wales has the right to live in a community that feels safe and is properly policed. While Policing is not currently devolved, Plaid will seek the devolution of the criminal justice system to the National Assembly for Wales so that we can introduce a progressive and more responsive approach to ensuring safer communities. And Plaid will work towards a Welsh system of restorative justice and community policing.

This is why - Plaid believes that the devolution of policing would safeguard jobs, pay and conditions. Showing a total lack of vision, Labour are working with the Tories by accepting their plans, proposing instead to create 500 Community Support Officers – support staff working on local anti-social behaviour issues.

This is a waste of public money - Plaid would much rather see these wasted millions spent on supporting trained police officers as they go about their existing duties while faced with deep and painful budget cuts. In Wales We are facing the prospect of losing 1,600 police officers across Wales, and Plaid would rather see the estimated £14 million Labour wants to spend on CSO's spent on real police work instead.

HMIC (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary) has said that a cut beyond 12% would “almost certainly reduce police availability”. The UK Government thinks it is acceptable to force a cut of 20% to the policing budget during times of recession - this makes no sense.  Our Police forces cannot ill afford to lose some of their most experienced police officers, who will be the first to go.

I sincerely that wish someone would explain to me (and everyone else) exactly how the UK Government honestly expects to see a fall in crime rates at the same time as it is slashing resources and is planning to reduce the number of civilian support staff and Police Officers.

Following the devolution of criminal justice, Plaid will launch a National Commission on Policing. This comprehensive project will look at the future role and functions of Welsh police forces, including what people in Wales want from their police authorities and the changing demands of a 21st century Wales.

Despite everything the UK Government has forced through plans which will see responsibility for appointing Police Commissioners given to the Secretary of State for Wales, despite the Welsh Assembly's opposition to the move. With that in mind, Plaid will continue to oppose the introduction of elected police commissioners, as Plaid believes that ideology and politics should not be a part of our criminal justice system.

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

I have long believed that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have never really prioritised any real concerns for Wales, other than nominally. Now Plaid believes that crime and justice should be devolved in its entirety to the National Assembly for Wales, and is committed to ensuring that local policing and local democratic control is maintained and enhanced.

While Plaid believes that cutting front-line policing at a time of recession is absurd, the Con Dems have other ideas. The Con Dem Government have different priorities, not just the harsh public sector cuts, which include amongst other things slashing central police funding by 20% in the middle of a recession, this decision is absurdity writ large and entirely devoid of common sense, on a par almost with reducing the size of the UK armed forces while out of European theatre commitments expand.

The Con Dem plan to introduce the unpopular policy of elected police commissioners at a cost of £50million whilst simultaneously overseeing devastating cuts to front-line policing goes well beyond adding insult to injury. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has said that this will mean there will be 12,000 fewer police officers as a result. It has also been estimated that 579 police officers in Wales will now face redundancy.

HMIC (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary) has said that a cut beyond 12% would “almost certainly reduce police availability”. Despite everything the UK Government has forced through plans which will see responsibility for appointing Police Commissioners given to the Secretary of State for Wales, despite the Welsh Assembly's opposition to the move.

As far as I can seen it appears that what little common sense the Con Dems had has been ditched. Most people will be aware that historically, in times of recession, the crime rates increase. So the Con Dem cuts mean that our communities will come to rely on the police more and more. Despite this fact the UK Government thinks it is acceptable to force a cut of 20% to the policing budget - this is madness.

Our Police forces cannot afford to lose some of their most experienced police officers, who will be the first to go. I wish someone would explain to me (and everyone else) just how exactly the UK Government honestly expects to see a fall in crime rates at the same time as slashing resources and planning to reduce the number of civilian support staff and Police Officers.

The planned introduction of elected Police Commissioners is nothing more than a flawed outdated ideology - and yet the Con Dem Government is providing £50million to force them through, whilst they simultaneously oversee devastating cuts to front-line policing. This whole sorry mess really shows where the Tories and Lib Dems priorities actually really lie, clearly Wales will never be a priority for them, fortunately it is for Plaid.

THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST

The questionable savings that may be made by the closure of local police stations in Gwent can only ever be short term and are a symptom of a bigger problem. Policing, like everything else is driven by funding - this is the reality of modern policing, cash strapped Gwent Police needs additional funding and an increase in the number of serving officers.

Closing local police stations (Castleton, Duffyrn, Llanhilleth, Llanmartin and Rassau have been named by The South Wales Argus as to being at risk) might save some pounds but will not help our Police Officers who actively need the active support of our communities, especially if we are seriously going to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour and to ensure proper Policing within our communities.

Once you go down the line of cutting civilian support staff, which some may consider an easier and slightly more acceptable situation than reducing police numbers, there will be serious consequences. The retention of police Officers (on and off the beat) and civilian support staff should be the bottom line. A reduction in civilian support staff numbers will inevitably lead to a reduction in the availability of operational police officers, which will have consequences for all of us.

Gwent Police are up against it what with possible cuts of more than £24 million over the next four years. This is a direct consequence of the Con Dem Westminster government's recent comprehensive spending review, which as everyone knows has seriously slashed public spending across the board. Gwent Police are going to be busy with a serious bout of belt tightening as the force comes to terms with seriously reduced funding.

A report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) sets out for the first time a definition of what constitutes front-line policing, amid a growing political debate about how chief constables should make cuts. HMIC's definition says that front-line policing is those who are "in everyday contact with the public and who directly intervene to keep people safe and enforce the law".

The report found that 68% of all police force staff in England and Wales were in such roles, but not all were visible. The HMIC estimates that 61% of police officers and community support officers work in visible front-line positions and that 12% of them are available at any given time.

There may be a shortage of money, although as has been noted the UK Government was pretty quick to find the reserves to bail out the banks (bonuses and all) and can always seem to find the money to fund in this case the UN approved (and therefore legal) military action in Libya (UN approved and legal - that makes a pleasant change from the days of Blair).

Now there is absolutely no reason why we cannot be far more creative when it comes to how are Communities are policed. Lets certainly look at a more flexible approach to shift patterns to tackle those periods of the day when higher levels of criminal offences take place and need to actually respond to local communities real concerns rather than the Ministry of Justice's (formerly the Home Office) perceived priorities and targets.

We certainly need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when it comes to basing Policing strategies on core or periphery because the end result is that some of our our communities will lose out when it comes to access to Police services and resources. One key thing to remember is that if you are going to spend public money then make sure that you work it hard.

Another thing to remember here is accountability, those who spend public money need to be properly accountable to the public. Mr's Thatcher severely weakened the democratic element in the old Police Authorities, following the proposed Tory model of elected Police Chief is not really an option.

So if we want to solve, curb or reduce crime in Wales, then it makes sense for the control of Policing as well as Justice and Prisons within Wales to be fully devolved to the Welsh Government, are we less capable than the people of Northern Ireland, or the Scots or less of a nation than Scotland?