BATTERED AND BLUE?

No one at work should run the risk of being assaulted - yet judging by the amount of working days lost due to assault related injury our Police officers run that risk pretty regularly. Research by BBC Wales has revealed that 1,735 working days were lost over three years at three of the four Welsh Police forces as a result of assaults on officers, suggest that our police officers are well and truly in the firing line. 

The BBC figures show that as result of assaults on Police some  494 days were lost in Dyfed-Powys over three years, 568 days in Gwent and 673 days in the South Wales force. Along with the temporary loss of officers who were unavailable for duty there was a knock-on financial cost, which the BBC has estimated to be around £189,800.

This is not good news, as our Welsh Police forces are also under continuing pressure to reduce costs, as part of Con Dem Westminster government's public spending review (which began in 2010) which include an intention to reduce or cut central police funding by 20% by 2015. What this means more locally is that collectively the Welsh Police forces will have to make total savings of £ 96 million – which will mean a loss of jobs (amongst both Police officers and support staff) and a reduction in the service offered to the public.  

At least as far as the law is concerned attacking or assaulting a police officer is still seen as an aggravated offence in the eyes of the law, and could carry a custodial sentence of up to six months. Speaking as an ex journalist, who in a previous life spent more than enough time covering Pontypool and Cwmbran magistrates court in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, that was not the case then, and I suspect that it is mostly certainly not the case now.

Now I am not and have never been one of the hang them and flog them brigade (I leave that sort of posturing to lightweight Tories), I and no doubt many people consider it unacceptable when public servants (whether Police Officers, Ambulance service staff and Doctors and Nurses in casualty) are attacked or assaulted while doing their job. What’s needed is a balance be achieved between deterrence and the consequences of an assault and restorative justice?

That said the news that some 10,160 incidents of serious violence were informally dealt with last year (that is almost 12 times the figure from five years ago) has raised more than a few eyebrows. This is apparently contrary to existing Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) guidelines, which recommend that such resolutions should only be used for low-level crime.

The Police it reveals regularly use "community resolutions", which may include an apology or compensation to the victim, instead of prosecutions and cautions, despite ACPO guidelines. Now there are times when for lower level offences the use of "community resolutions" is entirely justified and entirely good sense. What this may suggest is that the criminal justice system is creaking and that any crime statistics produced should be looked at with more than a serious degree of caution if not a serious dose of incredulity.

Now I have had my suspicions about crime statistics (whether UK wide or more local) for a while, I am aware that there is a level of anecdotal dissatisfaction particularly with the police response to what they may perceive as lower level anti social behaviour related crime. The perception rightly or wrongly is that while this type of crime may be less important to our hard pressed police officers it remains important to the residents of various parts of Gwent (and no doubt elsewhere). More than a few times it has been related to me personally that when called they (the Police) just don’t come.

I think that taken as whole our creaking criminal justice system may be reaching the point where it is failing to function, it is nether providing restorative justice or dealing with cranial behaviour, let along providing an adequate degree of protection to public servants going about their work. I think that the sooner criminal justice and policing are devolved to Wales the better, that way we can at least try to ensure that our communities are properly protected and the interests of justice are served.

CUT PRICE JUSTICE?

The closure of Chepstow County and Magistrates Court (not to mention Abertillery Magistrates Court) in April and Pontypool County Court (in July) may not seem to have much impact on the surface, but these cuts make a complete mockery of the whole notion of local justice. This has nothing to do with making the delivery of justice more efficient, the Ministry of Justice's real motivation has always been to cut costs, make no bones about it this cost cutting agenda is being driven by the Con Dem Government in Westminster.

This is merely it part of the price that we are all paying (and are going to carry on paying) for the bailing out the banks. I have no doubt that there are real opportunities to cut costs, save money and make the system more efficient, but these closures will only make it more difficult for people to access justice. The UK Government should have (but did not) reconsider its decision, because the majority of the proposed closures in Wales will have a significant impact, not just on jobs and services but on the efficient functioning of the criminal justice system.

The closures will have a knock on effect as there will be increase in travelling expenses and also higher costs will be incurred by delays in hearing cases. Cut price justice indeed - one more sound argument in support the need
to devolve control of Criminal Justice to Wales.

CONDEM COURT CUTS - WHAT PRICE JUSTICE?

While I am pleased that Abergavenny is retaining it's Magistrates Court, I am very disappointed that Abertillery and Chepstow will lose their Magistrates' Court's and disappointed that both Chepstow and Pontypool are both going to lose their County Court's. These ConDem cuts will not just hit rural areas but all of Wales to varrying degrees. Wales is going to lose a quarter of it's courts, these cuts make a complete mockery of the whole notion of local justice.

The Ministry of Justice's (MOJ) real motivation has always bee to cut costs, make no bones about it this cost cutting efficiency agenda is being is being driven by the Con Dem Government in London - and it part of the price that we are all paying (and going to pay) for the bailing out the banks. While there are no doubt real opportunities to cut costs, save money and make the system more efficient, there is a danger of real damage being done to peoples access to justice.

Plaid Cymru in the National Assembly and in Westminster has opposed these cuts which threatened to close 18 law courts in Wales. The UK Government should have reconsidered its decision, because the majority of the proposed closures in Wales will have a significant impact, not just on jobs and services but on the efficient functioning of the criminal justice system. The closures will have a knock on effect as there will be increase in travelling expenses and also higher costs will be incurred by delays in hearing cases. So much for easy access to Justice - one more sound argument in support the need to devolve control of Criminal Justice to Wales.

Plaid's Mr Elfyn Llwyd, MP, a member of the Commons’ Justice Committee, said:

“Under these plans, Wales is going to lose a quarter of all our country's courts. This makes a complete mockery of the whole notion of local justice. What makes it even more disgusting is that the figures that were used by the department to justify this are a completely fairytale as I found out in answer to my parliamentary questions. The MOJ inflated the maintenance bill backlog for the courts in Wales by well over 100 per cent. Initially they quoted £3.2million in June and then after questioning lowered it to £1.15million last month. Is this figure accurate? Llandovery is listed as due to close – despite the fact that the court has already been closed for years. It goes to show how clueless the department is. The Lord Chief Justice said last month that “little, if any, slack left” in the Welsh justice system if these closures went ahead. The additional travel time to locations further away will prove especially costly and time-consuming at a time when families are already facing tightened budgets. This will make life very difficult for people who use the courts – be it defendants, lawyers, justices of the peace, police or probation officers."

THREAT TO GWENT MAGISTRATES COURTS

I welcome Plaid's campaign against the proposed closure of three Gwent magistrates courts. The UK Government has announced plans to close Abertillery, Abergavenny and Chepstow magistrates courts, not to mention the county courts in Chepstow and Pontypool as part of plans to modernise and improve the court service.

The UK Ministry of Justice published it's consultation documents on June 23rd as part of it's plans to close 103 magistrates’ courts and 54 county courts in the UK which it deems to be underused and inadequate. The consultation documents can be viewed on the Ministry of Justice website. The closing date for responses is September 15th. In Wales, Magistrates and County Courts are under threat of closure and may be affected: 

The following Magistrates courts:

Barry Magistrates' Court, Aberdare Magistrates' Court, Llwynypia Magistrates' Court, Ammanford Magistrates' Court, Cardigan Magistrates' Court, Llandovery Magistrates' Court, Denbigh Magistrates' Court, Pwllheli Magistrates' Court, Flint Magistrates' Court, Chepstow Magistrates' Court, Abertillery Magistrates' Court, Abergavenny Magistrates' Court, Llangefni Magistrates’ Court.

The following County courts:

Chepstow County Court, Aberdare County Court, Rhyl County Court, Pontypool County Court, Llangefni County Court.

The Ministry of Justice's real motivation is to cut costs, just like all the over Government Departments, make no bones about it this cost cutting efficiency agenda is being is being driven by the Con Dem Government in London - and it part of the price that we are all paying (and going to pay) for the bailing out the banks. While there are no doubt real opportunities to cut costs, save money and make the system more efficient, there is a danger of real damage being done to peoples access to justice.

Plaid Cymru in the National Assembly has tabled a statement of opinion against the proposals to close 18 law courts in Wales. The UK Government needs to reconsider its decision, because the majority of the proposed closures in Wales would have a significant impact, not only on jobs and services but on the efficient functioning of the criminal justice system. There is a real risk that any closures will also have a knock on effect as there will be increase in travelling expenses and also higher costs will be incurred by delays in hearing cases.

So much for easy access to Justice - one more sound argument in support the need to devolve control of Criminal Justice to Wales. 

THINNING OUT THE BLUE LINE

As the public sector cuts begin to bite we may find ourselves in wholly new territory, as a largely Conservative (+ associate rag tag Lib Dems hangers on) seriously considers cutting Police (both uniformed and civilian support staff) numbers whilst we are dealing with the effects of the recession – this is something even Mrs Thatcher (in her more lucid moments well before she went mad towards the end of her tenure as PM) never even considered doing for a moment.

Mr’s T in the early days of her premiership raise Police pay (and improved conditions) – something which won her a combination of tacit approval, tacit support or a degree of active passivity from the Police service, which had been neglected under the previous struggling Labour Government – during who's tenure in office there had been an erosion of police pay and working conditions.

Faced with paying for New Labour’s reckless spending, the ongoing financial legacy of Blair's wars, bailing out the banks, replacing Trident (an essential prop of Britain is to stride the world stage clinging on to the pretensions of being a World power), etc - the new Government finds itself skint.  David (“Call me Dave”) Cameron's Con Dem Government may well have reached its budgetary Rubicon moment - To cut or not to cut and how deep? Are we seriously talking about reducing Police numbers and cutting back on operational policing and the myriad of police support workers who fulfil a hundred routine (and not so routine) tasks behind the front line?

Perhaps, certainly it is quite likely that the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) conference in Manchester will (BBC and Daily Telegraph) have been told by the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers Sir Hugh Orde will (by the time this blog is published) that current police numbers are unsustainable in the face of cuts and that it is "misleading in the extreme" to claim anything otherwise. Only last week the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson went so far as to suggest that his force would "shrink" as a result of budget cuts and has talked about growing the number of special constables to make up the numbers.

So where exactly does that leave Policing in Wales, which is substantially somewhat down the Ministry of Justice / Home Office food chain of funding priorities, of late Police Services in Wales have been ‘publicly making the best out of a potentially bad situation. In the wake of the proposed ‘savage’ public service funding cuts the real question is where exactly does that leave front line policing within our more vulnerable and not so vulnerable communities.

Within the Gwent Police Service area, Plaid Cymru’s Steffan Lewis (the then Islwyn Westminster Parliamentary candidate) expertly exposed Gwent Police’s proposals to close local Police stations (many of whom have pretty reduced operating hours to start with) rattled more than a few bars locally across Gwent gaining coverage in both the South Wales Argus and the Western Mail. Quite understandably local residents were less than chuffed when they foresaw the consequences of the loss of local police stations.

So, anyway as no doubt we will be faced by broad and deep cuts in public expenditure the question is where do we or at least our Police Services go from here? A cut is a cut, no matter how you spin it, and for sure Cameron's Tories (and their hangers on) have inherited former spin master Blair's well oiled machine – so be prepared for lots of it - to distract the eye and the wallet with slight of hand as our public services get cut to the bone (so much for ‘New Tories'). 

The bottom line is that decision making when it comes to Criminal Justice and Policing (for they are two sides of the same coin), how its funded and how the money is spent should be made locally in Cardiff rather than in Westminster and Whitehall where any understanding of policing needed on the ground locally and local problems will be somewhat understandably dim and distant from any consequences on the streets of our communities.

POLICING CUTS

News that Wales' four police authorities are to have their budgets cut by a total of £6.4m this year is not good news. The cuts have been announced by Nick Herbert (Policing and Criminal Justice Minister ) as part of a UK-wide cut of £125m in funding for forces. South Wales Police faces cuts of £2.8m, North Wales Police faces cuts of £1.4m, while Gwent Police faces cuts of £1.3m and Dyfed-Powys Police cuts of around £900,000.

The cuts in funding for 2010/2011 have been announced as part of efforts to help reduce the UK's budget deficit. Last year (June 2009) there were proposed reductions in the number of Police stations and threats to reduce services. Heaven knows where these cuts will fall and what price will be paid when it comes to providing law and order and front-line policing in our communities. 

The bottom line is that while there should always be room for cost saving, but, not at the price of important front-line Policing services and Police Stations which need to be staffed and maintained. One question that needs to be asked is that if Policing was devolved to Cardiff, would our Police Forces and our communities be facing cuts on this scale or would we be able to do things differently?

A GOOD DAY TO BURY NEW LABOUR BAD NEWS?

Yesterday (as parliament was dissolved) another New Labour failure was almost swept under the carpet. Some seven years after the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett (remember him!) made much off promises to go after the “homes, yachts, mansions and luxury cars” of crime barons, criminals are holding on to their assets. The Times (9th April 2010) reported that New Labour's efforts to seize millions of pounds from fraudsters and tax evaders are failing because criminals are managing to hide their gains from the authorities.

So far, only £30 million of £174 million ordered to be repaid in England and Wales since 2005 has been recovered so far. The figures were released on Thursday 8th April, no doubt under the illusion that most people would not notice, show that some seven years after David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, promised The returns should seriously call into question what should be one of the key weapons in the fight against organised crime, and this has come to pass despite the recruitment of dozens of specialist staff who were recruited by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to lead the fight to recover criminal assets.

Oops! Perhaps yesterday was a good day to bury New labour bad news after all?

SUPPORTING OUR SOLDIERS

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd MP was absolutely right to question the New Labour Government about the levels of assistance given to former service personnel facing drug problems following their eviction from the forces. Mr Llwyd asked the question of the Veterans Minister Kevan Jones about the services that are available to former service personnel thrown out of the forces for use of illegal substances. The answer received from the government was that no support mechanism is in place - which just about sums up the attitude of the current New Labour Government towards our veterans and serving soldiers.

Mr Llwyd who launched Plaid’s ‘Support for Veterans’ policy discussion document which called for a separate strategic review of expenditure spent on personnel leaving the forces to be conducted. The paper also outlines current areas of deficiency such as the lack of welfare support available and rising numbers of veterans ending up in the Criminal Justice system or with drug and alcohol problems.

Following on from the spiralling cost of military procurement and the government’s inability to keep within its budget, especially over the war in Afghanistan, Mr Llwyd is campaigning for priority to be given to veteran welfare.

Plaid’s Elfyn Llwyd MP said:

“This situation is absolutely shocking. Former service personnel often find themselves in the situation where they turn to alcohol and drug abuse as a direct result of their time in the forces.

“I do not dispute the fact that they should have to leave the forces but what is lacking here is a duty of care towards them. Very often these problems come around because of the unique and intense combat situations soldiers find themselves in. The situation is only set to get worse in coming years given the sheer volume of personnel involved in wars.

“Military hospitals are already stretched with the numbers of wounded coming back from Afghanistan for example. Where is the funding that will deal with after care for the large numbers of veterans and their very wide ranging mix of needs? Veterans need access to a wide range of treatment services including mental health.

“I’ve said before that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to identifying, or treating, PTSD and other mental health problems associated with the after-effects of time spent in a combat zone.

“Soldiers thrown out of the forces for drug abuse are often only at the start of this vicious cycle which can lead to a life of addiction, crime or homelessness. Their situation is unique because of the situations they’ve been through and this government needs to be doing more to nip such problems in the bud.”