What was Sir Ian thinking? asks our regular columnist Ken Rogers in our April print magazine.
Ken comments on Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair’s taping without permission of a phone call with Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General – ironically, talking about phone taps.
So what was the intention of Sir Ian Blair recording conversations without the approval of the conversationist? There have been comments that this was a ‘telephone tapping’; this is different to recording as a memory refresher. Recording to refresh the memory is a useful practice though I do not use same, and would only do so with the permission of the conversationist unless it was in the investigation of serious crime. There is the aspect of human rights to privacy.
Independent?
The headlines in the Sunday Observer of March 12 shocked me: ‘Judges told slash jail terms for rapist’. A judiciary is supposed to be independent! Then there is the number of police forces to be reduced without proper consultation with the Home Office – more control from government. The public should be listened to.
Youth correction
“They lurk on sink estates, often high on drugs – they make everyone’s life a misery. But under new proposals being considered by Government, anti-social yobs may get their marching orders to Africa to assist poverty stricken communities.” So reported the Sunday Mercury in Birmingham recently. Many security guards are aware of the problems of youths high on alcohol and drugs, particularly on a Friday and Saturday nights in shopping arcades and on industrial estates. But I do not agree that young offenders be sent to Africa. What of the cost of travel and supervision? There should be a version of Japanese community correction. Courts suspend prison sentences and place the offender under strict protective supervision to carry out work in the community. Working in the community under strict supervision, at the same time learning how to carry out repairs to churches, schools and village halls, and clearing footpaths, is a way for offenders to appreciate their often hidden capabilities. Remember that statistics have long been held to prove the increasing lawlessness of the youth: talk of a wave of anti-social youth has been going on for years. It appears that every age bemoans the follies of the younger generation. There is no doubt in my mind that social deprivation, lack of proper education and unemployment are the greatest causes of crime. Who was it who stated ‘We will tackle crime and the causes of crime’?!
