Bobbies on the Beat

Before I went to work yesterday I watched Sunday AM at the 'glance at the papers' section for a quick idea of whats happening in current events. There was one story particularly caught my attention, however I was unable to get the name of the paper to have a real good read of the article. It basically reported that bureaucracy in the police force has gone farcical and that there are roughly 53 pencil-pushers behind every single bobbie on the beat. As you can possibly agree, that is completely ridculous! I'm now glad I didn't get that job in the police, if that is the accurate state of affairs! What we are seeing here is the highly politically sensitive issue of street policing, and the broken promises made by governments alike of putting more policemen and policewomen on the streets, to directly stem the flow of crime where it matters.

The issue of policing always makes me think of the time Jen and I went to Tunisia, on an excursion into the cities of Kairowan, El Djem and Monastir. We were very lucky to have a highly interested, funny and intelligent tour guide who was also a Masters graduate in International Relations. This guy was therefore in a position to give us information about anything in Tunisia, in a very coherent and knowledgable way. What I could hear from the fellow Brits whispering around me, and was something I had also considered, was the heavy presence of policemen on the streets in each city. We must have thought 'ah, African country, must have a real problem with crime'. But when one tourist asked the guide why there were so many policemen on the streets he responded with another two questions. "Why not?", he said, followed by "why don't you in your country?". It was here that the guide shown great clarity on the subject. He said that despite Blair going to war on the rest of the world, our PM failed to understand that if there is a risk to your own people in that same war, they need to be protected. The guide went on to explain that in Tunisia, crime levels are fairly small mainly due to its insular nature in international politics and the visable presence of police on their streets. But what sold me was the more simple phrase of "why not"? I mean, its fairly simple really isn't it? More street police, less street crimes like muggings, theft and violence.

This Labour government stated that it will get tough on the causes of crime to bring down lawlessness in this country and has seemed to ease the police presence on our streets. It will probably argue therefore that it will look at cracking down on drug dens, prositution rings and illegal slave trades as they are the roots of more petty crimes associated with it like theft. In addition, Labour have also done something towards getting more police on the streets, even if it seems like a real copout (no pun intended, honest) by getting the public to act as policemen and policewomen. They have brought in 'community wardens' as junior members of law enforcement, but despite this move, they still remain to be scarce when I drive around. Maybe I just drive into the wrong places. But I'm sure you could relate to this observation.

Or maybe the lack of street police is down to something a bit more psychological. Just like we Tunisian tourists thought, with policemen on the streets we automatically assumed that there must be a problem; that the streets must not be safe for such a strong presence. And with a North African backdrop removed, I'm sure the general public would have the same fears back home. With more coppers around, people may feel safe, but the sceptical side of their minds must feel as though to have more coppers around, something must be afoot in our great, law-abiding British society. If the government were to implement more police around, one rather weak criticism which could be raised by some is that it would be making smoke without a fire perhaps. But sadly, as the knife killings in London and gang killings in Birmingham show, maybe there is a fire. Maybe also it is time to wake up and realise that some of those 53 bureaucrats must be reduced if we are going to going to get tougher on crime.