Youths who persistently misbehave and intimidate others in their communities should be "harassed themselves", Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said.
She said she wanted police in England and Wales to "turn the tables" on those who would not "live by the rules".
This could include repeated home visits and checks to identify benefit fraud or council and road tax non-payment.
If police have reason to think that a crime has been committed, then by all means crack down hard on the alleged miscreants. But police harassment of young people of whom they disapprove for no specific criminal reason might be considered a step too far, even if it does have the encouragement of the Home Secretary.
But since when did this government care about civil liberties? Or indeed about effective action against anti-social behaviour? All that seems to matter is 'sending a message'.
2 comments:
by all means, i have my yellow, liberal streak too but i've always hankered after a certain get-tough youth crime strategy.
Crack police squads filled with the most terrifying recruits that makes the marines look like the brownies.
Youngsters hanging about on street corners causing bother aren't going to be too fussed by the local bobby pleading with them to move on.
No, we need shock and awe tactics. By the time their Burberry baseball caps hit the deck, they'll have been slammed into the back of a meat wagon by the Scottish equivalent of Judge Dredd, Robocop and that mean guy in all the Grand Theft Auto adverts.
A few nights in the cooler after being roughed up by this heavy mob should be harrassment enough to have them toe the line.
What do you think? Too much?
Sounds great (Smith, that is. Jeff... not so much). It's called actually dealing with the problem. Why should we be nice to the selfish people who corrode our society?
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