Tim Worstall

Summary Police Powers

The Maximum Tone wants the police to be able to lock you up as and whenever they wish:

Tony Blair yesterday signalled that he was ready to
give the police more summary powers to deal with alleged offenders as
he sided with "the decent law-abiding majority" against the political
and legal establishment.

The Prime Minister
displayed his frustration with the failure of the criminal justice
system to deliver effective remedies to victims by proposing that it
should be circumvented.

Quite wonderful really. In detail:

They are expected to include measures to improve the delivery and
administration of justice as well as more powers for the police to hand
out interim anti-social behaviour orders and on-the-spot fines without
first going to court, though they would have to be given judicial
backing later.

An interim ASBO. How lovely! So Plod hands out an interim ASBO and you then wait a few weeks before it is confirmed by the courts. In that few weeks you visit a bridge in Bath (one of the early ASBOs did indeed insist that a suicidal young woman should not, at the pain of a potential 5 year jail sentence, visit bridges in Bath.) and you are in breach, wonderful, 5 years jail! No courts involved!

What a free, pleasant and happy land The Dear Leader is building for us!

In

5 responses

  1. Scott Campbell at Blithering Bunny Avatar
    Scott Campbell at Blithering Bunny

    I really don’t understand the way Britain has moved under New Labour, and why people have continued to vote for them.
    You get five years for disobeying a court, even if it hasn’t been proved you originally did anything bad. But brutal, convicted murderers can be out of jail in five years.
    You don’t have to be a flog-’em and hang-’em type to think this is monstrous. Most people, even the trendy lefties I meet at Uni, seem to think that this is wrong. And they hate New Labour. But they keep voting for them.

    Reply
  2. Jim Keenan Avatar
    Jim Keenan

    You may have missed it, but the police can already lock you up whenever they wish. The powers of arrest were changed by the Serious and Organised Crime Act 2004, so that a Police Officer can arrest anybody for any offence if they perceive it necessary for the ‘Expeditious and effective investigation into the offence.’
    At the same time the Citizen’s Power of Arrest has been restricted to only being exercisable for serious offences when a police officer is notimmediately available and in dire emergency only.
    Funny that, I thought New Labour were all for the citizenry reclaiming control of our streets!

    Reply
  3. the great redacto Avatar
    the great redacto

    I had an unexpected encounter yesterday with the forces of law and order – well, community support officers from Limehouse nick – when I was pulled over on the way to work so that my car could be searched for “explosives, documentation and paraphernalia” under the Terrorism Act 2000. What effrontery. Do I look like a mad mullah? No, I do not. I continued on my way to work feeling disconcerted not at having been stopped but because my details will be on yet another hard drive somewhere and they don’t need to be. But then, according to Time Out a week or so ago, anyone working or living in London can now expect to be seen by a surveillance camera 300 times a day. It makes you shudder.

    Reply
  4. Jolyon Avatar
    Jolyon

    Interim ASBO’s ? With the swift, smooth, flawless administration of Justice , how long will the interim period last ?

    Reply
  5. Bob Doney Avatar
    Bob Doney

    This is scare-mongering of the worst sort. Everyone knows that Temporary ASBOs will only be rarely used and their use will be subject to the most careful supervision and review. The innocent have nothing to fear. As usual.

    Reply

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