by Mikethehack » Wed Sep 28, 2005 2:49 pm
LONDON: Plans to send entire families to residential ‘sin bins’ in a bid to restore order on council estates and the streets were unveiled yesterday.
Notorious families will be sent to special units where they will be ordered to reform.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke also promised to publish mobile phone numbers and e-mail addresses for local police by 2008.
He called new community police teams his ‘top policing priority’.
In another move to ‘reclaim the streets’ from yobs, ministers are studying new ‘naming and shaming’ measures - including tailing binge drinkers with video cameras and screening the footage in public places.
The measures were outlined by Clarke and Home Office Minister Hazel Blears at the Labour Party conference yesterday.
In a keynote speech, the home secretary admitted his party was left wide open to attack on asylum, immigration and anti-social behaviour at the last election.
He said: “We have to determine that by the next general election, whenever it comes, we have a fair system of immigration and asylum; we have eliminated the anti-social behaviour and disrespect that still blights the lives of so many; we have built on our success to dramatically reduce violent crime, and we have put in place a criminal justice system which is genuinely focused on promoting effective justice and preventing re-offending.”
Under changes announced yesterday, by 2008 every neighbourhood will have its own police team giving intensive protection against burglaries and vandalism.
He added: “First and foremost, people want to feel secure in their homes and everyday lives, free from abuse, disrespect and anti-social behaviour.”
Ministers are to crack down on entire households, sending them to residential units. Blears admitted the move could trigger uproar within the Labour Party.
However, she said: “We are not the Liberal Party. We are the Labour Party.” The measure is to be a ‘fundamental part’ of Labour’s programme to tackle anti-social behaviour.
She said ministers are studying a pilot scheme under which police officers video binge drinkers - including those who ‘paddle in their own vomit’ in town centres. – London Evening Standard
I'm not really a proper reporter, due to the chronic lack of discipline, negligible attention span, and a certain juvenile difficulty taking serious things seriously.
Andrew Mueller.