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Queen’s Speech

My Lords, I welcome the provisions of the gracious Speech dealing with home and constitutional affairs. It is my intention to touch on two or three aspects of the proposed Crime and Security Bill. Over the past 11 years during my time in your Lordships’ House, we have tended to legislate too much, when all that was required was a light touch on the tiller. When I look around me, whether here in the capital city or back home in Durham, I see activities which are clearly illegal under existing legislation, whether it be dropping litter, graffiti, cycling on paths or through red lights, or gangs of youth intimidating decent people—often the elderly—going about their daily business. New legislation is not required to deal with this behaviour; the law needs to be enforced by the police or other enforcement agencies. When it is enforced, the Crown Prosecution Service, the courts and, most importantly, the public, need to give the police their full support. Unless they are given this unequivocal support, there is a danger that the police will shy away from doing their duty. A recent HMI report found that the police were becoming risk averse—unwilling to risk criticism or censure. It has become easier for them to look the other way. Unless and until the police once again take control of the streets, matters will only get worse. Not only must the police be given support, but members of the public who report anti-social behaviour or, even more importantly, intervene to challenge and prevent it, should be honoured and celebrated and not risk arrest or even court action because they might have overstepped the mark and injured a burglar, mugger or gang member. People who break the law are the authors of their own misfortune and should take the natural consequences following from the reasonable intervention of a brave passer-by. The passer-by is unlikely to be convicted—juries are usually too sensible for that. However, people who do their duty and intervene should not be subject to arrest, a night in the cells and a court appearance. Matters can be investigated in a civilised manner without the full rigours of the law being applied. This does not require legislation. I am talking about a dose of good old fashioned common sense from the police. There is too little of that these days. I commend to noble Lords the new film "Harry Brown", in which Michael Caine plays a pensioner whose friend is harassed, intimidated and eventually murdered on a sink estate in London by a gang of drug-using and abusive youths. The film illustrates well the reality of daily life for some of our elderly citizens who have given their lives to their country and yet are shown no respect whatever. Who could not have been horrified by the case of Fiona Pilkington, who recently perished in her blazing car with her severely disabled daughter? She had made numerous calls to the police about harassment, intimidation and violence by local youths, but nothing was done and she decided to end their lives. I am a firm believer in the broken windows philosophy. It is a simple theory that suggests that if you repair rundown areas and vandalised buildings, and deal firmly with minor breaches of the law, this nips anti-social behaviour in the bud. New York police chief Bill Bratton, who was appointed by Mayor Giuliani, said that if a mugger or robber was going to commit a crime on the metro system, he was unlikely to pay for a ticket. If we catch him for the minor infringement, we are likely to prevent the more serious crime. He applied this philosophy in New York very successfully and the homicide rate plummeted. We are back to the police doing their job of enforcement and not being risk-averse or frightened of accusations around political correctness. I therefore fully support the provisions in the gracious Speech to make the streets safer, to prevent crimes against the vulnerable and to get justice for victims and their families. In what way will the Bill do this? I shall take gang-related violence as an example. I spent some time with the FBI in the USA when I was a serving detective. I saw at first hand how the use of civil injunctions in California cut crime in some communities by between 33 and 85 per cent. Sergeant Earl Moss, a local police chief, said that his department had seen a 50 per cent reduction in gang-related crime in his area since the injunction was used. Some people are opposed to such action against gangs, arguing that it is an infringement of the gang members’ civil liberties. I, too, am a strong supporter of civil liberties, particularly the liberty to go about your daily life in the community without being intimidated, harassed or subject to threats and violence—the conduct illustrated so well in the Michael Caine film "Harry Brown" that I referred to earlier. I had dinner recently with an ex-member of the Flying Squad, who stated that he would no longer challenge wrongdoing on the streets, not because he was frightened—he is a large ex-policeman—but because he thought that he would not get the support of the authorities if somebody complained. He felt that he might well be the one who ended up in court. What kind of society are we producing when the good guy throws in the towel? It was Edmund Burke who said that all that it takes for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. That is as true today as it was then. I firmly welcome the retention of DNA on the national register for six years, to allow matters to be fully investigated even though the suspect has not been charged. Does the Minister have a figure for the number of people convicted of serious crimes who would not have been caught if their DNA had been destroyed because they had not been charged? DNA is a wonderful tool for justice and we should use it to the full, within the parameters laid down by the European Court of Human Rights. Finally, not enough people are going before the courts. The police are issuing too many fixed-penalty notices and cautions. In my day as a police officer, one of the greatest deterrents was the fact that the convicted individual’s name appeared in the local paper and they suffered the disapproval of their peers. Fixed penalties and cautions should not be given for serious matters such as assault, dishonesty or domestic violence. They do not have a role in every case. I recall an ex-colleague of mine who was working his last shift as a traffic officer before retirement. He saw an old Ford travelling extremely fast in a built-up area. He followed it with his blue light on as it went faster and faster. Eventually he stopped it and found that a very elderly gentleman was driving. Not wanting to go to court after he had retired, he said that he would give the driver a caution if he could provide a unique excuse for his transgression. The old man looked pensive and said: "Well, officer, my wife ran off with a police officer more than 30 years ago and when I looked in the mirror and saw the blue light I thought he might be bringing her back". Needless to say, my colleague thought that that was well worth a caution. I welcome the provisions of the gracious Speech.