Counting The Cost of Murder!

I think it is simply a scandal that senior police officers are to be asked to account for every single penny they spend during murder investigations. Not that I don't approve of proper auditing of public expenditure and not that I don't think it is possible that our Police could do better.

My outrage comes because during a murder investigation I want the police officers in charge to be concentrating on getting violent, dangerous individuals off our streets and into custody not filling in forms and worrying about whether a penny here or there will be cast up and used against them at a future date.

The Herald covers this issue today as Hunting Murderers on Budget, http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2487646.0.Hunting_murderers_on_budget_new_rules_for_police.php) , but for the general public I don't believe there is a value you can put on solving such serious crime.

It's time our Police became a Force in our society again and to do that we need to back them in good times and in bad and not to become preoccupied with cost. We won't make them a force by placing financial constraints on investigations and we must trust those in charge of our Police to hold themselves accountable for what their force spends.

More Violence Disrupts Our Community

It is becoming almost the norm to pick up the Glasgow South & Eastwood Extra and to find yourself confronted by yet another tale of violent crime in once peaceful East Renfrewshire.

This weeks edition, (July 31st 2008), details two serious assaults in the Thornliebank area over the course of the past week. In the more serious of the two incidents the victim remains in a stable condition at the Southern General Hospital and police are asking residents to come forward with information because they "would have heard the disturbance or the car driving off at high speed".

The thing that really strikes me about this report is that police believe local residents have information they are apparently not willing to volunteer. This is something that somehow does not seem surprising in today's society and yet in years gone by the thought of not doing ones public duty, by coming forward to give vital evidence to the police, would have seemed ridiculous.

So, how do we ensure our police and local communities become closer to one another? I believe this is as simple as continuous 'dialogue' and making the Police directly accountable to the communities they serve.

One vital first step toward better communication is getting more "campus cops" into our schools, so that young people grow up both seeing and communicating with police officers. The things you learn in your youth help shape your attitudes in later life and I can't believe our Labour led Council voted down the Conservative 2008 budget amendment that would have put more "campus cops" into East Renfrewshire's schools.

The second thing we should do, to improve society's attitude to helping police, is to make our police far more accountable to the people they serve. I have previously advocated, on this blog site, the election of Chief Constables, citing the experience of communities in the USA in support of this policy. I don't want our police to become politicised but I do want local people to know whether their Chief Constable shares their law and order priorities and I want them to be able to pass judgement on whether they believe their Chief Constable has succeeded in delivering better policing to their local area.

I don't believe local people don't want safer streets, better communities and to feel they are able to help their police. It seems to me our police are simply experiencing a crisis of confidence in their ability to effectively protect those willing to come forward with information and to improve the security of local neighbourhoods. I believe we must start a two way dialogue between police and community at an early age and continue this in later life by making our police accountable to their local communities. After all, we all have a vested interest in the success of our Police Force!

Dogs - Mans Best Friend or Offensive Animal?

I am widely quoted today, in national newspapers, following the decision of Tayside Police to apologise for using a puppy dog in an advert designed to publicise their non-emergency telephone number. This apology followed a complaint by a Dundee Councillor that this image is offensive to Muslims because dogs are considered to be ritually unclean in his religion.

I am in no doubt that the advertising agency who designed this advert did so on the basis that the UK is the most dog loving nation on earth. In our culture dogs are viewed as mans best friend and I am sure the ad agency simply wanted people to think of their local Police as mans best friend by using the imagery of one of their dog, 'Rebel', to advertise the Tayside Police force.

The British way of life means is happy to respect cultures from all around the world and to allow them to prosper in Britain alongside our own way of life. I am quite sure Andrex will not drop their puppy dog from advertising, packaging and branding and I am equally sure their toilet tissue will continue to be used by people of all religions.

Britain is a nation that know all about respect and we have the right to have our culture respected. 'Rebel' is simply a puppy dog training to serve his local community in our Police Force. He's a cute little thing and I am sure he will do a lot of good for the Tayside community, regardless of their religion!

Britain's Got Real Talent!

So George Sampson won ITV's Britain's Got Talent 2008 and Jodie Prenger won the role of Nancy on the BBC's I'd Do Anything talent show last night! While I must admit we missed both shows, (preferring instead to go to a close friends wedding), Elaine and I have been pleasantly surprised by the sheer quantity and quality of the entertainment talent on show to the nation.

In Britain today, I often feel we are all to ready to run ourselves and our nation down when in truth we have so much to show the world and even more to be proud of at home. Take our armed forces, our Royal Family and the emergency services. Professional, efficient and always on hand when we need them most they are the real heroes of the British people and yet they are also very often the people who bear the brunt of British scepticism when we look for people to blame.

The perception of our army, navy and airforce all suffered after our morally bankrupt Labour government sent them to fight a war in Iraq on a false prospectus. Any yet we know our armed forces personnel represent the very best of Britain at home and abroad. That is why we are now witnessing a grassroots fightback amongst ordinary citizens keen to show we understand the difference between the instructions given by politicians for our armed forces to execute and our understanding that they are our first line of defence against international terrorism and the war against illegal drugs. The brave men and women of our armed forces defend our freedom with their own lives and limbs and we are all truly grateful for this and to those who have lost either in order to preserve the British way of life.

In today's newspapers we learn that Prince William is off to serve in the Royal Navy on patrols aboard the frigate HMS Iron Duke searching for drug runners in the Caribbean seas. Like his brother Prince Harry, Prince William has been keen to show that he will lead from the front in the true tradition of our Royal Family, something they have always been prepared to do when Britain has needed them most. With us all feeling a little uneasy about the prospects for our economy and Britain's standing on the international stage we should all be proud to see members of our Royal Family making headlines for serving their country in a positive way when so many domestic and international leaders have previously failed to step up to the same mark.

And then there are the dedicated staff of our NHS, Police Force and Fire Service.

Our ambulance service personnel are always first to major incidents, regardless of personal risk, delivering the injured to teams of doctors and nurses prepared to work round the clock to save lives and limbs whenever they can. When things go wrong in our NHS the media and the public come down on the individuals involved like a tonne of bricks and yet no one suggests they deliberately go out of their way to fail. We would all do well to remember all that we owe to the dedicated personnel of our NHS and to express our thanks to them for all they do in a much more proactive and positive fashion.

The Police Force that patrol our streets do so despite a desperate lack of resource ,but with an undoubted desire to protect us all. Political interference and the endless drive of political correctness means they have been told to act and feel like a 'Service' instead of the 'Force' we need to have on our streets delivering safer communities and happier places to live. Like us all, our Police are human and they get things wrong from time to time, but for all the good they do we owe them our thanks and support!

Finally, whenever they are called upon our brave fire men and women put their lives in danger to help protect others. Whether it be a fire or a terrorist attack you will see fire engines delivering personnel to situations involving critical danger and yet reports of attacks on fire personnel are ever increasing with stone throwing and assaults now commonplace occurrences in some areas. These mindless idiots would be the first to demand the presence of Fire Service personnel if their lives were in danger and they would do well to remember this and show them the respect they have earned.

So congratulations to George and to Jodie on their respective wins and more power to our armed and emergency services who look after us all. While we all know there are many social ills we need to tackle Britain really has got an awful lot of talent and, no matter how the media portrays the broken society we live in today, that makes me really proud to be British!