Election 2010 Coalition Government : Crime and Policing

Election 2010 Coalition Government : Crime and Policing

The Government believes that we need radical action to reform our criminal justice system. We need police forces that have greater freedom from Ministerial control and are better able to deal with the crime and anti-social behaviour that blights people’s lives, but which are much more accountable to the public they serve.

* We will reduce time-wasting bureaucracy that hampers police operations, and introduce better technology to make policing more effective while saving taxpayers’ money.

* We will amend the health and safety laws that stand in the way of common sense policing.

* We will seek to spread information on which policing techniques and sentences are most effective at cutting crime across the Criminal Justice System.

* We will have a full review of the terms and conditions for police officer employment.

* We will introduce measures to make the police more accountable through oversight by a directly elected individual, who will be subject to strict checks and balances by locally elected representatives.

* We will oblige the police to publish detailed local crime data statistics every month, so the public can get proper information about crime in their neighbourhoods and hold the police to account for their performance.

* We will require police forces to hold regular ‘beat meetings’ so that residents can hold them to account.

* We will make hospitals share non-confidential information with the police so they know where gun and knife crime is happening and can target stop-and-search in gun and knife crime hot spots.

* We will give people greater legal protection to prevent crime and apprehend criminals.

* We will ensure that people have the protection that they need when they defend themselves against intruders.

* We will ban the sale of alcohol below cost price.

* We will review alcohol taxation and pricing to ensure it tackles binge drinking without unfairly penalising responsible drinkers, pubs and important local industries.

* We will overhaul the Licensing Act to give local authorities and the police much stronger powers to remove licences from, or refuse to grant licences to, any premises that are causing problems.

* We will allow councils and the police to shut down permanently any shop or bar found to be persistently selling alcohol to children.

* We will double the maximum fine for under-age alcohol sales to £20,000.

* We will permit local councils to charge more for late-night licences to pay for additional policing.

* We will promote better recording of hate crimes against disabled, homosexual and transgender people, which are frequently not centrally recorded.

* We will introduce a system of temporary bans on new ‘legal highs’ while health issues are considered by independent experts. We will not permanently ban a substance without receiving full advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

* We will review the operation of the Extradition Act – and the US/UK extradition treaty – to make sure it is even-handed.