PDE Column, 7th June 2010 – Crime, Underage Drinking, Giving Victims a Voice, Accord Fayre

Crime focus

Crime, anti-social behaviour, the search for decent housing, and safer streets are the big issues at my surgeries. They often generate around ten times the complaints as the health service or education. So this week I and colleagues will meet Stephen House, the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police.

Underage Drinking

I will be raising underage drinking. It is a local menace – often worse during the summer. Tougher licensing laws were introduced by the last Scottish Government. But the most recent figures show just 8 ‘proceedings’ against shops in Renfrewshire and not a single license suspension. I am pressing for better enforcement and stiffer penalties.

There can be no excuse for selling alcohol to children, but rogue retailers are getting away with a slap on the wrists. Scottish Ministers have admitted that retailers convicted of selling alcohol to children receive an average fine of just £244. This is a completely inadequate penalty. Shop keepers convicted of selling alcohol to a child should have their license suspended.

Even more worrying, Renfrewshire Council seem to have almost given up on applying for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs). Few have been promoted by the police or council to deal with the disorder in Linwood or Gallowhill or in the West End of Paisley despite repeated requests for action from local people.

And little use has been made locally of the “powers of dispersal” allowing police to ban a crowd gathering and causing disturbance in the same location night after night. I want to see the full powers the Scottish Parliament gave police and councils through the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, used effectively.

I believe we need a formal process to allow local people to force authorities to take their complaints seriously. I want the Scottish Government to allow community groups such as Community Councils or Tenant & Residents organisations to apply to the local council to issue Anti-Social Behaviour Orders. The council or police would then either go forward with that request or would have to meet with the organisation and explain their reason for refusal and then set out an alternative approach. The community group could appeal a decision if they disagreed.
Inaction on Knives ‘Not an Option’

The tragedy of the young soldier Paul McGee, honoured for his bravery in Iraq, only to die at the hands of a knife wielding assailant in his home street, hits every law abiding citizen in Renfrewshire hard.

Tragically the most recent figures show a record 58% of murders were committed using knives in 2008/09 and the proportion of murders committed with a knife hit a 20 year high.

Last year almost 2,000 victims of knife crime were admitted to Scottish hospitals, at a cost to the NHS of more than £500m. That’s £500m that could have been spent on Scottish schools, hospitals, children or older people.

The knife murder rate in Scotland is more than double the UK average. Yet the majority (71%) of those found guilty of carrying an offensive weapon currently do not serve a custodial sentence. It needs to be made clear to criminals that if you carry a knife you will go to jail. That’s why 30,000 Scots signed Labour’s ‘Carry A Knife, Go To Jail’ petition,

Giving Victims a Voice

I am supporting plans for a Victim’s Commissioner in Scotland. I also want Parliament to guarantee the right of victims or their families to make oral representations to the Parole Board when a criminal reaches a potential parole date. So in future when criminals ask for Parole their victims will also have a right to be heard.

Hopefully, the Chief Constable will have some good news this week about next steps. Certainly the new policing plans for every ward are a basis for more targeted action. Labour toughened the law on underage drinking, anti-social behaviour, knife crime and support for victims. But police and the Councils have to use these powers day in day out to help make our communities safer.

Accord Summer Fayre

Finally, try and get along to Accord Fayre at the Town hall on Saturday from 10am. It has something for everyone and is a firm favourite with my kids.