harlow crime booklet

8/2/2019 Harlow Crime Booklet

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A Decent Place to LiveA Decent Place to Live

Robert Halfon:Returning Law & Order to Harlow

Roydon, Nazeing & Sheering

Robert Halfon:

Returning Law & Order to Harlow

Roydon, Nazeing & Sheering


2/12

Forward by Robert Halfon,Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Harlow, Roydon, Nazeing & Sheering

As soon as New Labour came to power in 1997 they began to lose the battle on crime. They allowed police

numbers to drop by 7,000. They did nothing as levels of crime and disorder raced upwards. Until 2001 they had nopolicies to tackle crime on Britains streets. In Harlow gangs of youths made places like Old Harlow High Street and

The Stow no-go areas after dark.

Blairs Labour Government has churned out dozens of new laws, hundreds of new initiatives and huge numbers of

new rules, regulations, targets, and paperwork for the police. Yet violent crime is still rising, gun crime is still rising

and detection rates are going down. Police Stations, like Roydon and Nazeing, have closed and the officers

withdrawn. Harlow Police now have to cover extra areas like Loughton, Debden and Waltham Abbey. We still rarely

see a police officer and when we dial 999 the service has too often been poor.

What can I do to change this? If elected, I will campaign tirelessly for Harlow on what I set out in this booklet. I will

lobby the Home Secretary. In the House of Commons I will table Early Day Motions, Private Members and Ten

Minute Rule Bills, I will ask question after question of the Prime Minister, I will not let up until I achieve what we all

want for Harlow and its villages to make them decent places to live.Robert Halfon

A message from the Shadow Home Secretary

I have worked closely with Robert in producing this manifesto for Law & Order in Harlow and its surrounding

villages. I have known Robert for many years and the people of Harlow will not have a better advocate than him on

any issue, but I know that Law & Order will be at the very top of his agenda as soon as you, the people, elect him. I

endorse and commend this manifesto to you.

Rt. Hon. David Davis MP


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Chapter 1 PolicingNeighbourhood Policing

The only way to defeat rising crime is to have police officers in our neighbourhoods on a

long term basis, working with local people, the Council, youth leaders, schools,shopkeepers, businesses, and community and residents associations. Officers must be

highly trained for this work, and be prepared to remain for the long term to gain intimate

knowledge of the communities they police, building trust and lasting relationships. I want

such officers held in high regard within the police as well as outside and rewarded for the

sacrifices such dedication may mean. I will campaign for additional payments, presently

spread across the whole force, to be concentrated on real Community Beat Officers.

Rural Policing

Closure of rural beat offices like Nazeing and Roydon has left our villages relying on officersattending from Harlow or Epping to locations in which they may be unfamiliar. I will

campaign vigorously for these to be re-opened and the return of village constables. A

Mobile Beat Office does not replace the valuable contribution resident officers made to their

communities as well as to law enforcement.

Conservatives will bring

back proper beat policing by

proper police officers

A return of our VillageBobbies for Roydon &

Nazeing

I will be a frequent visitor to

Harlow Police and will back

their every effort on behalf

of Harlow and our villages

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Robert Halfon with Harlows Police Chief


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Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)

The Police Federation say PCSOs are not the way forward for policing. There are only

4,500 across the country. Harlow has five. They are poorly trained, poorly equipped and

have too few powers to be an effective replacement for proper police. Labour say they are

only there to help regular officers, yet they plan to increase their numbers to 25,000. Thetruth is that Labour will do away with our traditional bobbies altogether and replace them

with policing on the cheap.

PCSOs do not take an oath to the Crown so they can never be truly impartial, they are

not subject to the same strict discipline laws as regular officers and could go on strike.

They have no career structure, so have little incentive to remain for the long term.

Government funding for PCSOs is to be reduced before disappearing in three years. That

means their whole cost will fall on our Council Tax.

I will oppose further funding for PCSOs. This should be spent on recruiting regular officers.

Special Constabulary

Specials are volunteers who help in all aspects of policing, as well as the high-visibility work

PCSOs are supposed to do. They are well trained and have the same powers and

equipment as regular officers. People from many walks of life bring valuable skills and

experience to our police by volunteering at least 16 hours of their time a month. At present

they receive no pay for this. Since New Labour came to power the number of Essex

Specials has almost halved, from 631 to 371.

Nationally, the figures are worse, we have lost 8,837 Specials around 2 million policing

hours a year.

Conservatives will help restore the number of Specials by paying them, in a similar way to

the Territorial Army, for the hours they train and work, with a variable annual bounty for

those contributing more than the minimum.

Labours PCSOs are

replacing proper coppers

I oppose Council Tax rises

to pay for PCSOs

Under Labour almost half

our Specials have gone

Conservatives will restore

numbers by paying them

like the Territorial Army

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Who runs the Police?

The police have consistently complained they are subjected to too much central control

from this government, given too little control over spending their own money, set too

many government targets and have too much form filling, bureaucracy and red tape,

which keeps officers in police stations.They are subject to far too much political correctness. They must be allowed to get on

with the job of fighting crime without constantly having to look over their shoulders to

see whether they are offending this or that minority interest. Crime affects everyone and

there must be no no go areas.

To help with these issues and ensure senior officers are accountable locally,

Conservatives will introduce elected, rather than selected, police authorities, and every

community like Harlow will have an elected person or committee, to whom the local

police commander will account for the type of policing and its effectiveness locally. Thiswill not take away Chief Constables sole responsibility for operational issues, but it does

mean that local commanders must set local priorities in consultation with local people to

deliver the policing communities want.

Chapter 2: The Conveyer Belt to CrimeCannabis and other drugs

This government has made a mess of the law on so-called soft drugs, especiallycannabis. Even if we ignored the inherent dangers of cannabis, legalisation would be

impractical and unacceptable to the majority of people. I support research into medicinal

cannabis and will welcome its introduction if this happens, but this will not be the herbal

or resin forms presently used illegally for smoking.

Too much Labour red

tape

Too much Political

Correctness

Conservatives will make

local police accountable

to local people

I oppose legalising softdrugs

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Hard drugs must remain illegal or under strict medical control. I am not in favour of

prescribing hard drugs. This failed in the past and would do nothing to stop the illegal

street trade. Again, the practicalities are enormous.

Instead, under Conservatives there will be an additional 25,000 places on drug

rehabilitation programmes for young people who get into trouble, for whom the messagewill be get into rehab and get off drugs or go to prison. Early indications are that where

such schemes exist, they have a dramatic effect in lowering crime.

This will be paid out of the extra 18.6 billion in the first two years that a Conservative

Government will put into the NHS but, as drug dependency and crime decrease, I will

press for the savings to be used to expand the scheme until we have enough

rehabilitation for everyone who wants to come off drugs.

Young People getting off the Conveyor Belt to CrimeConservatives will build on the good proposals in The Children Act (2004) to ensure all

agencies presently dealing with children and young people work together, pooling

funding where necessary, to identify where help is needed to prevent children starting on

the conveyor belt to crime. Ensuring they go to school, they are safe in and out of home,

and intervening with positive action when things look like going wrong.

Unfortunately, too many parents today feel powerless to do this alone, so I will support

the introduction of mentoring for problem families and long-term rehabilitation for

youngsters who cant reform on their own. Our children are the future of ourcommunities and our nation. We owe it to them to help parents stop the decline of our

civil society, set children standards they can live up to, make the right start in life and

stick to it.

I oppose prescribing

hard drugs

I support 25,000 more

rehab places

Expanding this to all who

want to get off drugs

Working together to help

our children

Helping parents too

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Chapter 3: Anti Social Behaviourand Zero ToleranceAnti-Social Behaviour

Labour were slow to recognise anti-social behaviour was turning our homes into fortresses

where ordinary people felt under siege from yobs, unruly children, abusive neighbours and

street crime. Communities have collapsed because few people now see their

neighbourhood as belonging to them. Some of our sick or elderly live in fear of going out.

I back recent efforts to tackle this. Harlow Council, together with Harlow Police, is among

the leaders nationally. But their resources are too few and their enforcement success

displaces problems to elsewhere in the town. We need to ensure sufficient funding for

worthwhile diversions to keep children off the streets. 180,000 Council Tax will be available

if we can stop spending on PCSOs.

Zero Tolerance 40,000 more police, Controlled Immigration

Mayor Giuliani and Police Chief Bratton cleaned up New York by adopting Zero Tolerance

to crime. They almost doubled New Yorks police and got them working with the City

Council on what became known as the broken window policy. One broken window

encourages breaking others, but if the first window is quickly repaired, it helps stop this. I

want Zero Tolerance working in Harlow. Conservatives will do this by putting an extra 40,000

proper police on Britains streets, funded by savings from controlling immigration, reducingthis to under half the current number.

I want Harlow Police and Harlow Council to adopt agreements, sometimes called Service

Level Agreements, which will clearly define what the people of Harlow expect of both of them

in relation to crime and disorder, clearing fly tipping, removing abandoned cars, repairing

public buildings and other amenities, cleaning up graffiti, repairing street lamps, and enforcing

parking, dog fouling and litter laws. They will be held accountable against these agreements.

No more living in fear

Give children real

alternatives to being on

our streets at night

Zero Tolerance for Harlow

with 926 more police

officers in Essex

Agreements with the

people of Harlow to

deliver better Police &

Council service

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Travellers

Everyone is entitled to live their lives as they want, but there have to be limits on this

freedom where lifestyle interferes with others. It is a fact that on too many occasions

travellers impose an unfair burden on communities by camping on parkland, intimidating

residents, damaging playing pitches, leaving commercial and human waste behind.Conservatives propose tough new laws to curb abuse of Human Rights law, stop abuse

of planning rules, allow councils to seize caravans, encourage police and councils to

make full use of existing powers and give local people a say in locating traveller sites.

Harlow fulfils all its obligations in providing traveller sites and I will work to ensure other

local authorities do the same, so there is no need for us to be the target for unlawful

camping while travellers look for legal sites elsewhere.

Chapter 4: Your Part in a Neighbourly SocietyVictim Support

The Government has been slow to take up Conservative calls for our Criminal Justice

system to focus on victims, rather than on offenders. Conservatives propose a new law

to change the balance of proof in favour of people who defend their homes against

burglars. People should not have to worry about being prosecuted if they have a go at

a burglar, provided the amount of force used is not grossly out of proportion to the

circumstances. Tony Blair said he supported this, but he hasnt.We also want greater help to protect witnesses identities if they give evidence, to make

courts much more witness-friendly and the judicial system more efficient, so witnesses

are not needlessly called back and forth to courts for trials which are postponed. Victim

Support is a charity that does a huge amount of work for victims by visiting them at

home and helping them at court. I will encourage the Home Office to provide greater

funding for this essential part of our system of justice.

Travellers & Gypsies

must respect our town &

villages

I will ensure Harlow does

not suffer

Conservatives will put

victims before offenders

I will help Victim

Support

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Neighbourhood Watch

I believe volunteer organisations like Neighbourhood Watch are the backbone of local

Law & Order. Without the consent and co-operation of the communities they police, our

police can not do their job, so I will do all I can to strengthen and encourage

Neighbourhood Watch, ensure they have proper facilities and communication, and arefully supported by an adequate police response to their needs.

Speed Cameras

We all have a duty to drive responsibly and with care for other road users, but

Conservatives feel Labour is at war with motorists, who are an easy target for taxation.

In 1997 John Prescott said he would provide an integrated transport system, but our

roads have become a nightmare of potholes, cones, gridlocks, road humps and traffic

calming. Along with this has come an ever-growing number of speed cameras, while

police forces have cut back on traffic police.Motorists pay over 40,000,000,000 (40 billion) a year in tax, thats almost as much as

the NHS spends each year. Only a fraction of that is returned in improved roads.

Motorists deserve better.

Road accidents kill over 3,000 people each year, a number that is increasing. In addition

to the terrible human cost every loss brings, each death costs society about 1 million.

Reducing this number by a third would put back 1 billion every year. I believe

technology can play an important part in reducing death and injury on our roads.

However, some research suggests speed cameras may even be making things worse. I

believe every site has to be justified before we install a speed camera, and that every

penny of the fines should go back into road safety for the area where the camera is

installed not just more cameras.

I will support

Neighbourhood Watch

Reducing road

casualties is very

important, but we must

restrict speed cameras

to where they arenecessary

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Chapter 5: Crime in Harlow -above national averages and rising *

Violent crimes per 1,000 population. All Crime per 1,000 population

Harlow Total for 2002/3 = 1,576 Harlow Total for 2002/3 = 8,976

*Harlow crime levels blue national levels orange recorded crime. (Home Office statistics)

Detection rates have not improved under Labour

Detection rates: Essex Police 1998/99 2003/4 Sample Detections

2003/4

29% 28% Violence 69%

Burglary 12%

Robbery 21%

In 2003/4 there were 144,512 offences recorded in Essex. (Home Office statistics)

These Home Office charts

show people in Harlow

suffer above average

crime and violence

Only 1 in 3 reported

crimes is solved. If your

home is broken into there

is only a 1 in 9 chance of

the burglar being caught

Conservatives will give

Essex 926 extra Police to

improve these figures

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Chapter 6: Crime Under Labour Going UpHome Office Statistics

1997 2004 ChangeMurder & Attempted Murder 1,391 1,737 UP 25%

Threats to Kill 9,340 22,232 UP 138%

Serious Wounding 12,531 19,358 UP 54%

Other Assaults 315,645* 878,890 UP 178%

Sex Offences 33,165 52,070 UP 36%

Robbery 63,072 101,195 UP 60%

House Burglary 519,265 402,333 Down 22%

Vehicle Crime 1,117,572 889,171 Down 20%

Shoplifting 274,015 301,796 Up 10%

Criminal Damage 877,042 1,025,572 UP 17%

Drug Offences 23,153 141,060 UP 509%

All CRIMES 4,598,327 5,934,580 UP 29%

* Statistics for assaults available only from 2000

You cant trust Labour oncrime. You cant believe a

word they say any more

Crime was going down when

they took office in 1997

Conservatives will restore

pride in Britains

police and I

will make

Harlow a

Decent

Place toLive

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Most people say crime is

getting worse under Labour

Police figures bear this out

Victims not satisfied with

police

More prisons longer

sentences

What people think

The British Crime Survey (BCS) samples only people over 16 years. It does not ask about

all crime, only those which ordinary people usually encounter. In 2004, two in three people

(66%) thought crime nationally was worse and one in three (33%) said crime was A lot

worse. When asked about crime where they lived, over half the people surveyed (52%) said

local crime had got worse and one in every five (20%) said local crime had got A lot worse.

The 2004 BCS found people recalled fewer actual crimes than police records suggest, but

recent changes in the way crime is recorded has improved police procedure and we feel this

is now a more reliable indicator than the BCS, apparently borne out by the perceived levels

of crime shown above.

The survey found 4 out of 10 victims (42%) were dissatisfied with the way police handled

their cases.

Most people think prisoners should serve their full sentence; no remission for goodbehaviour and extra time for bad. Labour thinks judges shouldnt send offenders to prison if

prisons are crowded, and they want fines based on offenders income, not the seriousness

of the crime. They are out of touch with what people think. Conservatives will build an

additional 20,000 prison places by 2008 paid for by savings we have identified in Home

Office administration.

Promoted by Tony Hall on behalf of Harlow Conservatives all at Latton Bush Centre, Southern Way, Harlow, CM18 7BL and printed by Metloc Printers Ltd, Old Station Road, Loughton, Essex IG10 4PE

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A better future with Conservatives:School Discipline, Cleaner Hospitals, More Police, Lower Taxes, Controlled Immigration and we will be accountable to you for delivering these promises.

Michael Howard, Leader of the Conservative Party

My own difficulties in life have taught me compassion and dignity for those most in need.

I am in politics to help the most vulnerable.

Robert Halfon, Harlow Constituency Parliamentary Spokesman.

harlow crime booklet

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