14 November 2005

MALCOLM MOSS SPEAKS OUT AGAINST POLICE FORCE MERGER – AND 90 DAYS POLICE DETENTION

MP Malcolm Moss has warned that the proposed amalgamation of police forces in the Eastern Region will result in a faceless, centralised police force out of touch with its local community.

He said: “This is the next step towards a ‘National Police Force’ when Chief Constables will be responsible to meddling Labour Home Secretaries, not to their local communities. If people think the police are unaccountable now, just wait for the brave new world under Tony Blair’s vision of a future police state.”

He spoke out against three options proposed by the Home Office, which he firmly believes will result in police forces becoming more remote and distant from the people they serve.  It is proposed to reduce the present 43 local forces down to 12.

The three options being considered for the Eastern Region are:

A regional police force combining Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex;

A strategic force combining Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, and another merging Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex;

A strategic force combining Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, while Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex join together.

Mr Moss said none of these options were what people wanted and sounded the death knell for the spirit of community policing.

“We would end up with a faceless, centralised ‘superforce’ that did not understand, or support, the concerns of local people,” he warned.

“It will mean getting further and further away from local police and local decision making, while the Home Office will be able to operate more control and a tighter reign over its 12 Chief Constables.”

“Chief constables will be appointed centrally, instead of locally, and I feel this should remain an integral part of our local democracy.  Why isn’t the Home Office concentrating on putting more money into the police budgets so that we can have more bobbies in the front line and a more responsive crime-busting force? If you ask the public, they say this is what they want, especially with rising crime, particularly anti-social behaviour, causing so much concern today. A greater police presence will do much to deter this – and restore public confidence.”

On another burning police issue, Mr Moss voted against the Government’s proposal to detain suspected terrorists for up to 90 days without charge because there was no conclusive evidence placed before Parliament to support it (even the Home Affairs Select Committee said so). Tony Blair’s appeal for support fell of deaf ears.

Mr Moss said: “People remembered his totally spurious claims about weapons of mass destruction before we went to war in Iraq and didn’t believe him this time. It was both unprecedented and unacceptable to wheel in Chief Constables to lobby MP’s directly, but since their jobs are on the line with the proposed reorganisation, it was understandable that they acquiesced. Tony Blair’s argument that 90 days were needed to check a terrorist suspect’s computer did not make sense. We should be employing the best IT specialists we can find to do this encryption and pay them accordingly. This is not just a matter of the time available; it is also about resources, but no mention of that. 

“Those constituents who were persuaded by the scurrilous propaganda in the Sun newspaper should ask themselves why Rupert Murdoch wants to keep Tony Blair in power (nothing to do with monopolising the broadcasting of national sporting events of course); why, if it was so important, did the Home Secretary say it wasn’t ‘crucial’; why the 90 days wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference to the tragic events of the 7^th July; why MI5 and MI6 had no comments to make about these proposals; and why Tony Blair still refuses to agree to Conservative proposals to allow phone taps to be used as admissible evidence, and to deport those (along with their families) who preach against our values and society? No one can accuse me of being soft on crime or on terrorists, since I have voted three times now for the return of the death penalty; something Tony Blair has never done.”

Malcolm Moss voted to double the time a suspect can be held from 14 to 28 days, in itself a quantum leap.