Restoring respect

Restoring respect and responsibility to our streets

David Davis has promoted the case for tough zero-tolerance policing on the streets as the most effective route to restoring respect and responsibility to Britain's communities.

Delivering a Civitas lecture on liberty and security, the Shadow Home Secretary hailed the anti-crime strategy adopted by Rudi Giuliani and Bill Bratton in New York, and Ray Mallon in Middlesborough, and declared: "A properly re-organised, resourced and accountable police force, focussing on crime prevention and engaging in communities, is capable of turning the tide."He said: "Rudy Giuliani and Bill Bratton proved that in New York, where crime has fallen by 60 per cent over the last ten years. Ray Mallon achieved similar results in Middlesbrough, deploying the same resources that are available to everyone else.

Zero-tolerance policing works because it recruits the community to law enforcement." Mr Davis said that when people see petty crime being vigorously tackled, they gain the confidence to exert social pressure, fostering a return of respect and responsibility to our streets. And condemning how Labour have turned the police into desk-bound social workers, he declared: "The kind of policing people want delivers what they want. It is possible for the police to restore order, reduce lawlessness and cut crime. We need to learn the lessons of 'broken windows' or zero tolerance policing in New York and in Middlesbrough and get our police out of stations, out of their vans and back on the streets again. "We need to free them from bureaucratic encumbrances.

We need to get officers walking the streets individually and engaging the public, not chatting to each other in pairs. We need officers who are unafraid to confront and challenge every kind of disorder, starting with the low level antisocial behaviour which ruins neighbourhoods. We need effective leadership so policing is about catching criminals, not ticking boxes."Mr Davis said he was confident that a properly re-organised, resourced and accountable police force, focussing on crime prevention and engaging in communities, would be capable of turning the tide against crime. "

Zero-tolerance policing works because it recruits the community to law enforcement. When people see petty crime being vigorously tackled, it gives them the confidence to exert social pressure, fostering a return of respect and responsibility to our streets."Zero-tolerance policing is also easier to enforce - high volume, low level crime compared to low volume, high risk crime. And it disrupts and often catches hardened criminals. Criminals are lazy, greedy people who don't respect the rules that bind the rest of us. As natural rule-breakers, they break the small rules as well as the big ones. The dragnet of zero-tolerance pulls up criminals who don't insure their cars and have valid tax disc," he added.