Police should 'ground' kids say Tories
Monday, 23 February 2009 1:46 PM
By Jonathan Moore
Shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, today called for the police to be given the power to ground young troublemakers in their homes.
Speaking to the Local Government Association(LGA) in his first major address as shadow home secretary, Mr Grayling said he would instruct police to collect persistent young troublemakers and bring them to the station to wait to be picked up.
He said: "Our police should have powers to go straight to a magistrate and get an order against that troublemaker confining them to their homes for up to a month - except for during school hours.
"And if they break that curfew order they should expect to find themselves in the cells.
"I will expect someone who is picked up by police for being drunk and disorderly in the town centre on a Friday night to spend a night in the cells, not a night in the A&E department."
Mr Grayling said that in order to tackle the problem of persistent young offenders, the police and communities would have to demand immediate and strong action.
He said: "We're not going to deal with the problem of antisocial behaviour with a gradualist strategy.
"It just needs to be stamped out - and we should demand tough action from our police in doing so."
Mr Grayling's speech was an attempt to outline his views on police behaviour and the treatment of offenders.
Among his other pledges he also called for tougher licensing laws for alcohol, more court dates instead of cautions for offenders and more police on the street.
He said: "Labour has had eleven years and they have collectively failed - their musical chairs based system of home secretaries has left Britain a more dangerous, less civilised place to live in.
"They have been soft on crime and soft on the causes of crime."
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