Affinities supports PSA President's view on violent crime.

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Friday, 07, Sep 2007 12:00

The report in This is London

outlines Chief Superintendent Johnston’s concerns about the causes of violent crime.

He says: "Some of the biggest challenges facing the Police Service and our society today relate to violent crime; anti-social behaviour; youths out-of-control; knife crime and gun crime.

"Violent crime is a cancer that eats away at the very heart of society.

"It ruins the lives of victims and their families and causes fear and alarm in communities that are blighted by youths who are out-of-control and anti-social behaviour.

"Cancer does not flourish in a healthy body so crime should not flourish in a healthy society.

"A failed education system, family breakdown, alcohol and drug abuse, inadequate prison and probation services, an unresponsive Criminal Justice System, an entertainment industry that promotes violence and aggression and a media that glorifies in failure rather than success are all symptoms of a society in desperate need of treatment.

"To blame the Police, as many commentators are seeking to do, for this list of ills, is like blaming Accident and Emergency and the Ambulance Service for the failure to reduce cancer rates!"

Brave man! But New Labour sneers at the institution of marriage and has cut the grants to the voluntary organisations that support it. And the Conservatives and Bishops in the House of Lords failed to propose amendments to the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill and the Statistics and Registration Service Bill that could have made it easier for local authorities to promote marriage preparation through register offices.

Let’s hope Chief Superintendent Ian Johnston’s wake up call is heard in Westminster, Lambeth and Whitehall.