The Public Safety Foundation
The Public Safety Foundation’s Founder, Rory Geoghegan, writes for The Telegraph:
If the authorities were serious about public safety, they would develop proposals to ensure that anyone involved or linked to shootings, stabbings or grooming gangs – never mind the shooting of a 9-year-old girl – felt immense pain.
It could be part of a “focussed deterrence” strategy to reduce violent crime. A credible deterrent against unlawful violence, focused on those linked to it. But that seems like a forlorn hope given the political elites across the two main parties can’t even bring themselves to advocate for “Nightingale” prisons to keep criminals off the streets – never mind build any.
They have become hooked on gesture politics that might give them something to announce, but nothing that can offend. An obvious example being the endless creation of new offences and banning of things. I fear for the humble butter knife should one ever be used in a violent crime.
Many are also allergic to the basic idea of law enforcement. They put it in the same bucket as border controls and lower immigration: “far right”.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, across our capital city, despite promises of “A New Met for London”, the fight against everyday crime seems to have stalled and the general quality of life in the public realm feels in decline: begging, shoplifting, dog fouling, littering, drug-smoking, fare evasion – the list of unchallenged lawlessness goes on.
The Met’s pursuit of ever-higher “positive outcome rates” while stop and search plummets ensures that London’s criminals are the winners: the chances of actually being caught become smaller and smaller. It shouldn’t need saying, but you don’t fight crime by making it easier for the crooks”
