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Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Families plea for car crime unit

The victims group Families Bereaved Through Car Crime is to seek an urgent meeting with the Chief Constable to discuss the future of the Auto Crime Team.

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The victims group wants to ensure no more lives are lost through so-called joy riding.

On Tuesday a delegation was at Stormont to meet with Justice Minister David Ford and discuss the status of the Auto Crime Team, the dedicated police unit targeting car crime.

In May the PSNI announced it was disbanding the unit, but later reversed the decision after a public outcry.

Families Bereaved Through Car Crime want to ensure it is not a short-term stay of execution.

After what was described as a positive meeting, the group said they were told by the minister that they need to bring their concerns to the Chief Constable.

"Our next port of call is with Matt Baggott because we've been told that it's Matt Baggott and his chief superintendents who are going to make the decision on whether the Auto Crime Team continues after December 2010", campaigner Tommy Holland told UTV.

"It's a very clear division between my role and the Chief Constable's role. He has the operational duties to manage the police and to ensure that the appropriate teams are provided. It's not my job to tell him how to do that. My job is to give backing in the wider range", David Ford explained.

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3 Comments

At 10:19 on 28 July 2010, seamas wrote:

It may not be David Ford’s job to tell Matt Baggott how to do his job but it is his role to tell him what that job is. Redirecting traffic for the Orange Order is not a police function. Preventing car crime and saving lives is. If policing services are to be cut because of budget restrictions then it follows that support for parades will be cut as well. Can the PSNI demonstrate that cuts will be applied evenly across their activities or are there some sacred cows that can’t be touched? That’s what taxpayers want to know.

At 12:36 on 27 July 2010, AILISH MCKENNA wrote:

Yes , I agree with Seamus The bulk of the budget is spent on traffice control also on civil distrubances connected to the parades. Why not let the oragnisers of parades, be they Republician, Loyalists or Orange Order parades PAY for their own policing and maybe then there will be less parades and less violence

At 09:52 on 27 July 2010, seamas wrote:

The PSNI Auto Crime team have done a lot of value work in West Belfast. Preventing crime is the proper role of any police force. Obviously all organisations have to work within a budget. That’s true today more than ever. Working within a budget means prioritising your services. For the PSNI that means critically examining how the budget is spent. One area that needs major review is the spending on parades. Millions of pounds worth of policing resources given free every year to redirect traffic for the Orange Order. The PSNI like any other civil service department publishes Annual Accounts. Those accounts are accompanied by Notes explaining various spending trends. As a first step the PSNI must begin setting out its spending on parades. David Ford as Justice Minister has the right to seek that. After all how can we judge whether proposed cuts in PSNI services are reasonable if we don’t what else the other services are costing us.