Clive Sneddon highlights "We can cut crime" campaign (Dundee Liberal Democrats)

Dundee Liberal Democrats <info@dundeelibdems.org.uk>

Clive Sneddon highlights "We can cut crime" campaign

January 23, 2007 7:24 AM

"We can cut crime" campaign highlighted by Dr Clive Sneddon

Dundee East Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesperson Dr Clive Sneddon today (Tuesday 23rd January) invited Dundonians to support the Liberal Democrat campaign "We can cut crime" by signing the on-line petition at www.wecancutcrime.com, or by letting him and Dundee Liberal Democrats know their ideas for cutting local crime at cut.crime@dundeelibdems.org.uk.

Clive said, "Sir Menzies Campbell has today spelled out the scale of the problem by telling us that fewer than one in a hundred crimes committed leads to a court conviction, and that eight out of ten teenage boys re-offend within two years of release.

"The victims are most often those from deprived communities, and the Tony Blair response has been to seek headlines, create three thousand new crimes, take trials away from courts through summary penalties, and monitor the innocent through enlarging government data bases and his ID cards proposal.

"Yet no criminal has ever been stopped by a headline, and expensive data bases take resources away from police on the beat, which is where they need to be in order to be effective.

"Liberal Democrats propose five practical steps:

(1) use the money ear-marked for ID cards to put more police on the beat;

(2) reclaim our town centres by empowering local people to report to the licensing authorities and have closed bars or clubs which create problems;

(3) have honesty in sentencing, with sentences meaning what they say, but also introducing Public Services Sentences for non-violent criminals which will give them community work as an alternative to prison;

(4) make prison work by making education and training compulsory, and treble the number of prisoners working;

(5) use the money earned while working during their sentence to compensate their victims.

"These five practical steps will help prevent many crimes by having greater police presence on the streets, and instill through working for a real wage to compensate victims a sense of responsibility, while giving the skills and experience needed to hold down a job after release. This is why Liberal Democrats say we can cut crime," concluded Clive.