Crime Prevention (Hansard, 19 July 1984)

§ 1. Mr. Evennett
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in developing his Department's approach to crime prevention.

§ 4. Mr. Ottaway
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what priority he gives to crime prevention strategy; and if he will make a statement.

§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Douglas Hurd)
Crime prevention is crucially important, and there has been encouraging progress on the lines urged in our joint departmental circular in January. Police forces have launched a wide variety of local initiatives. Twenty-two forces have started neighbourhood watch schemes and 11 more plan to do so. We and the Schools Council have produced a teaching package for secondary schools. We shall be launching a television and press crime prevention campaign in London and the midlands in October.

§ Mr. Evennett
As crime prevention has a vital role to play in our fight against crime and the criminal, what contributions have the neighbourhood watch schemes made to crime prevention, and is my right hon. Friend satisfied that these are being implemented quickly enough?

§ Mr. Hurd
These schemes are gathering speed and there are now, for example, 390 neighbourhood watchdog schemes in London alone. I agree with my hon. Friend about their importance. They help to deter criminals and prevent crime, and they bring police into close touch with the communities they serve.

§ Mr. Ottaway
Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the best ways to prevent crime would be to block the loophole whereby criminals from this country are able to go to Spain without fear of prosecution? Would not the best way to block this loophole, rather than signing a bilateral treaty with Spain, be to sign the European convention on extradition, which, contrary to popular belief, provides a measure of protection to the suspect?

§ Mr. Hurd
My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary has taken an initiative with the Spanish Government and arranged that official discussions should take place. On the wider point, my right hon. and learned Friend has also said that we propose to issue a consultative Green Paper later this year, so that we may consider whether there are ways in which our own requirements on extradition might be relaxed. That is a necessary first step to clear our minds before we further consider the European convention.

§ Mr. Fatchett
Does not crime prevention depend to a great extent on public co-operation? Is there not in many parts of the country profound alienation between the police and the mining communities? What steps does the Minister intend to take to restore confidence in the police within those communities?

§ Mr. Hurd
Of course crime prevention depends on co-operation, and that co-operation is forthcoming. As to the policing of the miners' dispute, the hon. Gentleman should address his questions to those who decided to run the dispute on the basis of violence and intimidation.

§ Mr. Loyden
Does the Minister agree that the major role of the police in combating crime has been deeply affected by the provocative use of police on picket lines, and that crimes such as muggings, loan sharking and the use of drugs are not being dealt with because of the way that the police are being directed into a political battle against the miners?

§ Mr. Hurd
There is no evidence for that. Once again, I do not think that many people would agree with the implication that the police should remain inactive when they see efforts being made illegally to prevent those workers who have decided to work—whether at the coal face or driving lorries—from doing so.

§ Mr. Proctor
Given that there is growing public concern about the increasing number of armed robberies in which criminals use shotguns, why is my right hon. Friend reluctant to revise the law on shotgun certificates?

§ Mr. Hurd
We do not see any clear connection between those two points. However, as we have already announced, we intend to introduce proposals for increasing the penalties available to deal with those who use firearms in the course of violent crimes.

§ Mr. Dubs
How can it help crime prevention when incidents occur such as at Calverton colliery in Nottinghamshire, in which, according to our evidence, women pickets were humiliated, degraded and abused——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I am sorry to stop a Front Bench spokesman, but this question concerns crime prevention.