Safe Luxury

Don't you just feel safe under New Labour?

A retiring chief constable has attacked the Government's failure to prevent violent foreign criminals returning to Britain after being deported. Steve Pilkington, 56, who retires from Avon and Somerset Constabulary today, said he was fed up with having to arrest and convict the same offenders repeatedly because of lax border controls. "What really concerns me is the way we allow violent, dangerous criminals to just walk through our borders. advertisement"It has damaged our communities, damaged the prospects of our young people and it has destroyed lives, particularly through crack and cocaine." In an interview with the BBC's Points West in Bristol, Mr Pilkington, a police officer for 32 years, did not specify the nationality of offenders. However, it was understood his remarks referred to Jamaican drug dealers, who have been blamed for a rise in violent crimes, including shootings, in parts of Bristol. Similar violence, mostly linked to the crack cocaine trade, has been seen in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and other cities, involving some Jamaican Yardie gangsters and British-born criminals linked to them. Of the 9,000 foreign nationals in jails in England and Wales at the end of September, about 2,000 were from Jamaica. The women's prison population is dominated by Jamaican "mules" - drugs couriers - but many men have also been convicted. The Home Office has deported criminals to Jamaica, where some have been released and returned to drug trafficking, travelling between Jamaica and Britain on false documents. Highly-addictive crack cocaine has increased street crime and violence between gangs dealing in it. Jamaica's gun culture has become entrenched in some inner cities. Mr Pilkington said: "Deported criminals returning to Britain is a failure of border control. It is a failure of intelligence and I think it is a failure of resourcing. "I am simply fed up with having to catch and convict the same people over and over again for similar offences. "Once they have entered our country, abused our laws and abused our hospitality and they are convicted and deported, that should be it. And they should not be able to get back into the country." In 2003, for an eight-week period, Mr Pilkington put armed police on the streets of Bristol for the first time, amid heightened tension between rival drugs gangs. Police blamed an influx of Jamaican drug dealers for an increase in violent crime in some areas of the city, including the St Pauls area

Public Comments

1. Point scoring yet again. Tell the readers a time when Britain had ever been free from all the above mentioned scenarios. You cannot blame the present government for all ills in society, particular inherent occurrences.
2. With respect Billy j, what exactly is your Q? Every right thinking individual in this country knows what is wrong....This is not a race issue though they will have you believe otherwise! If the police know who these indidividuals/groups are then why are they not arresting them? Is Roman Abramovich not one of the "wealthiest" people in this country? From where did his wealth come? He was a poor child of "Communism" yet he rules our national game. Our services and industries are being sold to the highest bidder. ~Our NHS has been sold off for years to PFI, yet we as citizens are paying through the nose for reduced services. Now the powers that be want you to justify your right to health! Can I have 30/40yrs of NI contributions refunded? I have no argument with the Q, please do not quote differing political ideologies, for they each have their own agenda. It is now time for the electorate to say "We pay you to represent us, you have failed in your duty....Goodbye! Stop being so self-seeking, get in touch with the political thinking of your voters, seek to represent their views rather than your own. The police are meant to police, you have removed the teeth of justice by miring them in paperwork and PC, remove the restrictions, and let them uphold the old-fashioned concepts of law and order.
3. No one can feel safe with a madman at the helm
4. More pro BNP claptrap.
5. Billy. My farther in law is a retired chief superintendent, and we often discuss this issue between us. We don't always agree on everything, but we do agree on something 100% of the time. Political correctness, red tape and government failure are totally responsible for our current affairs. Nothing more there is to say is there???