Essex
Police Commissioner
My
nomination papers have now been accepted to stand for the Police, Fire and
Crime Commissioner for Essex, or as I prefer the more manageable title, Police
Commissioner for Essex.
If
elected to a Police Commissionership it would give us considerable power and
influence over key aspects of the State’s enforcement ability. So if you are in Essex or nearby please do
come forward to help us, in this case, in Essex
Here is a
reminder of our manifesto positions:-
1.6 The English Flag
1.6.1 We call for the compulsory flying of the English flag, the cross of St
George, on all state-maintained public buildings in England.
2.11 Policing
2.11.1 Policing is an increasingly difficult
job due to changes in our society, which now lacks the social cohesion and
shared values that once gave us a mostly peaceful and well-ordered way of life.
Our cities have become places where it is impossible to perform traditional
communal policing.
2.11.2 English Democrats seek a return to a
system of policing which recognises the principle that all citizens are treated
equally. In their efforts to prevent crime and catch criminals the police
should not be hindered and demoralised by unreasonable ideological constraints.
2.11.3 We should not lose sight of the fact
that the basis for the maintenance of law and order in England rests on a firm
foundation of active participation by law-abiding citizens. A relationship of
trust and co-operation between citizens and police is essential to effective
policing and the prevention of crime. With that in mind, it is reasonable to
expect that policing should not be oppressive. The aim is a peaceable society
in which liberty and justice can flourish.
2.11.4 It is essential that the police force
be adequately trained and resourced.
2.11.5 Police forces should be more
democratically accountable than at present. This would require the election of
Chief Constables or the Police Authorities which appoint them.
2.11.6 English Democrats call for the creation
of a scheme enabling businesses to pay for their security staff to train and
register as Special Constables, their powers of arrest applying to their place
of work and its neighbouring streets.
Such registered security staff would be
subject to Police staff performance monitoring and discipline.
2.12 The Legal System
2.12.1 The primary role of a legal system is
to provide the means for settling disputes. It should enable those who suffer
loss, in the form personal injury, theft, or damage to property, to be properly
compensated by the party at fault. Laws, and the penalties for breaking them,
should comply with the principles of natural justice. As societies have become
more complex, so have their law codes. To a great extent, this is unavoidable.
2.12.2 However, states and their governing
elites are extending the reach of law into areas that infringe upon individual
liberties. The result is a body of law which is more restrictive and complex
than it need be.
Many of the customs and principles of English
law are being undermined in the political quest for greater conformity with
Continental ideas and practices. Law is being used as a tool for imposing
dogma. One of the consequences of these changes is that the police are
increasingly being made the enforcers of political doctrine and moving further
away from their traditional role of upholding the delicate balance between
Order and Liberty.
2.12.3 To obtain justice, citizens must feel
able to consult and employ the services of the legal profession. Many people
are deterred from this by the procedures and costs of the present legal system.
Improvements have been made in recent years but more needs to be done to make
the system user friendly and efficient.
2.13.4 The English Democrats favours less law
and a simplification of law. There are far too many matters currently covered
by the criminal law. There should be a drastic reduction and rationalisation of
the number and extent of criminal offences.
2.13.5 We must reform the jury system but not
abandon it because the jury provides a democratic check on the legal system.
The law is not the property of lawyers; it belongs to the people and should
serve their needs.
Our preference is for a return to
comprehensible, just and effective law. Given its current chaotic state, the
law should be codified.
2.13.6 Once the criminal law has been properly
codified, the English Democrats would ensure that the criminal law is
vigorously policed and enforced.
2.13.7 Except in an emergency there should be
a single annual implementation date for new law. This will help rectify the
current muddled situation where no one can be sure, without considerable effort
or expense, whether a clause of a new Act has been brought into force or not.
Also, some rules, for example the Civil Procedure Rules, are being rewritten so
frequently that new editions are being published more than once a month! This
lead, not surprisingly, to the shameful situation where no-one, not even the
judiciary, can be sure of the current rule in force without first making
unreasonable efforts to research the point.
2.13.8 To avoid such excessive complexity
developing again, a monitoring system should be devised which ensures that new
law is unambiguously comprehensible and properly and efficiently enforceable.
This could be a function of a reformed Second Chamber.
2.13.9 The English Democrats respect the right
of victims of crime to defend themselves and their property against criminals.
The English Democrats would extend the right of self-help.
2.13.9.1 People should be allowed to use
simple non-lethal means of self-defence such as pepper sprays, or CS gas
sprays.
2.13.9.3 The Government has the right to
request the National Standards Authority to prepare reasonable Standards for
the preparation of such devices. They may pass a law that requires the
manufacturers of such products to follow the national standards.
2.13.9.4 Such devices should be no more
harmful than tasers currently used by the Police
2.13.9.5 The police in England seem
increasingly unwilling and unable to help our people when attacked or burgled.
So, if elected, our Police Commissioner candidates will require their Chief
Constables to grant firearms and shotgun licences for personal protection, as
well as CS gas and pepper spray items (of the sort commonly available over the
counter on the Continent). These will be for the purposes of citizens
protecting themselves and their property.
This is in accordance with the actual law. We
will direct Police Constables to ignore the unlawful Home Office, politically
motivated, guidance to the contrary.
2.13.9.6 The English Democrats respect the
rights of citizens who are victims of crime to defend themselves and their
property against criminals. The English Democrats regard this as no more than
the traditional English right of self-help.
2.13.9.7 Furthermore it will be Force policy
that no police officer who is called to a scene of a burglary or other
situation where a victim of crime has defended themselves or their property
against a criminal or criminals shall be permitted to arrest the victim. If, in
breach of this policy a police officer does arrest the victim, then the Chief
Constable will be directed to indicate to that officer that their chances of
promotion within that constabulary are thereby ended.
2.13.9.8 Any Chief Constable instructed as
above who does not comply with our Police Commissioner’s instructions shall be
forthwith dismissed by our Police Commissioner.
2.13.10 The English Democrats believe that
every victim of a criminal offence should have the right to address the court
on the question of sentence and for the court to be required to bear the
victim's views in mind when passing sentence.
2.13.11 It is not acceptable that 100,000
hardened criminals commit over half of all crime in the U.K. Once a criminal is
identified as beyond effective rehabilitation he or she must be kept out of the
community until no longer a risk.
2.13.12 Prisons should be designed and
equipped so that prisoners are not subject to degrading conditions. Prison
space should be increased rather than release offenders early, and there should
be sufficient prison space to allow the imprisonment of deserving offenders.
3.19 Political Correctness
3.19.1 The English Democrats share the public concerns as to the harm caused to
our society by political correctness.
3.19.2 The English Democrats unreservedly condemn this intolerant creed. We
reject the self-righteousness of political correctness and condemn the ideology
as an evil. Political correctness is incompatible with a free and democratic
society.
3.19.3 One key aspect of political correctness is that a person, an institution
or a government is politically correct when they cease to represent the
interests of the majority, and become focused on the deliberate subversion of
English national culture and interests, the denigration of English history and
of the English themselves, and the promotion of the objectives of minority
pressure groups.
3.19.4 Political correctness is grounded in the capture of state institutions,
with official spokespeople, legislative powers and sanctions for breaches of
political correctness. It is this capture of state institutions which makes
political correctness so oppressive and dangerous. This must end.
3.19.5 The English Democrats will take whatsoever measures are necessary to
remove political correctness from both national and local government, including
the various quangos and other government bodies funded either directly or
indirectly by the taxpayer. These measures will include the following three
steps:
3.19.5.1 Firstly, those educational establishments, legal establishments,
quangos, departments or other government organisations that are promoting
political correctness will be fundamentally reconstituted and/or have their
funding withdrawn or, where appropriate and if possible, be closed down. In
particular, the so-called Commission for Equality and Human Rights will be
closed. Private organisations that promote political correctness will not be
awarded government contracts.
3.19.5.2 Secondly, the English Democrats recognise that those institutions that
are run by state appointees are the most detached from public opinion and are
more likely to become politically correct. The English Democrats will, where
practical, ensure that senior public employees, such as police chief constables
and senior judges, are democratically approved by the community they serve.
This will be achieved either via direct elections or via approval by
democratically elected representatives. Many senior public posts will be
subject to a maximum occupancy period, for such senior public employees to be
accountable to the public will form a part of a bulwark against political
correctness.
3.19.5.3 Thirdly, the English Democrats will carry out a review of all laws and
regulations, and will amend or, where appropriate and if possible, completely
repeal those laws and regulations that foster and promote political
correctness.
3.20 St George’s Day
3.20.1 The people of England should be able to celebrate St George’s day as a
National Holiday.
