Too soft on crime with cuts to policing?

Published: 30 June, 2011

• ABDUL Hai’s comments (June 16) that the Tories are soft on crime are wide of the mark. 

For years Gordon Brown threw money at problems without considering the consequences and we now have staggeringly high numbers of youths on remand. 

This government is looking for value for money with all public expenditure with more imaginative solutions.

I have spent hours following the lives of three young lads who are all currently in a secure unit. All of them had periods of good behaviour and, with despairing single parent mothers, often in overcrowded households. 

If they got involved in a gang they hyped each other up and wreaked havoc on the area.

I have become convinced that if you put these youths in the right atmosphere like a youth club you can point them in the right direction. These youths have unbelievable amounts of energy to burn off and should be involved in competitive sports at every opportunity.

The youth justice system is a disaster with no co-ordination with the youth clubs. At one point I had to plead with a magistrate that the curfew he was imposing actually prevented the youth from attending the youth club. I have been told that the worst aspect of being in a secure unit is boredom. If this is the case it is not much of a deterrent.

The solution is to identify the problem children at an early stage and oblige them to attend a youth club.

My quip is that a magistrate should sentence a wayward youth to “six months hard football and be tagged to the pitch”.

CLLR JONNY BUCKNELL
Conservative, Belsize ward

Protect them

• REGARDING (Tories ‘soft on crime’, June 16) I was disappointed to learn that Camden is to lose four sergeants following an announcement by the Metropolitan Police. 

I do hope the Mayor of London responds to Cllr Abdul Hai’s request to protect them. 

With the Olympics coming and the economic situation worsening we need local police more than ever, and the sergeant’s role in guiding them is absolutely crucial. 

A sergeant having to cover more than one ward will inevitably have their time and attention stretched.

PAT GLYNN
Bedford Court Mansions, 
WC1