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Police told justice is 'near collapse'

Thursday 20 May 1993 23:02 BST
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(First Edition)

LABOUR yesterday demanded a revolution in the battle against the rising tide of crime.

Tony Blair, Labour's spokesman on home affairs, told the Police Federation of England and Wales at its annual conference in Blackpool that there must be an immediate and thorough overhaul of the system of criminal justice, which in some cases is 'teetering on the brink of collapse'.

He said: 'Public morale is low. The Crown Prosecution Service is under acute pressure. Court procedures are outdated. The burden of taking a case to trial under the present rules is causing huge strains . . .

'Britain's silent majority must now be encouraged to speak up in a new national consensus against crime based on principles of partnership and shared responsibility.'

Mr Blair said that for some offenders prison may be necessary, but it rarely reforms. He called for 'the right mix of measures for sentences short of custody, programmes that are not 'soft' but rigorous in the demands on those convicted but which also try to educate and rehabilitate'.

Mr Blair's speech was greeted with loud applause. He later attacked the Government freeze on police manning levels. 'You can't commit yourself to have enough police to do the job and then say you'll have a freeze that is nothing to do with falling crime but just a decision taken by the Treasury,' he told a news conference.

A call for police officers to be forced to declare if they are Freemasons was rejected by the conference 492 votes to 391. It was the first time the federation had openly debated the issue.

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