Blair`s Speech
September 28, 2005 by Ken
Filed under The Best of the Rest
I did not hear this speech at the Labour party conference, and have only read bits of it, but those are enough to chill the bones of any democratically minded person. Mr Blair told the conference the criminal justice system was two centuries out of date. ”We are trying to fight 21st century crime – anti-social behaviour, binge drinking, organised crime – with 19th century methods, as if we still lived in the time of Dickens,” he said. ”The whole of our system starts from the proposition that its duty is to protect the innocent from being wrongly convicted. ”Don’t misunderstand me. That must be the duty of any criminal justice system. But surely our primary duty should be to allow law-abiding people to live in safety. It means a complete change of thinking.”
Promising to take on the wrong-doers, by extending the summary powers of police and local authorities Mr Blair sets in motion his idea of jackboot justice; the police will be given powers to by pass the courts and issue instant fines or remove driving licences just as a starter, thus we have the terrible twins Blair and Blair preparing the ground for the removal of our rights as citizens of this country, to be innocent until we are proven guilty in a court of law, the removal of any need for the police to actually prove a crime has been committed and the removal of one of the basic tenants in British law and the undermining of the British constitution. It was only a few days ago that The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said “modernisation” of the force should be carried forward by introducing “an escalator of powers” for the dispensing of instant justice. 
That is the point if we are not proven guilty then we are in fact innocent, how many mistakes have the police made in the past, unfortunately in some cases the police cannot rectify their mistakes ask “Jean Charles de Menezesâ€. It is a little bit late after the punishment has been summarily dispensed to apologise for the lack of evidence to uphold that punishment. It would also put those who have been instantly punished in the position of proving their innocent later in court, which is a compleate reversal of the police having to prove their case in a court of law.
This is just another step down the road of increasing the states powers against its citizens. Along with the right to silence, the removal of trial by juries, and the insistence that juries cannot ignore the law and find against the evidence. Be there no mistake Blair and his merry band of henchmen are all about making the state the first power in the land, by the removing the powers the people have to object to the laws of the state. We are on the road to a totalitarian form of government when the people have no choice and no rights against a state they no longer live in a democratic society.
If we look at some of those 19th century beliefs we can clearly see what Blair is about removing from our system.
Peelian Reform addresses the philosophy that Robert Peel provided to establish an ethical police force. In his principles, Peel states:
* Every police officer should be issued a badge number, to assure accountability for his actions.
* Whether the police are effective is not measured on the number of arrests, but on the lack of crime.
Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles:
Principle #1: The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
Principle #2: The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon the public approval of police actions.
Principle #3: Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observation of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
Principle #4: The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.
Principle #5: Police seek and preserve public favor not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
Principle #6: Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient.
Principle #7: Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of cummunity welfare and existence.”
Principle #8: Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions, and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
Principle #9: The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.
Good observation, your ideas are right on.