From time to time, MPs are asked to sit on Bill Committees. Like a mini version of the main Commons chamber around 20 MPs scrutinise a bill, line by line. I have just started work on the Criminal Justice Bill Committee.
There’s a lot in it, but there are a couple of specific items that come up, from time to time, in emails from constituents.
The first is shoplifting, and aggressive shoplifting. The bill looks to increase police powers to deal with this. There’s no doubt about it, we have seen an increase across the country and recently, I visited a number of shops with local police officers to find out what is going on.
It’s a strangely complex arena. There are gangs who come into a certain area from outside and target it for a day. Other criminals regularly hitting the same town, feeding drug habits. And of course, there are those who are forced into shoplifting as a last resort, tackling a specific crisis.
There is talk of the police not dealing with crimes with a value less than £200. That is not true. The local police are keen to deal with all crimes and to a certain extent need support locally to be able to prosecute known offenders.
However, all too frequently, shoplifters are taken to court, where the shop owner is required to turn up as a witness – often taking the whole day – only for the offender to be given a suspended sentence. With the apparent lack of success in sentencing, some shop owners and managers (of the bigger chains) have given up reporting crimes.
It is incredibly important that to prosecute thieves, the police have as much data as they can get. Only that way can we lock up persistent offenders. The Criminal Justice Bill looks to help that process.
It also deals with the incredibly frustrating phenomena of low-level crime where a mobile phone gets snatched, the find-my-phone feature tells the victim and the police exactly where it is, only for the police to be unable to enter a premises to recover it because they do not have a search warrant. This Bill gives the police powers to be able to chase after known locations of criminals.
It'll take weeks to get through, but this Bill is designed to make our streets and lives safer. It's going to be a fascinating few weeks.
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