When I was a copper in Bradford in the seventies, eighties and nineties we had a name for the low life that we would deal with each and every shift. That name given to them out of disrespect and disdain was “Ganiff”. Another well known name given to these people was “Scroates”.
These were the people that would commit low level crime repeatedly but in doing so they would seriously disrupt and/or ruin for some time, the lives of their victims. One of the worst crimes I dealt with were the sneak-in thieves that would target vulnerable old people in their homes, claim to be from the water company or gas board, trick their way into the houses and get the residents to go upstairs to turn on the taps and things like that whilst they stole jewellery, purses and valuables.
Burglary was always rife and Bradford, like most big cities, had its dedicated burglary squad which tended to be very successful. They got to know all the known burglars and their modus operandi. The arrest and conviction rates were very good. Some, though, slipped though their fingers.
I remember one bad one where a young lady had bought her first home, she was in her early twenties and was a trainee at an insurance company. She lived in a lovely cottage on the outskirts of Bradford. While she was at work, two Ganiffs broke in; not content with stealing her valuables, they wrecked her cottage. They wrote in nail varnish and ketchup horrible words all over her walls and then emptied her underwear onto her bed and defecated all over it. She was of course devastated and never spent another night in her dream cottage, she sold it and moved in with her grannie.
Shoplifting is a horrible crime, in that if the stuff stolen in those days did not add up to more than £15, we did not take any action other than a caution. Many local small shops were hit hard, particularly at lunchtime by gangs of schoolkids, and the shopkeepers on very tight margins just could not take these repeated hits.
Larger chain stores had stolen goods built into their anticipated losses but still had full time teams of store detectives. I joined the Bradford shoplifting squad and it was real starsky and hutch stuff, chases and tailing, groups visiting from Liverpool and Manchester to simply shoplift.
Other prolific crimes were TWOC, also known as taking without the owner`s consent. As many as 150 cars a day could go missing from the larger cities. These crimes are invasive, pernicious and just plain horrible, mostly committed by career criminals who were not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
Rory Stewart MP, the minister for prisons, made a bold, headline-grabbing statement on his appointment last year. He stated that if he could not get the levels of violence and drug taking in prisons reduced severely within a year he would resign. My ears pricked up at this as many others did. It was a very ambitious claim to make, given the situation within Her Majesty’s Prisons throughout the country. Violence and drug taking are just rife, open and unmanaged.
The loss of some 7,000 prison officers under austerity speaks for itself. Prison and custodial sentences mean nothing to these people. They are most certainly not a deterrent. They are to many, upon release into a civvy street with no jobs, no where to live and squalor a bolt hole, so they commit crime with the guarantee of a custodial sentence to relieve their devastation.
Almost a year on, and it would seem progress on the promises of Mr Stewart is slow and will fall short of his declared goal. Therefore, he has given notice that he intends to cancel any prison sentences which would be for six months or less. One would imagine therefore that up to 30,000 short term prisoners will be released onto the streets. He has attempted to smooth this idea and reassure the public by talking about community sentencing being the better option.
Community sentences, which are a combination of restorative and retributive measures, are said by the great and the good to be a much better alternative than a custodial sentence. There is evidence aplenty to support both the success and failure of these sentencing regimes.
Apology to the victim is popular in America, here not so much. Unpaid work, curfew and house arrest are used a great deal, as is electronic tagging. The problem with all these methods of punishment is the lack of resources to manage and administer the programmes. Just like the prison service, the probation and community programme service have been devastated by austerity measures. 30,000 career criminals suddenly hitting the streets, even on a stepped basis is a scary thought.
The potential threat of prison is of course lost with this pathway. It is not a stretch to make the claim therefore that minor criminal activity has in fact got the green light here. Criminals can and they most certainly will commit crime with aplomb knowing that they will not get “sent down”. They will be given a job litter-picking, knowing that if they don’t turn up, nothing will be done.
No, Mr Stewart forgive me for being a little bit cynical here but your ministerial car, trapping of office and of course the uplift in your salary for being a minister, it would appear, have overridden the basic premise of any government to keep its citizens safe.
I truly hope no Gannif breaks into your house, empties your knickers onto your bed and defecates on them.
It really weird sentences that is also a problem.
Like this guy – why not say, pay £25k and be done with it . No we spend £40k of tax payers money to keep a young America in jail.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6602249/American-student-21-bit-spat-drunkenly-attacked-BA-crew-jailed-six-months.html
Just to underline this problem as outlined in this article, just take a look at this:
“Robbery victim, 88, suffers broken nose and bruising after handbag snatched in broad daylight ”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/16/robbery-victim-88-suffers-broken-nose-bruising-handbag-snatched/
No description of the assailant I see. Makes one wonder…not.
Disappointed no-one’s shouted “bring back the birch!”
Actually the reputation of the birch as administered in c20th was more fearsome than its, er, insistent caress.
What would be effective – also requiring modification to international treaty – is corporal punishment in the form of the cat. iirc this was abolished only around 1948 and indeed a film of that vintage was screened on UK TV only a few months ago featuring the scars of some recidivist lately discharged from jail. It might be effective in curbing the cowardly degenerates engaged in the drug trade in particular – an innovation cherished by former detective-inspector Fitch according to his autobiography Traitors Within, written in the 1930s.
One point of clarification – I do not in general support corporal punishment of minors. Too many perverts and abusers around for that. But sentences of judicial flogging for crimes of violence imposed by a court on juveniles and above – no problem.
PS: your Akismet filters suck, their algorithms should be audited because they block everything to the right of Bolshevist.
It makes my blood boil reading this article, it reminds me of events that it’s better for me not to think of. When my grandfather died and my grandmother was left alone, I’d say about twenty five years ago, she was repeatedly burgled. my grandmother was one of the most gentle, kindest, hard working, salt of the earth types you could ever meet.
My father went to visit her one day and took her to the shops for about twenty minutes, by the time they returned, the front door was smashed in and her new (she had to keep replacing them) television and other stuff was gone. This went on for years and the police did nothing.
Talking to a policeman I knew, I told him I’d been thinking of hiding in my grandmother’s house while she went shopping and waiting for these people. I was told that if I hurt them I would be in a lot of trouble, the police seem to leave these offenders to do what they will and my grandmother to suffer, but me they couldn’t wait to jump on. Something is seriously wrong somewhere!
I live in a remote place these days and I think this is a good thing, I’m so consumed with hate for people like this that if I’m ever confronted by them again, let’s just say, I’ll give the police something to really moan about, even though they’ll probably lock me up and throw away the key.
I know a very high ranking judge and he always used to say to me that custodial sentences just don’t work, perhaps we should just exterminate these people, they will always be nothing more than a drain on society at best.
One of the good things about UKIP in the glory days of 2013~16 was that we were able to field candidates who had real life experience of how things really are at the hard end of life ~people on average and below incomes, people like police officers and so on.
As a former Clerk to the Justices in County Durham ( and before that promotion as a Deputy Chief Clerk in inner London Mags’ Courts ) all my work experience would echo that of Stephen in this article.
The people sent to rule us simply don’t ‘get’ how it really is ‘ life on the streets’. And they are not interested when you tell them ( if you ever get close enough to do so ).
Stephen will probably recall the grotesque Criminal Justice Act of 1991 ~the one ( inspired by the same sort of socialworkeristic twaddle that inspires Rory Stewart’s current nonsense ) which instructed Magistrates and Judges not to take into account previous convictions when sentencing.
SO this literally meant that if you had someone up before the Bench for his 100th offence of theft / ABH / TWOC / whatever ( oh ~and btw, the powers that be never believe you when you say this ~that people can acquire offence numbers into three figures and still go nowhere near a prison ~) the Bench HAD to sentence as if he was a first timer ! Really ! It was that bizarre and grotesque ~yet guess what ? When this Act was going through the Commons ( Cons Govt remember ) not a single Tory MP protested at how mad it was. Not one. From memory I think there was one Lord who raised a question about it. Labour opposed it but only on the grounds that it ‘did not go far enough in the effort to empty the prisons’ …….
Eventually after about 18 months of this ludicrous situation things got so bad that a new Home Secretary reversed it, and both parties started to get tougher ( for a while ) on crime and punishment issues.
SO———-I despair basically. UKIP was and is needed for so much more than Brexit.
https://independencedaily.co.uk/proposed-policies-ukips-leadership-membership-consider-part-one/
https://independencedaily.co.uk/proposed-policies-ukips-leadership-membership-consider-part-two/
Rhys Burriss
Ah Rory Stewart, son of a former 2iC of MI6, Bilderberg attendee, Remain campaigner, has a lovely smile reminiscent of of a crocodile
This seems like an appropriate place to share this: yesterday on Facebook, West Midlands Police shared a photo of a suspect they want to speak to regarding a domestic assault that took place last month. The suspect, Gladstone Francis from Stirchley, has himself been commenting and replying to other peoples’ comments on the same post!
For those on Facebook, have a look, it makes for some entertaining reading!
https://www.facebook.com/westmidlandspolice/photos/a.10160952332570099/10161205128065099/?type=3&permPage=1
But on a serious note, it just shows how blatant some criminals (or those of a criminal bent) are, and in this case are simply ‘taking the piss’ out of the police.
Good article Stephen. Gives solidity to your contribution A really interesting opener for changes. Have you perhaps thought of them, thought them through, and how to link up with others with ideas, experience and in depth knowledge ? and input.and how to regularise to get suport and what areas connected etc.and who.
We must have other people to vote for!! Without alternatives this will just carry on. Society is being broken down and has been for some time. The only reason it has lasted so long is because there was once such a good society, imho.
It must be very difficult for ex-police to see what is happeming and also for those conscientous employees still in service.
Social responsibility is also affected and this is the I believe the target. It wil be all the plebs that will suffer like the terrible example you gave
We must devise strategies to deal with this.
Maybe if Rory Stewart MP started out his project by harsly dealing with white collar crime first he may then possess the moral authority to deal with that lower down the ladder.
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from the goose.
The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who takes things that are yours and mine.
I was chatting to the security guard at my local Morrisons just the other day. He told me that they intercepted, on average, about 60 attempts to shoplift each day and that they always called the police.
He said that it was ‘the same people’ nearly all the time and that as he understood it, Kent Police would only go for a prosecution once the thief had been nabbed 150 times.
You read that right. 150 times.
Maybe there is a case for Sharia Law….
No but there is a case for applying our own laws properly. Sharia covers much more than theft and you may find you are subject to severe punishment just for being you and what you believe. Unless you are willing to submit?
I was not being serious of course, I would though ( I’m serious ) , on the third offence, send habitual criminals to a penal camp in the Outer Hebrides to break rocks into Oxo cube sized lumps on a basic Nutraloaf (look it up ) US prison- style diet.
If they can’t fill a half cubic meter box a day, no food.
So if the prisons are so crowded why was Tommy Robinson banged up, why is Melanie Shaw still languishing in jail and why does a silly puerile ‘joke’ like wrapping streaky bacon round a mosque doorhandle get you locked away instead of a ticking off?
More than locked up Helena, it results in unexplained death see https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bacon-mosque-attacker-kevin-crehan-1602270 Perhaps self-administered perhaps not either way a prime example the failed state of our prison system
Remember the instruction not to use the term ‘yobs’ when talking and particularly on the radio network because it was discriminatory ! Mind this was not helped by the quality of many J.P’s which fell over the years and whom are apparently no longer allowed to use the post nominal J.P anymore, Then there is the questionable ability and motives of various ‘Home Secretaries’ not to mention the Common Purpose activities of the civil service and Chief Constables. It’s a very odd society these days presumably the voting public like it as they keep voting for more of the same.
How about Crime and punishment and Brexit……. and our spokesperson what does he?she say.
I have never heard of a UKIP spokesperson talk about anything except brexit and they seem remarkable useless at that. The only exceptions were at the conference, or Mike Hookem on fish.. So what was the point of the manifesto. Everything in the manifesto can be linked to Brexit in almost every case. We’re pathetic. Brexit and the NHS…. Brext and the effects of deregulation on tax and income per head…… Etc etc . Bloody useless. .Mike Hookem as well as Tommy Robinson are heroes, And Gerard for money and TR;. It will not be long now before TR will be vindicated. I doubt it’ll be long now before our NEC is changed and the rule book and constitution will be de-prissyfied. And the Way we are organised changed.. As a political party, but especially as a protest party we should be on fire..
All discussed, argued considered ready.. Are we ready ?
If not, we disappear into history
What people vote about is nothing to do with what they like but what is the least bad option out of the two parties that are under FPTP allowed into power.
Hear hear. Agree with everything you have said. I too was a copper in London for 36 years and dealt with tons of Burglary Artifice, as it was then called. I was on a busy town centre policing team and arrested 300 plus every year and and stop searched 120 people per month on average. We dealt with beggars, illegal traders, drunks and all the other minor bread and butter stuff. Our belief then was deal with minor crime and that in turn would take car of the big staff. How things have changed. I would not be very welcome in the police now as I would be considered a dinosaur.
As a teacher, Colin, I very much agree with you, and also followed a ‘broken windows’ policy in the classroom. This is why I can say honestly ‘No-one ever did” in 30 years when people ask me how I dealt with pupils telling me to “F… off” or similar.
I remember our teachers for the most part being respected. I recall nicknames like “Killer Kerrigan” and “Thumper Tom”. I also believe that had we known them in our adult lives we would have found them to be among the nicest guys on the planet.