Monday, January 31, 2011

This won't work either

Anther infringement on our civil liberties comes into force today in England and Wales, it's a measure to target gang members but will no doubt end up being used for something it was never meant to be used for.

BBC.
Powers to restrict the movements of people accused of gang membership have come into force in England and Wales.
Gang injunctions can be used to ban people from certain places or from walking aggressive dogs.
The powers are similar to anti-social behaviour orders and were conceived by the former Labour government after appeals from councils for help.
Ministers say the injunctions should not replace prosecutions of gang members involved in violent crime.
Police and local councils can seek gang injunctions in the county courts against adults who they believe are involved in gang-related violence and crime.
The Labour government devised the powers after Birmingham City Council tried unsuccessfully to use ordinary civil injunctions against suspected gang members in the city.
Like Asbos, each order is tailored to the individual and could include bans from particular neighbourhoods where police know rival gangs meet to fight.
Individuals could also be forced to take part in activities designed to protect them from gang culture, such as mentoring schemes, or could be banned from wearing certain colours used by gangs to signify membership.
A separate power covering injunctions for young people aged 14 to 17 is being piloted later in the year.
I suspect like ASBO's these will become a badge of honour to some that they are applied too, I also expect like ASBO's a majority of gang members will ignore them and go ahead and keep doing what they were doing anyway, it's a typical political fudge designed to show that they were doing something when in fact they weren't dealing with the problems at all, a slap on the wrist rather than a bullet to the head. The police already have the power to deal with this sort of thing anyway, they just don't have the time or resources anymore because of paperwork and the very necessary time consuming  task of revenue raising from motorists.
I do wonder how long it will be though before these gang injunctions are used to target protest groups by various councils in the UK, It would be easy enough to declare the leadership of protest groups gang members and prevent them from attending demo's without actually doing more than signing a piece of paper. Local authorities after all have a history of overstepping their authority just look at the abuses of RIPA where instead of targeting terrorists they used it to check bin levels and if parents were in the catchment areas for schools.
ASBO's were a waste of time, I suspect gang injunctions will be too, until they are used to target the wrong people or rather those the local authorities wish to silence...

8 annotations:

English Pensioner said...

I've no doubt that the new law will be used in due course to target something like a group of old age pensioners protesting at the loss of the local library rather than the gangs that haunt a certain part of our town by night. But the former is far easier, less risky and will no doubt help meet some target.

Quiet_Man said...

I fear you may be right, the only people this would affect would be those inclined to obey it.

Radio Free England said...

I see we were thinking along the same line with the protest group leaders.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

I suspect QM that you are correct in your idea that this new law will be misused - haven't they all, one way or another?

Was going to post on this but you took the words right off my keyboard!

Damn good post as usual!

James Higham said...

I do wonder how long it will be though before these gang injunctions are used to target protest groups by various councils in the UK

Without the shadow of a doubt.

Anonymous said...

used to target the wrong people or rather those the local authorities wish to silence...

Since many council employees wear uniforms perhaps it is time to refer to them, at every opportunity, as 'The Council Gang' and take action to keep this gang out of our territory. Out of our homes, our bins, and our lives. Get in first!

Captain Haddock said...

" .. used to ban people from certain places or from walking aggressive dogs".

You can bet your sweet life this won't apply to Pikeys ...

Anonymous said...

"....believe are involved with gang related crime......", what happens to innocent until proven guilty? Oh, I forgot.....we live under the Napoleanic Code now.

Well, I believe "Call me Dave" (Mr. Iron clad promise) is involved in gang related crime.

Can I use this to have him banned from Whitehall?