Thursday 5 May 2011

How About We Stop Setting Up Special Groups?

Yobs who abuse the disabled are getting away with it because their victims fear their complaints will not be dealt with.
And that's unlike like non-disabled people, I suppose, who believe that the police will deal with it?

Really? Where are they, then, I'd like to speak to them!
Police and council officials believe many victims of disability hate crime are refusing to report offences.

Now the city's Partnership Community Safety Team has launched a campaign to try to persuade victims the crimes will be taken seriously.
You know what would be a better way of doing that, than an expensive campaign? How about actually taking them seriously. Instead of a perfunctory effort and then giving up when it proves too hard to tackle...

And is there any actual proof of a rise in 'disability hate crime'?
A report by the partnership - a group of council, police and voluntary agency staff who work to tackle hate crime and antisocial behaviour - into the offences reveals an investigation was launched after a child was verbally abused because they were disabled.
Ah! Well, then there's...

Oh. Hang on:
The child, who was under seven, was tormented because of their disability during a neighbourhood dispute.
In other wortds, in a heated war between neighbours, someone said something about someone's kid that was rather unkind. And since this something related to a disability, it's now a 'disability hate crime'.

I guess it's lucky for their stats the kid wasn't short/fat/dim/ginger instead, eh?

13 comments:

English Viking said...

Julia,

O/T, so please forgive.

Just been to Gadget's blog for the first time, and read the comments on the Ian Tomlinson case.

What was immediately and sickeningly apparent was the general attitude amongst serving cops that everybody who is not a cop is a criminal and is therefore subject to any level of violence they see fit, and anybody who is a cop is automatically an expert in everything and should be exempted from all obligations to follow the law.

Astonishing. Apparently it's OK to kill people because they have heart/liver disease, or are over the drink-drive limit when not driving.

lovegoats said...

Blogs which give the views of the 'rank and file' perform an invaluable service.

Except where the rank and file are just dogs, like the police.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

You mean it's no longer acceptable to call a spacker a spacker?

I'm shocked I tell you,

ShinarsBasketCase said...

Back in the 80's I worked in Edinburgh. Every Friday night, the 'Billies' and the 'Dans' (Protestants and Catholics) would beat each other senseless after 'chucking out' time...well those pubs that weren't open all night anyways.

It was like Derry without the Armalites.

Yet it was always reported as 'a fight' or a 'punch up', if it was even reported at all..

But if say, the local pakistani Chip shop owner got into a row with a native customer then it was SHOCK! HORROR! RACE WAR!!

Tattyfalarr said...

"who work to tackle hate crime... and...antisocial behaviour "

No doubt with the psychotic zeal of an unmedicated kid with "real" ADHD for the former and with the apathetic torpor of a smacked-up heroin addict for the latter.

Senior said...

Special groups are generally talking shops which only satisfy campaigners and public sector agencies. Most people who are supposed to be served by these talking shops don't even know they exist.

If a thief walks up to a blind woman and steels her shopping, it'll be logged as a disability hate crime, even if the thief didn't target the blind person because of her disability, and the thief has stolen from people who can see. Therefore, statistics on disability hate crimes are misleading.

People would trust the police if they dealt with reported crimes properly. The Pilkington family in Leicestershire were terrorised for years because two family members were disabled. The police didn't help them, so they felt that their only way out was death. None of the police officers who let the Pilkingtons down were sacked, so No wonder people don't have confidence in the police.

Captain Haddock said...

According to a Police "contact" of mine the fad for "specialist" groups began with the setting up of Domestic Violence Units .. from whence all the other "special interest" groups have been born ..

As my contact points out, there never was & still isn't any need for Officers to be "abstracted" from ordinary duty to deal with these offences, as so-called "specialists" (usually only working 9-5 & rarely at weekends)..

An assault (committed by whoever upon whoever) is still an assualt & can therefore be dealt with by any sworn Police Officer ..

Additional specialist training for those involved in, for example Rape or Fraud investigations is a different matter ..

My contact believes the reason these "specialist" units continue to exist, to the detriment of street-level policing, is because they look good on the CV of someone busy having a career ..

Paul said...

Special groups are generally talking shops which only satisfy campaigners and public sector agencies. Most people who are supposed to be served by these talking shops don't even know they exist.

Yes - the National Autistic Society for instance. I'm on the autistic spectrum myself and nothing they've ever done has ever really affected me in a positive way.

Organisations like that don't really serve us; they serve the organisers.

Anonymous said...

Dear English Viking, I am an avid reader and sometimes poster on IG.If you read that thread correctly he makes it clear he is not supporting the PC at all,he is stimulating debate.
You also have to realise that some of the contributors may not be police officers at all,there's no way of knowing.Perhaps some Lefties are on there being contraversial to make us look bad.
For example I am a hard working,well motivated PC who loves my job.I also have large genetalia and I have to fight the women off with a stick.Some of the above is true,some is not.Who's to know from behind a keyboard???
Jaded.

Anonymous said...

I utterly get your point AP. The disabled get a lousy rub as we know. Bureaucratic approaches are often worse than useless - and the supposed 'business model' is even worse. We cab actually extend Haddock's analysis across the board - all these "squads" take away from what we need - an effective front line,

I was asked to sign up to agreement with the 'social model of disability' recently and asked why they subscribed to such a dud model, subject to more or less ridicule. They had no clue what I was on about.

Other attitudes need change, a long way from this nonsense. The truth is our cops and other agencies are hopeless at street level, and blame both victims and the 'evil poor' (who need exposing and firm action).
The same authorities who come out with this guff also deny it goes on in real cases and their performance 'reviews'. allcoppedout

banned said...

If the council sets up a Disability Hate Crime Unit staffed b Lizzie and Ros then clearly they will need to identify Hate Crime or might find themselves out of a job. Likewise the Police need to identify Hate Crime as such Crime is deemed to be endemic and if they don't they might be labelled Institutionally Haters themselves.

"Pronouncing gross diversion As the label for the dog "

JuliaM said...

"What was immediately and sickeningly apparent was the general attitude amongst serving cops that everybody who is not a cop is a criminal and is therefore subject to any level of violence they see fit, and anybody who is a cop is automatically an expert in everything and should be exempted from all obligations to follow the law."

Yes, but bear in mind Jaded's comments. Who knows how many are really serving officers? And how many are mobys?

There are officers on there and elsewhere who were clear that Harwood's actions were wrong. It's not all as black as it sometimes seems...

"Yet it was always reported as 'a fight' or a 'punch up', if it was even reported at all..

But if say, the local pakistani Chip shop owner got into a row with a native customer then it was SHOCK! HORROR! RACE WAR!!"


As Banned points out, it keeps those council staff in a job...

"My contact believes the reason these "specialist" units continue to exist, to the detriment of street-level policing, is because they look good on the CV of someone busy having a career .."

I suspect your contact is spot on!

"Organisations like that don't really serve us; they serve the organisers."

Like a lot of the big charities, in that respect.