Law And Order

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" — Benjamin Franklin

Freedoms won for us by the blood of our ancestors have been seriously eroded over the decades, and this erosion is gaining speed and must be reversed. It is a core responsibility of the State to enable the citizens to go safely about their lawful business without let or hindrance.

Police

• Chief Constables to be locally elected, and given a large amount of autonomy. We expect this to:
  • Drastically simplify and reform Police/CPS targets, now the remit of the Chief Constable, and to remove the desire to prosecute innocent parties.
  • A reduction in paperwork to enable more beat officers to remain on patrol for as long as possible.
• We will undertake a review of the PCSO concept, with the potential to recruit those capable into the main police force, and to disband the remainder.
• More funding for more police, especially traffic police (see Transport re: Speed Cameras).
• Limit retention of DNA only in the event of a conviction, and to discard after that conviction is spent.
• We will reaffirm the 9 Peelian Principles. These are:
  • The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
  • The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon the public approval of police actions.
  • 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.
  • The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.
  • Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
  • 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.
  • 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 community welfare and existence.
  • Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions, and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
  • The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.

Legislation

• Establish a parliamentary Standing Committee to review all legislation enacted over the past 30+ years with the remit to propose repeal unless absolutely necessary. Such unnecessary legislation is expected to include ASBOs and on-the-spot fines.
• Property owners to be freed from the nuisance claims of assault by criminals.
• Disorder to be handled via the courts, not on-the-spot fines.
• Repeal inhibitions to "right to lawful assembly".
• Wiretap evidence to be permitted as evidence in court cases.
• Undertake a review to consider returning juries to all criminal trials.
• Immediate repeal of Control Orders.
• Implement a maximum period for detention without charge of 48 hours; arrests should be evidenced based, not fishing expeditions.
• Legalisation of all narcotic substances for adult consumption. The well respected Transform Drug Policy Foundation has a wealth of information explaining how this approach is the only one that will effectively address the problems that illegal drug use currently cause individuals and the wider nation.
• Decriminalisation of all activity related to adult prostitution.
• Roll back the right of government agents to enter property without a warrant.
• All new legislation to have a Sunset Clause by default.

Identity Cards

We will immediately scrap the compulsory National ID card scheme.

Prisons

• We will ensure that sufficient prison places are available to make capacity not a factor in detention, bail or sentencing decisions.
• Make prison harsher for uncooperative inmates as necessary while rewarding cooperation.
• End the practice of using regular prisons for the incarceration of the mentally ill.
• Life to mean life, and an end to early release of the violent or abuser.
• The legalisation of drugs and prostitution should reduce the numbers of women in prison significantly.
• No consideration for age or gender should influence sentencing.
• We will undertake a review to examine the options available for the provision of training and educational facilities within prisons, and also investigate the possibility of prisoners being able to perform paid work whilst incarcerated should they wish.

Firearms Legislation

The Libertarian Party stands by the right of peaceful citizens to defend themselves against violent attackers and burglars within the law, and will make it a priority to bring the laws on self defence back into line with common sense.

When seconds count, the police are just minutes away. The police are not your bodyguards. They can outline you in chalk, they can break the news to your family, they can maybe catch whoever did it after the fact, but they cannot protect you. It will take police anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes to reach you, if they even bother to come at all. An attacker can break in and search your entire house in under three minutes or travel 100m in under 15 seconds.

As one of our first steps to reduce the violent crime rate, a Libertarian Government will immediately move to repeal the ban on the ownership and carrying of non-lethal defensive weaponry by law-abiding people. Muggers, rapists and racist thugs make a habit of carrying knives and other lethal weapons in order to prey on the innocent. For too long the law has prevented their intended victims from protecting themselves using the non-lethal technology which is available to the citizens of most civilised countries.

This long-overdue reform is not a charter for vigilantes, but will have the effect of shifting the balance of power on the streets back towards peaceful citizens, where it belongs.

We will amend the Firearms Acts to repeal the pistol ban, which has both completely failed to reduce armed crime and crippled our country's ability to compete in the pistol shooting events in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, while depriving law-abiding householders of the ability to defend their homes with one of the most suitable weapons available. We will also remove the legal anomaly that requires antique-patterned muzzle-loading firearms to be licensed and registered as if they were modern weapons, when the originals can be bought over the counter. Since the technology is long obsolete, we will follow the path of most European countries by removing this bureaucratic requirement.

We will amend the 1988 Criminal Justice Act to prevent law-abiding people from being prosecuted for the simple act of having sharp or pointed objects in their possession. This Act has led to perverse court rulings resulting in innocent people being convicted for carrying the tools of their trade and other non-weapons, and it has done nothing to reduce violent crime.

Throughout our first term in office we will work to further reduce and eliminate bureaucratic and legal barriers to lawful self-defence and peaceful participation in the shooting sports.

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Promoted by Patrick Vessey on behalf of the Libertarian Party, both at 2 Redman Close, Gainsborough, DN21 1PF