On-the-spot fines blamed for keeping crimes out of court

To view the original articles Click Here

Title – On-the-spot fines blamed for keeping crimes out of court
Source – The Times
Date 5th May 2009

It seems that the system for prosecuting offenders is in a bit of a mess; more importantly has lost the confidence of much of the public and by the same token businesses and the employees who work within them.

On many of the courses we run, be they in the

Licensed Retail Sector or for companies that have to deal with aggressive or even violent customers or members of the public for whom we run Conflict Management courses, we hear the same comments; people are sceptical not only on the speed of response they will get if they call the police, but more importantly what the police can actually do.

Now I should say I am a great supporter of the police, I think the vast majority are in it for the right reasons and are dedicated professionals. Undoubtedly they are inward looking and somewhat isolated, but that is the fault of others rather then themselves. No matter what they do they seem to come under fire. When they take a strong approach they are accused of being overzealous and when they take a more reserved approach they are accused of being ineffective. Much like the goalkeeper in football, when they let in an easy goal they are chastised; however for the hundreds of saves they make a season, few ever receive the praise they deserve.

Add to this the pressure they feel being hamstrung by legislation that seems to favour the criminal, be unenforceable or ineffective and it becomes not only a job for the brave and dedicated but one for the exceptionally patient as well.

The problem with all of this is it lets too many people down. Because of the lack of confidence people have in the system they also lack confidence or the will to challenge it and rather choose to turn a blind eye which exasperates the whole situation.

The law is not a complete ass and having an understanding of the law gives you more confidence to make it work, be that as a Personal Licence Holder or as an individual facing issues of Workplace Violence. There will be many situations where punishments simply don’t fit the crime; I have yet to meet someone who has been assaulted who felt that the punishment (if any) handed out to the perpetrator came even close to being proportionate. Those who are assaulted in the course of their duties, tend to feel even more frustrated; they feel not only are the punishments not there to deter offenders or punish them, but that if they themselves take any action they are likely to be the one prosecuted.

This is simply not true; well at least it is not true if you understand the law, have professional and well trained staff and take a proactive approach to preventing such instances happening in the first place.

At Beyond The Blue our whole ethos is to prevent such occurrences happening ‘out of the blue’ and helping our clients see ‘Beyond The Blue’. During many of our courses we look at the law and at ways to make it work; not to make it work in your favour, but simply to ‘make it work’; contrary to what many might believe the law does work, unfortunately many ‘criminals’ ‘understand’ the law better than those they commit crimes against. This leads to what can feel like a criminal justice system which leans towards the criminal.

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the licensed retail sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.