This is powerful:
A good example (of Restorative Justice) is the work that one London borough (Enfield) is doing with young people who are getting into trouble and are on the periphery of the gang culture. Sessions are held by the community (ex-gang members, parents or friends of people who’ve lost their lives, and older people living on estates). These sessions are held in the austere surrounding of a Crown Court, out of hours, where the community members talks about the impact that gangs have had on their lives.
These tough youngsters are asked to explain why they behave like they do; you can hear a pin drop. Most of these young people are not bad or evil; they’ve walked down the wrong path, made poor choices, and are quietly grateful for being given a helping hand to recover their lives. And believe me when I say that there is nothing more impactive than a Grandmother explaining the horror of losing her grandson to a knife, and the daily pain she is living through, and then opening the door of her house to these kids and committing to be there for them, no matter what the time of day or night. These are the quiet leaders in our communities.
from an interview between Matt Bird of the Cinnamon Network, and Commander Tony Eastaugh of the Met.
Showing posts with label police. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
PCC Elections
No, not that sort of PCC, though there are probably more people who vote in annual elections for C o fE Parochial Church Councils than are forecast to vote tomorrow.
Here are the candidates for Avon and Somerset, for the post of Police and Crime Commissioner. Here's the official national website, and the local bit for our area. Sorry about that, but I've now taken away any case you had about not being sufficiently informed.
This may be the most bodged election since the Libdems AV campaign - date, publicity, concept etc. But it's still an election, and it will have an effect on policing. The more we engage with the process, the more we'll get the kind of policing response we want. I'm planning to vote, and will be voting Independent. It's a nonsense otherwise: this is an attempt to put policing more into the hands of local communities, and I don't see how that can be done if the PCCs are there to represent a political party. It immediately gives them someone else to answer to - they are only candidates in the first place because of party approval.
There were lots of complaints on the radio today about lack of information, from people who, with a bit of effort and poking around on the web could have found out all they needed to know. Whose responsibility is it, the states to inform us, or us as electors to become informed? It's a very odd and depressing form of dependency.
Or maybe we are getting tired/bored with democracy. I guess we've had it too long and it's far more exciting to vote for some leggy blonde on X Factor whose name we won't even remember in 3 months time, just to see Louis Walsh get all wound up again. But we can't admit to being tired or bored, so we'll blame the state for making it hard for us. Or we dress up being too apathetic to vote as a 'protest vote'
If you want somewhere where the state makes it hard for people to vote, try North Korea, Iran, or most of the former Soviet states.
Here's the polling stations in South Somerset for tomorrow. See you there?
Here are the candidates for Avon and Somerset, for the post of Police and Crime Commissioner. Here's the official national website, and the local bit for our area. Sorry about that, but I've now taken away any case you had about not being sufficiently informed.
This may be the most bodged election since the Libdems AV campaign - date, publicity, concept etc. But it's still an election, and it will have an effect on policing. The more we engage with the process, the more we'll get the kind of policing response we want. I'm planning to vote, and will be voting Independent. It's a nonsense otherwise: this is an attempt to put policing more into the hands of local communities, and I don't see how that can be done if the PCCs are there to represent a political party. It immediately gives them someone else to answer to - they are only candidates in the first place because of party approval.
There were lots of complaints on the radio today about lack of information, from people who, with a bit of effort and poking around on the web could have found out all they needed to know. Whose responsibility is it, the states to inform us, or us as electors to become informed? It's a very odd and depressing form of dependency.
Or maybe we are getting tired/bored with democracy. I guess we've had it too long and it's far more exciting to vote for some leggy blonde on X Factor whose name we won't even remember in 3 months time, just to see Louis Walsh get all wound up again. But we can't admit to being tired or bored, so we'll blame the state for making it hard for us. Or we dress up being too apathetic to vote as a 'protest vote'
If you want somewhere where the state makes it hard for people to vote, try North Korea, Iran, or most of the former Soviet states.
Here's the polling stations in South Somerset for tomorrow. See you there?
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Custody Chaplains
A town centre chaplaincy in Weston Super Mare has been invited into a new venture by the local police:
The latest step has come at the request of the Police for us to provide a team of ChAt (Chaplaincy About Town) Custody Chaplains to visit any detainee at Weston-super-Mare Police Station. After months of planning and training the team, which includes both ChAt Chaplains and Street Pastors, the project was finally operational on 16 April 2012. We went to Weston Police Station for the launch at 8.00am. Before 8.30am the first detainee asked for support and I was in a cell! Less than an hour later, the detainee, who had been held for most of the night, was focussed and calm, had a plan to seek professional help on returning home, and was in a much better state of mind for the police interview.
We have these encounters at a crucial point in the life of an offender, a time of regret, remorse, shame, and a time of longing to make life-changing decisions. Through good listening and signposting the person is empowered, lives can be transformed and new beginnings made.
We come to every listening session with faith that three people are present – the speaker, the listener and God; it is His presence and peace in the session which makes these encounters different from those with other professional aid agencies.
With the Custody Chaplains as a pilot scheme in Weston-super-Mare, the Police hope it may be possible for the service to be offered in other custody suites in the Avon and Somerset area in due course.
Read the rest of it here, as told by Lead Chaplain Gill Putnam. Weston was the first place in Somerset to pilot Street Pastors, and it's good to see them pioneering this.
The latest step has come at the request of the Police for us to provide a team of ChAt (Chaplaincy About Town) Custody Chaplains to visit any detainee at Weston-super-Mare Police Station. After months of planning and training the team, which includes both ChAt Chaplains and Street Pastors, the project was finally operational on 16 April 2012. We went to Weston Police Station for the launch at 8.00am. Before 8.30am the first detainee asked for support and I was in a cell! Less than an hour later, the detainee, who had been held for most of the night, was focussed and calm, had a plan to seek professional help on returning home, and was in a much better state of mind for the police interview.
We have these encounters at a crucial point in the life of an offender, a time of regret, remorse, shame, and a time of longing to make life-changing decisions. Through good listening and signposting the person is empowered, lives can be transformed and new beginnings made.
We come to every listening session with faith that three people are present – the speaker, the listener and God; it is His presence and peace in the session which makes these encounters different from those with other professional aid agencies.
With the Custody Chaplains as a pilot scheme in Weston-super-Mare, the Police hope it may be possible for the service to be offered in other custody suites in the Avon and Somerset area in due course.
Read the rest of it here, as told by Lead Chaplain Gill Putnam. Weston was the first place in Somerset to pilot Street Pastors, and it's good to see them pioneering this.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Street Pastors, Crime and Community
We hosted a Street Pastors commissioning at the weekend, 6 new SP's for Yeovil, and more prayer pastors too. We had reps from the local police and council there, reinforcing the partnership model that Street Pastors works with. There's now over 300 Street Pastor projects around the country, with over 9000 volunteers in action.
A couple of things struck me on the night:
1. A local police inspector told us that crime in the town centre had fallen 27% since the Street Pastors had started work. That's brilliant. It's partly through the Street Pastors heading off incidents (picking up glass which could be used as weapons, keeping lairy gangs away from each other), and partly through SP's dealing with low-level stuff, thus freeing up the police to do their job more effectively.
2. The deputy mayor gave the main address, which included this conclusion:
For the New Pastors…
The role is not about preaching heaven and hell, but one of listening - caring and helping - working in an unconditional and practical way, engaging with all people no matter Who or What they are.
For the Church…
God is challenging the Church to be a powerful catalyst for social action and Street Pastors are helping the Church to do just that. It is a must for church leaders and believers to reach their communities with a message of love and hope.
I'm mulling on that last bit, how to mobilise the whole church to be agents of change and hope in our communities. We had a few examples of that to show to our 2 local bishops, who visited last week, but there's still a sense that we're just scratching the surface.
A couple of things struck me on the night:
1. A local police inspector told us that crime in the town centre had fallen 27% since the Street Pastors had started work. That's brilliant. It's partly through the Street Pastors heading off incidents (picking up glass which could be used as weapons, keeping lairy gangs away from each other), and partly through SP's dealing with low-level stuff, thus freeing up the police to do their job more effectively.
2. The deputy mayor gave the main address, which included this conclusion:
For the New Pastors…
The role is not about preaching heaven and hell, but one of listening - caring and helping - working in an unconditional and practical way, engaging with all people no matter Who or What they are.
For the Church…
God is challenging the Church to be a powerful catalyst for social action and Street Pastors are helping the Church to do just that. It is a must for church leaders and believers to reach their communities with a message of love and hope.
I'm mulling on that last bit, how to mobilise the whole church to be agents of change and hope in our communities. We had a few examples of that to show to our 2 local bishops, who visited last week, but there's still a sense that we're just scratching the surface.
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