It’s Crime Week according to the government grid, so Rishi is talking tough on catching thugs and keeping them behind bars. Already the government have announced new laws to force convicts to show up to their sentencing hearings in-person, and now he’s calling on the police to focus on the “bread and butter” issues like theft, rather than woke distractions like taking the knee. He told GB News‘ Chopper:

“I think what officers and police everywhere should be focussing on is on tackling crime. That’s what the public expect and what I expect from the police. And I’ve been talking to police officers here today, that’s what they’re keen to deliver. And that’s why one of the things we’ve done recently is agree with the police that they will follow up all reasonable lines of enquiry when thefts happen.”

Several Guido reporters have had their laptops stolen, provided the police with exact GPS details of their device’s location, only to be told no further action would be taken. Talk is cheap…

Suella Braverman has warned the police must toughen up on disruptive eco protesters and abandon “political correctness” to focus on catching more criminals. In a blistering speech at the launch of the Public Safety Foundation in Westminster, the Home Secretary called for an end to woke gestures like dancing with protesters, allowing vandals to topple statues, and taking the knee, claiming they undermined police impartiality. Just focus on arresting crooks…

“When officers stood by as a statue was torn down, when the police were pictured handing tea to protesters blocking the road […] the reputation of policing is damaged in the eyes of the public. Some forces have equality teams that have completely abandoned impartiality in favour of taking partisan positions, sometimes even engaging in political argument on Twitter […] I believe in the police. But the policing in which I believe isn’t riven with political correctness but enshrined in good old-fashioned common sense.”

Earlier this week, footage emerged of a van driver attempting to move Just Stop Oil protesters off the road, all while the police stood idly watching the loons obstruct the King’s Highway… until eventually warning the driver not to “assault” the protesters. Meanwhile Sir Mark Rowley was in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday insisting to Lee Anderson there’s not much more the Metropolitan Police can do… 

Police Scotland have come under fire for fundraising and supporting the charity LGBT Youth Scotland (LGBTYS), while also dealing with complaints about and conducting an investigation into the charity over historical grooming claims. 

Members of the Scottish LGBTI Police Association have been “running, walking, cycling, skating & donating” to the LGBTYS charity’s Purple Friday appeal, as opposed to offering an update on their ongoing inquiries into the case of a charity worker suspended over abuse claims.

In December 2022, the charity referred itself to the police for investigation over historical grooming claims. A month later, an employee was suspended after Sam Cowie, now 28, publicly said he had been raped and sexually assaulted by strangers as a result of safeguarding issues at LGBTYS. Cowie was furious about Police Scotland’s continued endorsement: 

The level of rage I feel from seeing Police Scotland raising money for the charity that’s ruined so many lives has almost been too much. Humza supporting the charity should be a wake up call to all who support him. Shona Robison is another Judas that can’t be trusted.

— Sam Cowie (@wundt_vil) February 25, 2023

In 2009, the former chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, James Rennie, was convicted of being the ringleader of Scotland’s biggest paedophile network.

A selection of doting SNP MSPs have also endorsed the charity including leadership candidate Humza Yousaf, David Torrance, Colette Stevenson, Kaukab Stewart and Nicola Sturgeon posted a heartfelt video message. The police should be less focused on “running, walking, cycling, skating & donating” for LGBTYS and more focused on investigating them. 

During her resignation press conference Nicola Sturgeon twice dodged probing questions into whether a police investigation was the cause of her decision to step down. In recent days Police Scotland were finally given permission to formally interview a number of SNP and ex-SNP figures about the disappearance of £600,000 that had been donated by activists and ring-fenced as a Scottish Independence fund.

Despite the ring-fencing, when the SNP published their 2019 accounts it was noticed they had just £96,000 in the bank.

More intriguingly, it later emerged that Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, loaned the party over £100,000 in June 2021, a move that Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy described as “beyond odd for the SNP chief executive – and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband – to be lending his employer a six-figure sum of money”.

During today’s conference the First Minister repeatedly dodged questions about whether the police investigation had forced her to make the decision to quit, and said she would not comment on ongoing police investigations. Guido reckons the Lobby would have spent much more time scrutinising this were she a Tory First Minister…

This week, the police were probably the only ones doing more self-inflicted reputational damage than Gavin Williamson. Not only have they failed to stop M25 climate protests four days on the trot, and allowed eggs to be thrown at the king – the only people they have thrown into prison cells have been blameless journalists doing their job.

The media world were all horrified to hear the experience of LBC’s Charlotte Lynch, who ended up in a cell for five hours for reporting – at distance – the Just Stop Oil protests. Earlier in the week, a photographer and a filmmaker were also held in custody for about 13 hours.

In the end, they were all released without charge.

This morning, the Police & Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, David Lloyd, finally apologised to Lynch – but ruined the PR by victim-blaming journalists: they shouldn’t have been covering the protests in the first place.

“I do think that [LBC] too need to have a think about how we as a society, as a community, ensure that oxygen of publicity that Just Stop Oil is seeking is moderated, so that we don’t end up with people doing this and really they’re only doing it because they know it’s going to be reported.”

They’re not: they’re doing it because it ruins many thousands of peoples’ day. 

Blaming of the media by senior police representatives is at odds with the police’s desire to get coverage of their own responses to the protests. Four days ago, the Met invited The Sun along to a showcase arrest of Extinction Rebellion founder Roger Hallam.

So much for journalists giving the groups unnecessary oxygen…

A damning new report from Policy Exchange, written by former Metropolitan Police officer David Spencer, has torn into the British police force for having “lost [its] way” in recent years, and urged officers to stop “taking the knee and other acts that could be seen as ‘woke'” to regain public trust after years of declining support in the face of violent crime. This is especially true in London, where less than half the city believes the Met are up to scratch. Not much of a surprise when the Mayor is busy banning burger ads on the tube and constables are deradicalising homophobic horses…

Spencer doesn’t mince his words:

“If the past few years have shown us anything, it is that British policing has lost its way. An overhaul of police leadership is needed which is capable of delivering for the public. When institutions become closed shops they cease to be effective – this cannot happen with the institution that exists to protect the public from crime and disorder.”

He goes on to offer an 11-point manifesto for improvement, including abolishing the College of Policing, retraining staff to better handle eco loons and statue vandals, beefing up powers to dismiss criminal officers (not sure why this wasn’t already in place), and creating an app for residents to report crimes “in real time“. Spencer offers the manifesto as a blueprint for the next PM, whoever she may be. Good timing: today Truss has already announced a new target to cut crime by 20 per cent in London by 2024…