- DENNIS CLARKE -
Your candidate for
Police and Crime Commissioner
for South Wales
TALKING POINTS
Something about me and the important issues to resolve as Police and Crime Commissioner
First of all let me say that I am creating my own videos so please excuse the rough parts. I do not like to see money wasted. I will not start now.
As a legal aid lawyer I have helped many people. I have a reputation for fighting, but in a professional way. I am also known for persevering for clients, hence my history of going as far as the European Court of Human Rights.
During my career I was a regular attendee at Justice meetings for Crime and Family Law with occasional interest in the Civil process. This taught me a great deal about the systems.
Sometimes I relied on changing the law to get justice. That is why I have a reputation for not giving up .
Growing up on a Council estate gives you the tools to be a street fighter. Working as a legal aid lawyer taking on authorities and government departments gives you the additional tools to win. You become well rounded, you become the person that others would prefer not to take on because you know some issues cannot be swept under the carpet, you know the real meaning of Justice, you do not pretend to resolve something for now in a way that does not work for others.
While working as a litigator dealing with mainly ciminal and domestic abuse work I was involved in the administration of the justice system for the County. I was the voice for the people. The Lord Chancellor made me Chair of a newly formed Courts Board covering 3 Counties. I had good access to the important people in the police, courts, judiciary, prisons. I learned that committees composed of these groups did not encourage innovation as they were concerned about their way of working. They liked committees, sub-committees, sub-sub-committees and so on. It made decisions difficult, slow, opaque, and usually unhelpful. I was the voice that argued for sense and good solutions.
Here is a novel point. A Police and Crime Commissioner who is nominated by a Political Party but who is required to be independent of political restraints.
Plaid Cymru is THE party that wants to see the role of your PCC as non-political. The idea is to look for the best person to take on the role rather than the person the party wants to fill the post for political purposes.
So far as I can tell the issue of Black Box Justice is not yet fully addressed.
The Prison Service (NOMS) has been using a programme since about 2000 known as Offender Assessment System. (note: I wrongly referred to as 'Analysis' system but that possibly paid it a compliment it has not earned). The programme apparently advises the Prison about the risk an offender poses but it also seems to be used by NOMS Probation officers to advise the courts what risk a person poses if released on bail pending trial. If so the name should disqualify it from the role as it seems to assume the person is already an offender. People are being reduced to a set of numbers for a computer to come up with a decision nobody really understands.
It is amazing what you find when you go reading where others may not bother. The legislation (Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011) may not be everybody's bedtime reading but what pops up if you study it? Yet another very good reason why the post should not be a political post. It looks like it is set up to make auditing where the money goes that much more difficult because....
If something is wrong, it cannot be right. That is what the Blockheads told us back in the day. Looking at my comment on the use of a Deputy in the previous video leads me on to considering what the alternative might be. Turns out the alternative makes a lot of sense but how often do we see appointments made from the same Party where ability is not necessarily a priority according to the Act?