Fiona Pilkington parked her car up then doused herself and her daughter in petrol. Fiona Pilkington had reached the depths of despair. In her mind the only way out was suicide. Her tormentors still live on Bardon Rd Barwell Leicestershire. Feel free to search the internet and get the address to take the matter up personally with the family who spawned such viciousness. You’ll find the father Mr Simmons making regular trips to the local Off Licence to feed his alcoholism, which numbs him to the point he is unable and unwilling to deal with his emotionally damaged offspring. On the other side of the equation was the failure on the part of the local authorities to intervene. As a result of the silo mindset Leicestershire Police and the Local Government bodies to this day continue to tolerate anti social behaviour. Zero tolerance costs too much. There ways of working both reinforces and encourages the silo mentality. Managers, officers, councillors and council staff alike who encourage the silo mentality cannot be held to account. There are no real consequences for following a set of rules that inadvertently leads to tragedy. The article outlines the current features of the community safety operating model within Leicestershire, which clearly proves the authorities are tolerating anti social behaviour.(i) The Community Safety Industry
Local government in Leicestershire consists of the city council, the unitary county council and several district councils. Parish council’s do not have any capacity or capability to deal with anti social behaviour. In fact there are Parish Council’s in Leicestershire who turn a blind eye because they don’t want to create a negative perception of their rural area’s to keep the house prices high. Each council has a Community Safety team and there are minions who collect information for mapping on Geographical Information Systems. The process is called Thematic Mapping. However, data on anti –social behaviour comes from a variety of sources and there are gatekeepers controlling its release - the Information Management Industry
(ii) The Information Management Industry
These guys run around making sure it is legal and proper for the Local Council to share their information with every other public sector body. It is not in their interest to encourage information sharing because that would put 50% of them out of job. Before information can be shared all parties must agree a data sharing protocol. This process of negotiation takes months and months. However, they don’t have the resource so its payday for the management consultants. If you don’t believe me send in a Freedom of Information request to ask for the amount of money spent on advisory services around the domain of information management. Unfortunately, you will probably be asked to pay 600 quid by the Information Management lot.
(iii) The Telephone numbers
There are three numbers 999, 101 and 0116 222222 to report anti social behaviour. The scope of 101 is for the City only. So if you phone it and tell them you are from the district you’ll be told to go elsewhere. Its called ‘sign posting’. The 0116 2222222 is a beaut. Sometimes you’ll get no answer. Then there is the night-watchman. He is an old fellow who in the past had a tendency to forget to pass on the details from the call to the duty sergeant. The call recording system for the 0116 2222222 number is not the same as the highly sophisticated computer system used by 999 staff.
(iv) FCUK ASBO
Underage drinkers cannot afford a night on the town and the door staff can spot them. Underage drinkers love Friday & Saturday night in the rural areas because they know the police cannot resource an effective response. They know the police are tied down dealing with the consequences of the night time economy. If there is a gang of youths wrecking your car at the same time as chucking out time in the town centres the coppers are unlikely to respond. So you either sit and watch it through the curtains or go out on your own and risk being murdered like Gary Newlove. There is the baseball ball option i.e. call a load of mates to deal with the scumbags. When you ask most beat bobbles they tell you they’d quite happy for a vigilante mob to take the law into their own hands. The police know there is no deterrent.
(v) Grot Spots & My Illegal Tree
If you map anti –social behaviour incidents in a 10 mile radius you’ll find clusters of hotspots. If you then walk or take the bus to each hotspot you’ll travel through a transport corridor with a plethora of grot along the way. Grot is a term to describe:
§ Tagging;
§ Fly tipping;
§ Dog fouling;
§ Rubbish.
Ask the council to clean it and 9 times out 10 it is not their problem to either sort it out or make sure the landlords deal with it. A significant volume of calls to contact centres is about cleaning grot. The staff spend more time being trained in explaining why a council cannot do something instead of sorting it out. Grot spots encourage anti social behaviour and send a message that nobody is bothered. Local Government in Leicesterhire tolerates grot spots. I dare anyone to have a tree in the garden next to a bus stop. As soon as one leaf obscures the bus stop sign Leicestershire Highways department will send you letter telling you to cut your out of control tree or get fined. Tell the same department about grot spots and they are armed with several reasons why its not their problem. Again, try it out in your area by organising an EVA – Environmental Audit. A load of people from various organisations turn. Police, dog warden, highways etc. You point things out, show the relationship with anti social behaviour and I can guarantee the Highways lot are the most unresponsive. It is because they operate on a semi-commercial basis. So cleaning graffiti off the street furniture is a cost they cant recover. Oh I nearly forget if you want some graffiti cleaning quickly you need to write some homophobic or racist graffiti next to it.
(vi) Dispersal Orders
The council can approve a dispersal order to prevent youths gathering in known hotspots. The police don’t like dispersal orders because that means they’ve got to enforce them. The case against dispersal orders is normally taken by the touchee feelee human rights legal brigade who live in nice areas that don’t have anti-social behaviour.
(vii) Stings without a Sting
If you are caught selling alcohol to minors as part of a sting operation you will probably have to get caught several times before your licence is revoked.
(viii) Irresponsible Dog Owners
Try this test. Phone the 0116 2222222 number and say you’ve seen some yob with dangerous dog off a lead. Its presence alone intimidates children on the street. The copper on the end of line will give you a speech along the lines the dog owner has done nothing wrong. The police put the rights of an intimidating dog clearly being used as a status symbol by a yob above and beyond the rights of children to play in the street.
(ix) Blue Bags
A minor can carry booze and as long as it is in a bag they can walk past a community police or regular police offer knowing full well the copper won’t do anything. Unless the officer sees the youth drink it they cannot confiscate it. It is the reason why you see loads of blue plastic bags all over the place. Cheapo Off Licences use the cheapo blue bags.
(x) Soft Drinks that Are Hard Drinks
Our youthful drinkers love hard spirits mixed with soft drinks. The police know they’ve mixed it but for reasons no police officer has ever explained to me they don’t confiscate it. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
(xi) Potty
When a gang of youths are stoned the probability of trouble reduces. When they are drunk the risk goes up. Peer pressure kicks in as inhibitions are reduced. If you mention to a policeman that you are OK with soft drug taking going on in your neighbourhood to anesthetise yobs the copper may warn you about your attitude to soft drugs.
(xii) The Void of Irresponsible Social Landlords(ISLs)
ISLs take forever to deal with tenants causing anti social behaviour. Why - because of voids. Voids are charges landlords have on their books for an empty property. Loadsa voids are bad when the auditors come in. The number of voids influences the level of funding to expand. Vacant properties in areas of deprivation become grot spots. So a troublesome tenant is better than no tenant.
(xiii) Out of Sight out of Mind
You may have noticed in your local parks seating areas that look like bus shelters. These are sheltered areas where youth gangs hang out. The police know that underage drinking goes on along with soft drug taking. However, they turn a blind eye because the youths are not bothering anyone in the park. The police are knowingly tolerating youths who break the law. These gangs wear all the latest designer gear, have the latest phones and MP3 players. Where are they getting the money from? What happens when they walk back home through the neighbourhoods? A trail of vandalism is the norm. The drugs and the lager gives you the munches so it is off to the fast food takeaways. In my neighbourhood you tend to wake up on Sat morning with food on your car, litter everywhere and pools of sick on the pavement.
(xvi) A Tale of Two Places
Got to the clock tower in Leicester city centre and open a can of lager. Within 10 minutes that can of lager will be confiscated. Go into the rural areas, openly walk up and down the street drinking lager while behaving like a prat. Nothing happens. Why is it not OK to drink in a town centre but ok in a residential area? The mind boggles.
(xv) Parents
I’ve saved the best for last. This goes out to the ‘My kid is not like that he or she is as good as gold.’ I say to those parents go and hang out at the bus stops and schools at chucking out time. It is not a minority.
§ Parents abusing the car parking rules;
§ Kids spitting and swearing;
§ Kids littering the place;
§ Kids using foul language;
§ Smoking pot.
No teachers to be seen or an authority figure challenging these behaviours.
I could go on and on and on with examples that clearly prove that the authorities in Leicestershire tolerate anti social behaviour.
Rest in peace Fiona Pilkington I hope you and your daughter have found a happier place to be together. You won’t be forgotten.
