Report to the People
6th February 2006
Justice Reform
Law reform legislation, although
necessary, can be a fairly dry affair, punctuated with debates which the
Parliament’s ex-lawyers see as a great chance to show off their fine legal
minds’ superior capacity for splitting hairs and dancing on pin-heads.
It
was a refreshing change, then, when the Police, Public Order and Criminal
Justice Bill came before Holyrood on Thursday, to discuss reforms of the legal
system with some real meat on them.
The
Bill’s aims - making the police more effective and our communities safer -
might sound like bland platitudes. But
it also sets out a host of detailed, concrete measures to realise these goals.
In fact, the Bill’s nearly as packed as the Hearts dressing room.
The
police, for example, will be able to drug test people arrested for certain
crimes, such as theft or drugs offences. And,
in response to demands from communities like ours, the police will have tougher
powers to arrest anyone suspected of carrying a knife. The maximum penalty for carrying a blade is also set to be
doubled.
Other
measures include allowing officers to take someone’s fingerprints to establish
their identity and setting up a new independent Police Complaints Commissioner
for Scotland to ensure that investigations into non-criminal complaints against
the police are open and transparent.
Through
petitions and campaigning, our community has had a serious input to this Bill.
So it’s not a huge surprise that its priorities reflect ours.
Who says law reform is only for the lawyers?
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