Child Safe

The news in regard to child safety issues has been nothing short of horrendous lately. The murder of five year old April Jones in Machynlleth and the tales of Jimmy Savile’s abusive behaviour make for grim reading.

The broader picture is that, beyond this, our children are potential victims of speeding drivers and, not uncommonly, family crime such as parental abuse.

If elected I will introduce my Child Safe programme in consultation with the community at large. Before that vital consultation takes place I do not wish to draw hard and fast lines. However, schemes for consideration might be:

1.       Safe walk-to-school routes and play streets patrolled by fully checked volunteer Street Wardens.

2.       The use of a low key Police presence at the school gates to safeguard children. I had thought of using sniffer dogs in secondary school and sixth form environments to ensure that schools, and the school gate, remain drug free, but my advisers tell me, quite rightly, that would demonise children and is inappropriate. However we do have to step up to the mark. There is peer group pressure on drug taking and we must address this issue as a top priority.

3.       Of course it is Local Authorities that look after children in care and watch out for vulnerable children in the communities. They do a great job, though one aspect of the present system disturbs me: Because of the need for confidentiality children are referred to in oversight meetings as child X or Baby S or some such acronym. This happens in all meetings with those who are responsible for oversight. It makes it very difficult, speaking as one who has served on a County Children's Committee, to keep track of which children are under threat. You may want to take note of a particular vulnerable child, identify siblings, and watch out for them over a period of months. This is well nigh impossible when the modern paranoia over confidentiality takes precedence over the safety of the child. The same constraints, fortunately, are not placed upon officers of the law, who are trusted in a way elected officials are not. We need to think again about our provisions for child safety. We need better monitoring of children in care. Once children enter the system and are flagged up as endangered, I will see that steps are taken to ensure better communication and better protect the vulnerable in Devon, Cornwall and the Islands.

4.       And for those children who do get into trouble with the law, I will reintroduce Remand Fostering where young offenders who do not merit imprisonment cannot safely be returned to a home environment where they are subject to family abuse. I will also ratchet up the use of home detox nurses for teenagers who become addicts.

5.       I will use more Restorative Justice and Community Payback for young offenders post arrest as an alternative to bringing charges under the criminal justice system. I will also increase the use of the mentoring system for young recidivists.

6.       I will promote better communication between the police and probation service so that the probation service is properly and speedily informed if, for example, someone in their care is rearrested.

All of the above commitments will only go forward in consultation with parents and teachers and other interested parties. I will listen. That is the only sensible way in which we can proceed. I do not believe in remote policing. The police are part of the community and must be seen to be a part of the community.