"Stornoway gets CCTV upgrade: A CCTV system in Stornoway has been upgraded in a bid to crackdown on drink fuelled crime in the town centre. The move follows an upsurge in anti-social behaviour at weekends. It’s hoped the new scheme will help deter trouble makers. . .” Grampian TV

"Police admit new system will increase crime figures: Police admit crime figures in the Glasgow area are likely to rise next year with changes in how offences are recorded.
Scotland’s eight police forces will begin to operate a standardised system of crime recording which will see more complaints showing up on official figures. . .” Evening Times

"Crime figures set to rise as recording system changes: Ministers are bracing themselves for a massive increase in reported vandalism, theft, and other crimes from next month. But the increase stems not from a breakdown in law and order, but from a fundamental change in the way crime is recorded. . .” Courier

"Universal standard for recording offenses: A universal standard of recording offenses is to be introduced in all of Scotland’s eight police forces making crime statistics more accurate. For the first time ever, the same methods will be used across the country which will give a more realistic picture of crime in Scotland. ACPOS says it will help both officers and victims of crime. . .” Scottish TV

See also

ACPOS Crime Standing Committee

Can anyone identify a link to a more detailed document, please?. MM.

"Public debate for hate crimes: Hate crime came under the microscope today in a public debate at Glasgow’s St Mungo’s Museum. Organisers at the Scottish Civic Forum presented a consultation document produced by a working group on hate crime. . .” Evening Times

See also

Civic Forum

"Park plan helps curb sectarian strife: Youngsters have helped renovate a dilapidated park in a bid to curb sectarianism in their area. More than 20 young people worked with community groups to create a play area at Whitevale Park in Dennistoun. . .” Evening Times

See also

Youthlink Scotland.

Sense over Sectarianism

"Ice Cream lawyer attacks fit up: justice in the dock: The lawyer who led Joe Steele’s fight for justice yesterday said his stunning victory will mean freedom for others behind bars for crimes they never committed. . .” Sunday Mail 28.3.04

"Police chief snubs TC’s demand for cash talks: Strathclyde Police has rejected Thomas ‘TC’ Campbell’s claim for compensation following the quashing of his conviction. . .” Evening Times 26.3.04.

"Miscarriage admission ‘not enough’: The police have not gone far enough in their apology to one of the two men cleared of the Ice Cream Wars murders, according to his lawyer [. . .] A letter from Strathclyde Police to Mr Campbell’s lawyers has accepted that a miscarriage of justice took place. . .” BBC 26.3.04.

"Police admit Ice Cream Wars miscarriage of justice" Scottish TV 25.3.04.

"Who did kill the Doyles?: Lord Kincraig turned to the jury of 10 women and five men at Glasgow High Court. He looked grim as he spelled out just what they would have to believe if the men accused of what was then Scotland?s worst multiple murder were to go free.

The judge warned that if Tommy ?TC? Campbell and Joe Steele were telling the truth, then the jury would have to accept that “not one or two or four but a large number of detectives have deliberately come here to perjure themselves, to build up a false case against an accused person”. It would mean there had been a conspiracy by officers of the “most sinister and serious kind… to saddle the accused wrongly with the crimes of murder and attempted murder, and a murder of a horrendous nature”. . .” Scotland on Sunday

"Framed me for murder: Rough justice victim Joe Steele today lifts the lid on his remarkable 20-year fight to prove his innocence. For two decades Steele, along with TC Campbell, was branded a mass murderer after the deaths of a family of six in Glasgow’s Ice Cream wars. Last week, the Appeal Court ruled he was a victim of the country’s worst miscarriage of justice. Steele spent 18 years in jail after being wrongly convicted of killing six members of the Doyle family, from Ruchazie, Glas-gow, in 1984. But now Steele, 42, is free to reveal for the first time the true horror of an innocent man jailed for a crime he did not commit. . .” Sunday Mail

"Tories? plans for law on internet grooming: The Scottish Tories yesterday unveiled plans for a new law to outlaw perverts preying on children in Scotland on the internet [. . .] The party?s deputy justice spokesman Margaret Mitchell has tabled a private member?s bill which would target predatory adults who seek to arrange meetings with Scots children using internet chatrooms, other websites, and mobile phone text messaging?a practice known as grooming. . .” Courier

"Tories target internet grooming: New legislation to outlaw internet grooming by paedophiles is to be launched in the Scottish Parliament. The member’s bill from Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell aims to make it illegal for adults to meet or arrange to meet someone under 16 for sex [. . .] Ms Mitchell said her bill was necessary because the Scottish Executive was taking too long to push through similar legislation north of the border. . .” BBC

"Kids ‘not safe’ from perverts on Net: The Tories today accused the Scottish Executive of “sitting on their hands” and not protecting children from paedophiles on the internet.
Tory deputy justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said Scotland was lagging behind the rest of the UK in cracking down on the “grooming” of children by perverts. . .” Evening Times

Press release

"Mitchell proposes Grooming Bill" Scottish Conservative Party.

See also

Proposals for Members’ Bills.
Scroll to bottom of page. Note that a proposed member’s bill requires 11 supporters to register within a month of publication in the Business Bulletin, in order to win the right to introduce the bill to Parliament.

"Red light tolerance plea to MSPs: Prostitute support workers are to urge MSPs to back legislative plans to give councils legal powers to set up tolerance zones for vice girls to work.
The Scottish Prostitutes’ Education Project (Scot-Pep) is to ask the local government and transport committee to pledge support for new legislation. Research has shown that attacks vice girls in Edinburgh have risen tenfold since an unofficial zone was abandoned. . .” BBC

"Huge rise in vice girl attacks since city tolerance zone axed: Attacks on prostitutes have increased tenfold since the city?s unofficial tolerance zone was scrapped, new figures revealed today [. . .] Independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald, who has proposed a Scottish Parliament Bill to allow councils to designate red light tolerance zones, said the increase in violence showed how urgently the legislation was needed [. . .] Scotpep is due to give evidence to the Scottish Parliament?s Local Government Committee next week, as it considers Ms MacDonald?s Bill. . .” Evening News

Related

"Crusade to get vice girls off the street: Prostitutes could soon be touting for business on Scotland’s streets without fear of prosecution depending on the findings of a Scottish Executive expert group. But one of Glasgow’s most senior political figures has warned that setting up tolerance zones would allow criminal activity to flourish on our doorsteps with huge social repercussions. . .” Evening Times. Feature.

See also

Scotpep

Local Government and Transport Committee. Agenda and Papers for metting on 23.3.04.

"Minorities must not be beyond justice” Evening News Opinion.

"Murder, Crime, Racism . . . A Community Divided: The abduction and killing of teenager Kriss Donald by a group of Asian men in Glasgow?s Pollokshields last week inflamed ethnic tensions. But was race really to blame?  [. . .] What worries McKenzie most of all is that, although the streets were full of people when Donald was abducted, hardly anyone has come forward to give an eyewitness account. McKenzie said that while the gang were trying to bundle Donald into the car, Wallace was running around frantically asking bystanders for help but was ignored by everyone. At least six other people saw the incident. They neither helped nor have come forward to talk to police. ?I find that difficult to accept,? McKenzie said, adding that there was a ?level of fear? in the community [. . .] Deputy divisional commander Kenny Scott, in charge of policing Glasgow?s south side, defended the manner in which Pollokshields has been policed [. . .] Scott said the operation was discontinued for operational reasons, not political reasons. . ." Sunday Herald

"Hunt for murder gang hits a ‘wall of silence’" Times

"Focus: Fear grips mean streets" Times

"Young ‘excluded’ Asians buy into a black gangster culture: The BNP would have been disappointed with the mood on Glasgow’s Albert Drive, the bustling main street a short walk from where Kriss Donald was abducted on Kenmure Street. Four days after the 15-year-old’s body was discovered behind a Celtic supporters’ club, there is a sense of calm, but also a lingering sadness [. . .] But this particularly horrible crime, in a part of Scotland which has been ethnically diverse for 30 years, asks difficult questions of all of us and raises issues far beyond the unwelcome intrusion of Mr Griffen’s latest unsavoury recruitment drive. . .” Herald and Herald

?It?s setting them on the right road, like a parent would?: Mark Croly has been spending his benefit on Buckfast and hasn’t been eating. Normally the 16-year-old likes food. He worked in a restaurant, but that ended when he gave himself the September weekend off. [. . .] There are too many young men and women in our prisons and the only way to stop that is to change their behaviour at an earlier age. Out of the knowledge that the system was not working, Includem was born four years ago to offer a service for the young offenders social work could not reach. . .” Herald

See also

Includem

North Lanarkshire Council

"Playground violence hits new levels: There was a time when a fight in the playground between two pupils would result in little more than a few bruises, a black eye and wounded pride as their classmates looked on and cheered their favourite. But the sheer scale and ferocity of violence between pupils has now reached such worrying proportions that Scotland?s schools have been ordered to compile figures to officially record the amount of violence, verbal abuse and bullying in an effort to single out the worst offenders. . .” Scotland on Sunday

More links later. MM.

"How To Prevent Crime: Put Child Welfare First: Prevention is better than cure. It?s an old adage, but it holds good. Whether we are talking about the fabric of our home or the fabric of our society, common sense tells us that it is always better to deal with a problem at an early stage. [. . .] even the most cursory examination of the current policy debate on young people reveals an emphasis on a punitive rather than a supportive approach. There is a crying need to rebalance our efforts. . .” Sunday Herald. Comment by Susan Deacon, formerly Scottish Minister for Health and Community Care.

"Deacon tells First Minister: put children first to cut youth crime: The McConnell government has been told by one of its most senior backbenchers that it needs a radical shift from the ?punitive? attack on young tearaways to supportive policies which help children avoid becoming anti-social, overweight and undisciplined. Susan Deacon, the former health minister, has set out one of the boldest Labour alternatives to the path being followed by First Minister Jack McConnell, warning that the Executive is doing only one side of what is necessary to tackle youth crime. . .” Sunday Herald

See also

Youth Crime in Scotland. A Scottish Executive Policy Unit Review. Kenneth Hogg. July 1999.

N.B. Dates listed on the Scottish Executive publications site tend to be the dates of upload rather than publication for earlier documents. Not helpful. MM

"Rough Justice Czar. Prosecutors Probed: A Czar is to be appointed to prevent future miscarriages of justice and blunders by prosecutors.For the first time, Scotland will have a Chief Inspector of Prosecution who will police the way the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal service operate. . .” Sunday Mail

Press release

"Independent Inspectorate of Prosecution" Scot. Exec. 4.3.04.