Browse content similar to 10/06/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the West: Should the police tell you if the | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
man you are dating has a history of domestic violence? The scheme's | :01:30. | :01:40. | |
:01:40. | :01:40. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1710 seconds | :01:40. | :30:11. | |
being tried out in Wiltshire - In Sunday Politics in the West: | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
Should you know the police history of the man you are thinking about | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
living with? It is called Claire's law and is going to be tried out in | :30:19. | :30:23. | |
Wiltshire this summer. Some charities say it is a gimmick. We | :30:23. | :30:28. | |
will be discussing that shortly. Our guests are two West Country | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
politicians. To keep us in order is a Conservative MP who is a | :30:32. | :30:37. | |
barrister and a judge, and to keep as environmentally friendly, and | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
Green councillor in Bristol. Coppola, none of the political | :30:41. | :30:47. | |
arguments this Sunday will be recycled! -- hopefully. Your | :30:47. | :30:49. | |
thoughts on the jubilee celebrations which were | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
extraordinary. Were you surprised at the scale of the response? | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
think encouraged is a better word. It was good to see the Union flag | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
being used for its proper purpose, to celebrate a major national event | :31:02. | :31:06. | |
and thanked the Queen for 60 years of outstanding public service. And | :31:06. | :31:11. | |
to remind ourselves about how far we have come as a nation. | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
Republicans in the audience - and there were not many - would be | :31:14. | :31:19. | |
rather glum after this weekend. Talking of Republicans, it is not a | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
great time to be on that side of the argument, is it? A we had a | :31:23. | :31:29. | |
great Republican barbecue at the same time! I think it was just one | :31:29. | :31:35. | |
great distraction. These are very harsh times we are facing but the | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
weakest in about society are being targeted. It is not a time for | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
celebration but for commiseration. I do not think we should celebrate | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
where we are going as a country now. Wiltshire is to be one of the first | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
places to try out a new system for warning women that their partner | :31:51. | :31:57. | |
way be violent. It is named after a woman he was murdered by her ex- | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
boyfriend, but there has been criticism from some campaigners who | :32:01. | :32:08. | |
say the money could be better spent. Ball has been to meet one victim. | :32:08. | :32:12. | |
A I was an absolute wreck, scared to death. Not speaking, couldn't | :32:12. | :32:18. | |
function. I was being held down, restricted, having things thrown at | :32:18. | :32:23. | |
me. Anything that was a row and you could have thrown at you or it was | :32:23. | :32:31. | |
to the extremes, as well, like... Sorry. Towards the end, it was | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
horrific. On the last occasion, I thought I was going to die. I | :32:36. | :32:42. | |
called out for my mum and was just thinking that I was going to die. | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
It is thought domestic violence leads to the death of two women | :32:45. | :32:52. | |
every week. Stella looked for help. Her farmer -- former partner was | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
successfully prosecuted. After the trial, she was told he had earlier | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
criminal convictions. If she had known that at the start, things | :32:59. | :33:04. | |
might have been different. I did not associate with any of his | :33:04. | :33:07. | |
friends because they were not the type of people I would associate | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
with. It was easy for him to keep everything is secret but if I knew, | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
I would that have been with him. She has been getting help from a | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
charity who works alongside Wiltshire police, he will soon have | :33:20. | :33:27. | |
new powers to warn women who ask for information. They write down | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
sides - if people have never been committed to -- convicted for | :33:31. | :33:39. | |
domestic violence. One of the big issues is that people do not talk | :33:39. | :33:44. | |
about it so only a small minority ends in prosecution. I think this | :33:44. | :33:49. | |
could have a limited impact. Wiltshire is one of four places | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
where the scheme will be trial. Officially, they ate say they are | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
waiting to hear how it should be run but unofficially, there is some | :33:57. | :34:00. | |
frustration but a Home Office have not given them the guidance they | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
need. And in some places, it is an extra financial burden at a time | :34:05. | :34:11. | |
when budgets are being cut. Some experts think that is foolish. The | :34:11. | :34:17. | |
charity Refuge warned it is untried, untested and costly. The majority | :34:17. | :34:26. | |
of domestic violence incidents are not reported to the police. We are | :34:26. | :34:29. | |
concerned the government is spending precious resources on | :34:29. | :34:31. | |
introducing new legislation when the legislative framework is | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
already in place. Police already have the powers to disclose. | :34:36. | :34:42. | |
when and how those powers are used varies from force to force. It is | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
quite difficult ground. We do have the ability, at the moment, to tell | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
people about the offending history of a partner if we think that they | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
are significantly at risk. We can share that information with the | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
right level of authority, in cases where we think there is a serious | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
risk of violence. For Stella, the future looks better. She is | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
rebuilding her life and hopes that by going to the police, other women | :35:08. | :35:13. | |
may be protected. With me today is his senior law | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
lecturer from the University of the West of England. Nice to see you. | :35:19. | :35:25. | |
Is this practical? It as a pilot - we have to remember it as a pilot | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
to start with. We will find out information from that pilot. When | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
we talk about whether it is practical, we have to work out | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
whether there is a cost-benefit, whether or not people are actually | :35:36. | :35:41. | |
going to be helped by this. We could say that there are some | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
reservations about the scheme. sort of information could the | :35:45. | :35:53. | |
police actually hand out? That is yet to be decided. The coroner, in | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
the case of the lady who died, talked about previous convictions | :35:56. | :36:01. | |
of that type. It looked like she was talking about domestic violence | :36:01. | :36:06. | |
related offences. The problem we have is that there is no actual | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
offence of domestic violence, so we are talking about convictions for | :36:09. | :36:15. | |
different things. For example, as salt, harassment. There is no | :36:15. | :36:21. | |
actual offence. -- assault. Somebody has to make a decision | :36:21. | :36:25. | |
about what it is we are going to disclose. What checks would the | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
police have to make before they decided to give the person turning | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
up at the station that information? The pilot will determine that. We | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
don't yet know. It is quite likely that it will follow the public | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
disclosure scheme for child sex offenders. There is quite a | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
rigorous process there. You cannot just simply turn up at a police | :36:45. | :36:49. | |
station and say, "I would like to know some information because my | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
child has a relationship with an adult about which I wanted a | :36:53. | :37:00. | |
information". It is a very rigorous process. Let's bring in the | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
politicians. It does all sound a bit vague. It is a pilot, as Rachel | :37:05. | :37:10. | |
says. It is based upon two principles - the right to know and | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
the right to ask. There is a subtle difference between the two. The | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
right to know would involve the police being proactive and | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
releasing information with the sort of safeguards that Rachel suggested. | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
The other would be the right of the individual to go in and, subject to | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
those safeguards, obtain information. In the real world, you | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
go out, you have a couple of mistakes, you get to know each | :37:36. | :37:40. | |
other and then one of you pops into the police station and asks | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
questions. That would kill any romance stone dead! I don't think | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
you can interfere with the natural process of human relationships but | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
in all the cases we have just seen, there are people out there who | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
would have benefited from more information and he would have | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
changed their pattern of behaviour or lifestyle if they had known | :38:00. | :38:06. | |
Stirton important facts about a partner. -- certain important facts. | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
Did dismiss it before the pilot comes of age would be wrong. It is | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
not perfect but two women a week being killed as a result of | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
domestic violence - we have got to do something. If that would tackle | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
it completely, I would be behind at 100%. I think we are going in the | :38:23. | :38:26. | |
wrong direction. What would happen if a woman would go in and find out | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
that their partner has not committed any crime, a debt they | :38:30. | :38:40. | |
:38:40. | :38:41. | ||
are actually in danger? -- yet they are all. It will not stop the | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
offences entirely. I think we should be putting our funds into | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
centres that tell women who have been abused. After it has happened? | :38:51. | :38:54. | |
I agree that is after it has happened to, but also to have a lot | :38:54. | :38:58. | |
more councillors so that someone feels threatened, they do not go to | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
the police to see whether their partner has a prior conviction, but | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
to a counsellor. It is whether you feel threatened that you should act | :39:05. | :39:12. | |
upon. It is never easy. We need to make sure they're all resources for | :39:12. | :39:19. | |
places to women to go to. You have reservations about who should be | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
told this information. What is your solution to that? Having the sort | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
of safeguards in place, such as having a multi-agency assessment so | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
the police, social services and other concerned agencies make a | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
decision. So, someone turns up at a police station and you want a | :39:36. | :39:39. | |
multi-agency risk assessment conference before they get told any | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
information? You would involve social workers and police of the | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
streets to sit down and have a chat about whether this person should | :39:46. | :39:52. | |
know. There should be safeguards in place. A have you got the resources | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
for that? It happens already, as has been described in the case of | :39:57. | :40:00. | |
Sarah's law, in relation to be defiled as closure. There needs to | :40:00. | :40:03. | |
be a safeguard system so that the right information is disclosed to | :40:03. | :40:11. | |
the right people. I would be against a system that allows people | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
to turn up to the police station and get information just like that. | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
I do reassured? We have to wait and see what the terms of the pilot | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
half. I am confident it will not be a system where anyone can just turn | :40:24. | :40:29. | |
up and get information. It needs to be fairly simple, otherwise it is | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
just going to get bogged down. have to be extremely careful about | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
who we disclose information to. There has to be a risk and there | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
has to be risk assessment. Why is this information secret anyway? | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
the film pointed out, there is already power of common law to | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
disclose the information but there is no consistent approach across | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
the country, which is why the government is looking at ways of | :40:54. | :41:02. | |
existing laws to improve the system. Thank you. | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
The English Defence League is planning a march in Bristol in July. | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
The EDL claims it is a human rights group that campaigns against | :41:10. | :41:15. | |
extremist Islam. Its critics say it is a racist organisation that whips | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
up the against Muslims. The march is happening on the same day as the | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
Gay pride festival in Bristol, much to the distress of the organisers. | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
This is one of Bristol's most colourful events, the City's Gay | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
pride festival, which has been growing for the past few years. But | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
a political storm is brewing ahead of this year's Festival, as the | :41:39. | :41:41. | |
far-right group the EDL are planning a demonstration on the | :41:41. | :41:46. | |
same day. They have held marches in other parts of the country but this | :41:46. | :41:51. | |
is the first ever in the West. Avon and Somerset Police say it will | :41:51. | :41:56. | |
cost �500,000 to make sure the event run smoothly. They are also | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
bringing in 700 officers from other police forces to help maintain | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
public safety. But a spokesperson for the group says they have a | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
right to demonstrate. The union demonstrations have cost �68 | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
million already this year but no one talks about that. The only time | :42:12. | :42:15. | |
anyone ever talks about how much it cost the taxpayers is when | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
taxpayers like us are actually protesting. It is the first time | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
taxpayers have protested for 20 years. Usually it is students, | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
immigrants or people who do not work. There is no price you can put | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
on democracy and expressing yourself. But Labour politicians | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
are worried the march will put off visitors to the pride festival. | :42:37. | :42:43. | |
entire EDL ethos seems to be about inciting, rather than communities | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
working together. It is about trying to tear communities apart. | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
This is the exact opposite of what we stand for as the City and what | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
Pride stands for, as well. It is impossible to tell how many people | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
will join the EDL Marg but it is thought rival groups like Unite | :43:02. | :43:12. | |
:43:12. | :43:15. | ||
Begins Criticism -- against fascism could be organising an event. | :43:15. | :43:18. | |
Joining this is the organiser of the Gay pride festival. How | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
concerned argued? I am not concerned about the numbers of EDL | :43:22. | :43:26. | |
in Bristol. I don't think they have much support down here and if we | :43:26. | :43:32. | |
look at ways in demonstrations in Brighton, we had 100 people turn up, | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
whereas Pride attracts about 20,000 people. I don't think numbers are a | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
problem but I am accept that they are trying to hijack the pride | :43:40. | :43:46. | |
festival -- upset. They are trying to get extra support where there is | :43:46. | :43:50. | |
no support for them and they are actually making 14th July, which | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
should be a shining beacon of quality, a bit tarnished. One of | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
the things the English Defence League claims is that it is | :43:58. | :44:03. | |
fighting against, Fabia within the Muslim community. They go on to say | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
that gay people have more to fear from Islam than they do from the | :44:08. | :44:14. | |
EDL. I personally have not met any gay people that support be EDL or | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
feel that they are concerned by Islam infringing upon them and | :44:18. | :44:24. | |
causing homophobia. It is not Islamic institutions that are | :44:24. | :44:29. | |
breeding homophobia, and homophobia exists across the board. We only | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
have to look at our own Christian churches which have been purveyors | :44:33. | :44:38. | |
of homophobia for many years, and we have had to fight against that. | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
Homophobia finds Abed within religion and people used religion | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
to hide behind, but the real challenge is stamping out | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
homophobia across the board. have found that working with Muslim | :44:51. | :44:56. | |
communities that you have been accepted as you might do? The best | :44:56. | :45:01. | |
thing about Bristol is that it is communities that work together. | :45:01. | :45:06. | |
Pride is about social cohesion and we go into communities and invite | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
them along. The best thing about Right is that it is for everyone - | :45:10. | :45:16. | |
you do not have to be gay to club. We just stand up for equality. | :45:16. | :45:22. | |
don't think we should ban any march. We have worked very hard with the | :45:22. | :45:26. | |
police and I think the council and the local police force need a large | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
round of applause for how they have handled this. They have moved the | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
EDL march, which was going to end up on College Green, where the | :45:34. | :45:37. | |
pride celebration is going to be happening, to an earlier time so | :45:37. | :45:43. | |
that they will not conflict now. Groups like EDL grow, don't they, | :45:43. | :45:46. | |
because they perhaps address some of the issues that politicians are | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
too frightened to talk about? Immigration, forced marriage and so | :45:50. | :45:56. | |
on. I don't agree at all. I think all of us, whether we are in | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
mainstream parties or fringe parties, have a responsibility in | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
terms of the language we use and the way we portray our politics and | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
should be positive, not about drawing divisions between | :46:06. | :46:11. | |
communities, as one of the speakers suggested. I find the EDL's | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
language and approach to be hostile and based upon divisions rather | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
than watching to bring people together. If there is evidence of a | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
potential breach of the piece, the Home Secretary has a power to ban | :46:23. | :46:26. | |
marches and I am glad to hear that in Bristol, attempts have been | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
made... Is it sensible to have it on the same day as the Gay pride | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
festival? Attest needs to be applied as to whether a breach of | :46:34. | :46:39. | |
the piece is present. If it can be arranged so that there is no threat | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
to the public, all well and good. What is lined up for Gay pride this | :46:44. | :46:47. | |
year? It is going to be a massive celebration. It is on College Green | :46:47. | :46:54. | |
and it is free. We have over 40 acts, including five stages of | :46:54. | :47:00. | |
performance and a massive party in the evening. Amass a family area - | :47:00. | :47:04. | |
we invite everyone to come along. Thanks for coming along to tell us | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
about it. Nowt it is time to take a look at | :47:09. | :47:16. | |
the other political stories making the headlines this week. | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
The family of a two-year-old savaged by a dog have called for | :47:20. | :47:26. | |
laws on owning dangerous dogs to be tightened. The boys suffered facial | :47:26. | :47:29. | |
injuries in the attack in a neighbour's back garden. | :47:29. | :47:32. | |
The Bristol and tat and Labour supporter Tony Robinson was in town | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
this week chairing a meeting of candidates hoping to stand for | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
crystal meth. There are five Labour hopefuls seeking the former party | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
nomination. They will find out next week who has won. | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
The wheels of justice at the Crown Court in Bristol are grinding to a | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
halt because there is not a bit -- enough money to pay the judges. | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
People accused of crimes are left waiting for their day in court. | :47:57. | :48:04. | |
Cuts in the Ministry of dentists it -- justice budget are being blamed. | :48:04. | :48:06. | |
There are claims that some unemployed people from the West | :48:06. | :48:12. | |
were hired as unemployed stewards for the Diamond Jubilee and ended | :48:12. | :48:21. | |
up having to sit under London Bridge. -- unpaid stewards. | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
That Was the Week in 60 seconds! To pick up a one of those stories, | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
about the work experience people being bussed to London to act as | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
stewards at the Jubilee and then ended up sleeping rough. Is that | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
work-experience valuable? It is being called work-experience but | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
what it really is is free employment and it is generally | :48:42. | :48:46. | |
exploited by corporations and large festivals. They are taking paid | :48:46. | :48:51. | |
work away from other people. The workfare system, as it is known, | :48:51. | :48:57. | |
must end. If it helps get people into employment, is it worth it? | :48:57. | :49:04. | |
Not a greedy, no. I think are paid internship as the best way. Robert, | :49:04. | :49:10. | |
is their exportation going on? not think it is the way of the | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
world but I think it is an important element in encouraging | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
young people into work. A lot of young people themselves say to me | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
that they value work experience, as long as it is properly managed. In | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
this case, we saw that there were two hours where people were not | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
properly managed and that should not happen. To use this as an | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
excuse to slam the whole system of work experience is entirely wrong | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
and misguided. We must keep it as an element of helping people into | :49:37. | :49:45. | |
work. That is all we have time for today. | :49:45. | :49:50. | |
Thank you to our guests. Sunday Politics continues in London but if | :49:50. | :49:53. |