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Policing and paperwork . . .
From the Bolton Evening News, first published Friday 15th Aug 1997.
BOLTON council chiefs are disturbed to hear police checks on employees who work with children may be relaxed. Rightly, they are disturbed enough to plan a letter to Home Secretary Jack Straw.
They understand that the automatic police checks on staff in social services, leisure and education departments may no longer be routine. Cllr Peter Finch and his colleagues feel it is "very important we know that everyone we employ who is in contact with children has had a thorough police check".
Not just "important" - vital. Any council employee likely to deal with youngsters must be as thoroughly investigated as is possible to ensure our children are not exposed to physically or sexually exploitative monsters.
But [itals]police[itals] checks?
We are in grave danger of burying our police forces in a welter of paper and computer print-outs.
Of course we need checks on our council staffs. We also need police officers to detect and arrest paedophiles. And thieves, muggers, vandals, drunken drivers, drug dealers, con men and murderers. And they must be available to look for our children when they go missing.
But the time has come for us, as councils and individuals, to insist that some restructuring be agreed at national level to take a great deal of the paperwork out of policing and into another domain.
It's no surprise SO the idea of a national register of paedophiles is, as the National Association of Probation Officers now points out, fatally flawed?
And these perverted monsters will not voluntarily walk into police stations or write to their local forces giving their names and addresses? Even under threat of a heavy fine?
Now why does this not surprise us?
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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