BARONESS Helen Newlove has slammed the Goverment’s new policing policies for containing “nothing new” that will tackle anti-social behaviour.
Baroness Newlove, who is deputy speaker of the House of Lords, lost her husband Garry when he was murdered by three youths in 2007.
She told GB News: “We’ve heard these measures before and naturally, I welcome any measure that will stop anti-social behaviour, but there’s nothing new in this that’s not already out there.
“You’ve got to have the resources and people to enable policing, and probation officers. Well, that’s on its knees as well.
“So no, I don’t think any of these policies are new. We’re still going to struggle to tackle anti-social behaviour, most importantly because the police class it as lower level crime.”
On plans to ban nitrous oxide canisters, in a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, she said: “You’ve got to find the user who committed it in the first place, because they’re not going to stand there outside.
“They’ve done it, they’re going to be run off and find out then the police have got to look at CCTV, if there’s any CCTV, so it’s a long progress in that.
“I welcome that we do have youngsters who caused this graffiti and whatever to actually go and then make it better .
“I have seen in my roles that when you get young people to actually then go and repair the damage, they do get quite proud and I always think that they can pick up on a skill that they never knew they had.”
She continued: “Pupil referral units, the money that’s ploughed into them can actually help youngsters look at different skills for entrepreneurship, Maths and English, and it gives them that creative space as well.
“So for me, it’s about recognising the different talents in youngsters that can be created in a safer space with these youth zones that we’re seeing up and down the country.
“A lot of young people naively go into these gangs and the young people are also exploited in these gangs, when we look at county lines.’
“I’ve done a lot of work on this and it’s not a simple straight line, but there are youngsters who cannot change their attitude and they will keep on going into crime.
“We’ve got to have a balance and protect the good ones as well who don’t cause any issues and give them a life that they should have as well.”
She added: “I do think that the issue is still out there, we’re adding layers to it, and sadly, I can’t sit here and say it’s working because it isn’t working, because you have to invest. You have to listen.
“You have to give hope and you have to give hope to all communities young and old so that they feel safe for where they are and that takes a long time to do.”
