The MoJ has sent out this encouraging news release about a rehabilitation project that surely deserves to succeed. The Timpson connection presumably comes from the fact that one of the eponymous business's owners is a Conservative MP.
Sorry to appear to carp, but should we really be teaching key cutting skills to offenders prior to their release?
Well, that's one way to be proactive about reducing the prison population.
ReplyDeletePresumably not housebreakers (or burglars for those of you in the legally blighted South)...
ReplyDeletePlenty of prisoners aren't there for crimes of dishonesty. And even then how is the key cutter supposed to find out where you live?
Far worse would be if they trained prisoners to be milkmen or posties so they know when you're away.
Hmmm ... Reminds me of when my local council wanted to gate our back alleys. As part of this they were to be cleared of rubbish by teams of persons doing community service. Yes, very good - let the young trainee tea-leaves case the rear of the properties in daylight under cover of a good excuse for being there!? They seriously wondered why I objected!
ReplyDeleteIts always amused me that they council department that deals with this in my area is called the Alley Gaters.
DeleteAmusement aside I seriously wonder why you objected too.
The average person doing weekday community service is neither that young, nor a 'tea-leaf'. They will be supervised and in a passageway thats usually separated from your property by a high wall and gate.
Plus if you live in a property with a alley the council consider worth 'gating' you have fuck all to steal anyway!
You will have to forgive me if I sound weary but we hear these stories all the time in the police. Every new project that is ever dreampt up is always a resounding success. The middle or senior ranking officer that had this wonderful vision, puts it on their CV and moves onwards and upwards. The officers left try and make it work but invariably the whole idea is full of faults and unworkable. 99 times out of 100 the project crashes and burns and then the next manager, looking to make a name for themselves, comes up with another daft idea and so on. A huge propoganda machine lets everyone know how marvellous it all is when introduced but you never hear about the project dying a death, just that another amazing plan has been dreampt up.
ReplyDeleteI hope the Timpson project is successful. There are a number of similar projects. Make a diary entry for six months time and see if it still successful then.
BS, do you have the intellectual honesty and rigour to accept that challenge?
DeletePlease please make my unspoken prediction wrong.
There's nothing to stop you doing that, Ed(nB). If you do, I'll make space for your research findings.
DeleteTimpson have been actively recruiting ex-prisoners for over a decade, one in twenty Timpson employees has left prison in the last three years.
DeleteI for one think this new project will be a success.
As for bystanders concerns, cutting keys is hardly lock picking, and no house breaker picks the lock when its faster and easier to kick the door in.
This is genuinely news to me, and makes me feel slightly better about the outrageous prices charged!
DeleteI have to agree their prices are outrageous.
DeleteBS, I'm not the one trumpeting it as a likely success.
DeleteNeither is BS, Ed(nBS) if you look carefully.
DeleteI don't know any career criminals -- caught and convicted, anyway -- but having once known a few "in the bud", as it were, from my past, I'd say that the scrotes could teach the staff key cutters a few things about how to go about it without the aid of specialised machinery.
ReplyDeleteJust a guess, of course.
I dare say that the engraving course will come in handy for making forged banknotes too. Oooo aren't we cynical.
ReplyDeleteTime to install digital and keyless locks on your doors.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, for all my 'professional' burglar clients, they're not interested in stealing housekeys. Entry is secured by much more creative means.
ReplyDeleteRehabilitation is a key aim of sentencing. We've lost our way in that regard. I remember one prison law client, a Doctor in for fraud who was not allowed to teach fellow inmates first aid...
Totally Irrelevant but did the MA advertise for a new Chief Executive only in the Guardian? If not, doesn't that tell you someting?
ReplyDeleteLocks only keep honest people out. Burglars and thieves have little use for keys and could easily nip to a shop and have a copy cut for a quid or two if needed.
ReplyDeleteA determined rogue can make a criminal venture out of such apparently unpromising skills as manufacturing silk flowers, or decoupage.He'll bring to it a uniqueness of purpose and an inventiveness that defy belief, and turn into means of serious nuisance any kind of old maid pastimes. Which are, on the other hand , much less viable as means of law-abiding self-support, in case at least some of the prison inmates were interested in learning any.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, non-vehicle key theft is at low levels.
ReplyDeleteDont worry chaps, if the latest proposals have their way, we will have several old burglars and car thieves on the bench soon - to make it 'more inclusive' don't ya know...no doubt they will know all about key making and such like...
ReplyDeleteTimpson Academy versus Timson Academy ?
ReplyDeleteAs in taking the 'p', Tony?
DeleteI am sure that we have quite a few criminals on the bench as it is - it's just that they never got caught!
ReplyDeleteE.g. "There but for the grace of God........." attitude when sitting in the traffic court?
ReplyDeleteI think it is about time that those who fall off the straight and narrow are allowed to wipe the slate clean. in otherwords the Rehab of Offenders Act should have teeth. Not talking about the reglar offender or the serious or dangerous ones who will never shake off the past. What I think we miss is the stupid minor matters which can cause much trouble these days,. There needs to be an EFFECTIVE way of paying the penalty and wiping the record clean.It is particularly more relevant the further down the food chain you are.
ReplyDelete