Have a Go with Kiron Reid

Kiron Reid, my friend and fellow Liberator collective member, has an article on Comment is Free today. He talks about a report by the think tank Reform that suggests the "have a go hero" is rarer in Britain today than other European countries.

He writes:

The policy paper highlights a truth that many politicians do not want to admit – that the government and politicians cannot tackle crime; that it is local people, the police and local agencies working together that can.

Initiatives like the Community Justice Centre presided over by Judge David Fletcher are showing the community that the system will deal with their concerns. So are energetic young police inspectors and their teams on the ground.

But innovations only appear to be allowed if they fit in with centralised policy and funding regimes.

There has been a trend - on the left and among some liberals - to argue that tackling crime must be left entirely to the police. Any public intervention in the field is dismissed as "vigilantism".

The other day I turned up an old posting on this blog that defended John Reid's plans for a campaign under the slogan: "Don't moan - take action. It's your street too".

David Davis had claimed "It is brazen beyond belief for the Government to try to shift responsibility on to the shoulders of the public."

That was nonsense then and it is still nonsense now. In a free society citizens should not surrender responsibility for public order wholly to the state.