The Green Party has pledged to invest in local services as part of a shift away from the
government’s current criminal justice system and towards community-based policing in order to
reduce the amount of crime.
The news comes ahead of elections across the UK in May. Sian Berry pledged as part of her
London Mayor campaign that she will revamp policing methods, including the stopping of stop
and search, if she was elected at next month’s elections. [1]
Donna Greenan, Green Party Bridge Ward candidate, said:
“Police resources are wasted on the pursuit of small-scale cannabis offenders which does little
to deter culprits from reoffending. County Durham diverted their police officers away from this
mindset, which has corresponded with an overall reduction in recorded possession offences
across the country, [2] and the government must consider adopting more such approaches to
bring about material change.
“Punishing people for the sake of it is ineffective. Instead, our society needs to deal with more
underlying issues for why criminal offences happen in our cities, such as unemployment. An
overhaul of the justice system centered on Green Party policies would see the creation of local,
community-based policing and an investment in education. The use of draconian sentencing,
CCTV cameras and stop and search policing must be changed.
“Restorative justice programmes, which have been proven to be better at preventing re-
offending than short-term sentences, would also be invested in to the benefit of our society.
Every citizen has a right to feel safe when they are walking down the street.”
ENDS
Notes, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sian-berry-london-mayor-cannabis-stop-search-
b1794303.html, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/26/cannabis-possession-offences-fall-75pc-decade-
police-accused/