“They are Evading the Law”

The headline above was pretty typical of headlines in most of the media yesterday. In big letters with loads of exclamation marks they pronounced a police campaign against drunk drivers and speeders who evade the law. Or more accurately evade the consequences of their actions.

Essentially, the police are growing tired of lawyers finding “loopholes” through which their, usually wealthy, clients can escape. There was even a lawyer named as Mr Loophole for his help in getting celebrity clients off the hook. On Sky News a chief constable was quoted as saying his officers where “looking for motorist who had been unjustly acquitted”. It has another chief constable this time named as Meredydd Hughes, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police saying there was “increased frustration” in the force with lawyers who use legal small print to obtain acquittals for their clients.

She is also quoted as saying her colleagues will be looking for those drivers “unjustly acquitted” to give them special treatment if they have not “mended their ways”. I was absolutely flabbergasted and although I’m taking my quotes from Sky this was reported all over the media yesterday.

Basically, what these senior police people are saying is that if the courts obtain the wrong result by correctly applying the law they will take action to “correct” the injustice thus committed. In other words the letter of the law is irrelevant what counts is getting convictions when the Police require them.

Fantastic, the enforcement arm of the Executive branch of Government does not believe it is its job to enforce the law. Rather, they believe, it is their job to obtain “correct” ends to prosecutions. Damn the evidence, we can not have “unjust acquittals” and the judges of what constitutes unjust in these cases naturally are the people bringing the charges the police themselves. Accusers, prosecutors, judges and juries all in one neat package!

I believe all of these people should be made to resign immediately. They clearly have no appreciation of the legal traditions that underpin UK society and quite frankly appear to hold the law total contempt. I find that all branches of government are getting increasingly authoritarian and this is just the latest example of bureaucrats trying to carry out an agenda that is neither in their mandate nor in law.