Ineffectual minister an insult to victims

FROM vandalised cars to graffiti-scrawled walls; from rowdiness in the street to threats and risky driving – victims are upset, but they shrug hopelessly.

It’s not worth troubling the police, nothing will happen...

The latest evidence of a crisis in justice comes in what is an effective surrender over petty crime, the sort of low-grade annoyances which blight lives.

‘Zero tolerance policing’ was never about SWAT teams and high-speed chases. It was about tackling low-grade thuggery and nuisance to nip criminality in the bud.

The SNP has pursued a relentless soft-touch agenda that puts victims’ rights behind those of perpetrators.

While they were patting themselves on the back about how progressive they were and pointing to statistics showing crime is down, we reached a nadir when even calling criminals ‘offenders’ was frowned upon lest it stigmatise them.

Against this backdrop, we report today just 37 per cent of crime is reported to police; confidence in the police has dropped as their visibility has dropped and just 39 per cent of Scots think court punishments fit the crime.

Justice Minister Michael Matheson remains the Invisible Man of the Scottish Cabinet, while the public’s faith in the police’s ability to keep them safe is eroded.

His continued ineffectual presence is an insult to victims of serious crime, who see the guilty looked after better than them, and to the victims of petty crime, who can only cower while untouchable thugs swagger.