Festus Akinbusoye is a Westminster Councillor and former Police and Crime Commissioner.
Britain’s justice system is one of our greatest national institutions. Democracies have looked to our courts, our common law and our commitment to the rule of law as a model to emulate. It has earned that reputation over centuries because justice in Britain has been about enforcing the law and commanding the confidence of the public.
That confidence is precious. Like all great institutions, it must continually be earned and renewed.
That is why the decision to release two of the men responsible for the death of PC Andrew Harper has struck such a deep chord. No one should question the independence of the Parole Board or the rule of law in applying the legal framework Parliament has established. But when a lawful decision nevertheless leaves millions of people questioning whether justice has truly been served, it should prompt us to reflect on whether the system continues to command the confidence it needs.
As someone who served as a Special Constable before becoming a Police and Crime Commissioner, I know what it means to put on the uniform. Every police officer accepts that they may be called upon to face danger. They do not expect guarantees of safety. But they do expect that if they make the ultimate sacrifice, the country they serve will ensure that justice reflects that sacrifice.
PC Harper was killed while responding to the theft of a quad bike. He died protecting the public. I was sat behind his Chief Constable at his funeral, listening to his wife eulogise her husband of just a few weeks. I will meet his mother again this weekend at the conclusion of a 200-mile Police Unity Tour bike ride, where hundreds of us cycle to the National Arboretum raising money for the families of police officers who died on duty.
For many serving officers, the prospect that those responsible for his tragic death can now return to the community as part of the government’s increasingly unpopular early release scheme raises understandable questions about whether the justice system fully reflects the risks they are asked to take on behalf of society.
Confidence in justice is something police officers themselves must also be able to place in the system they serve. Every officer who arrests a violent offender does so believing that the wider justice system will reinforce, rather than diminish, the difficult work they undertake every day.
Successive governments have allowed prison capacity to become one of the greatest pressures facing our criminal justice system. When prisons become dangerously overcrowded, governments inevitably face difficult choices. Emergency release schemes and short-term measures begin to substitute for the long-term planning, fairness and common sense that should have taken place years earlier.
That is not how a world-leading justice system should operate. The Government has rightly responded to public concern by tightening aspects of its early release policy for the most serious sexual offenders. But the wider debate should be about ensuring that Britain has a criminal justice system with the capacity, resilience and common sense needed to deliver and maintain sentences that command public confidence. At the heart of that has to be the principle that anyone responsible for taking the life of another in our country should not be released early.
For Conservatives, this should matter. The rule of law is not simply about passing robust legislation to look and act tough on crime. It is about ensuring the entire justice system – from arrest to conviction to sentencing and rehabilitation – is capable of delivering outcomes that victims and the public recognise as fair, credible and proportionate.
Nowhere is this more important than in London. The Metropolitan Police continues the vital work of rebuilding public confidence after several difficult years under Sadiq Khan, who is London’s Police and Crime Commissioner. A falling number of officers face rising demand, increasingly complex crime, and relentless public scrutiny. Recruitment and retention remain significant challenges, while neighbourhood policing has been stretched at a time when many Londoners want to see a more visible police presence in their communities.
Against that backdrop, decisions that test public confidence in sentencing inevitably land heavily among both officers and the communities they serve.
The answer is not to criticise independent institutions carrying out their lawful duties. It is to strengthen the wider system around them and demand better from our political leaders.
That means restoring neighbourhood policing, so officers have the time and resources to prevent crime rather than simply respond to it. It means standing firmly behind the overwhelming majority of officers who serve with professionalism, integrity and courage.
We ask police officers to run towards danger so that the rest of us do not have to. I have worn those boots and returned home to my children thinking how lucky I was after one memorable shift. The least we owe them is a justice system that matches that courage with certainty, consistency and public confidence.
Britain’s justice system remains one of the finest in the world because it never stood still. Throughout our history, we have strengthened our institutions when they have come under pressure rather than accepting decline as inevitable.
We owe it to the memory of PC Andrew Harper, and to every officer who puts on the uniform knowing they may never return home. And we owe it to the British public, whose confidence remains the true foundation of justice itself.
Festus Akinbusoye is a Westminster Councillor and former Police and Crime Commissioner.
Britain’s justice system is one of our greatest national institutions. Democracies have looked to our courts, our common law and our commitment to the rule of law as a model to emulate. It has earned that reputation over centuries because justice in Britain has been about enforcing the law and commanding the confidence of the public.
That confidence is precious. Like all great institutions, it must continually be earned and renewed.
That is why the decision to release two of the men responsible for the death of PC Andrew Harper has struck such a deep chord. No one should question the independence of the Parole Board or the rule of law in applying the legal framework Parliament has established. But when a lawful decision nevertheless leaves millions of people questioning whether justice has truly been served, it should prompt us to reflect on whether the system continues to command the confidence it needs.
As someone who served as a Special Constable before becoming a Police and Crime Commissioner, I know what it means to put on the uniform. Every police officer accepts that they may be called upon to face danger. They do not expect guarantees of safety. But they do expect that if they make the ultimate sacrifice, the country they serve will ensure that justice reflects that sacrifice.
PC Harper was killed while responding to the theft of a quad bike. He died protecting the public. I was sat behind his Chief Constable at his funeral, listening to his wife eulogise her husband of just a few weeks. I will meet his mother again this weekend at the conclusion of a 200-mile Police Unity Tour bike ride, where hundreds of us cycle to the National Arboretum raising money for the families of police officers who died on duty.
For many serving officers, the prospect that those responsible for his tragic death can now return to the community as part of the government’s increasingly unpopular early release scheme raises understandable questions about whether the justice system fully reflects the risks they are asked to take on behalf of society.
Confidence in justice is something police officers themselves must also be able to place in the system they serve. Every officer who arrests a violent offender does so believing that the wider justice system will reinforce, rather than diminish, the difficult work they undertake every day.
Successive governments have allowed prison capacity to become one of the greatest pressures facing our criminal justice system. When prisons become dangerously overcrowded, governments inevitably face difficult choices. Emergency release schemes and short-term measures begin to substitute for the long-term planning, fairness and common sense that should have taken place years earlier.
That is not how a world-leading justice system should operate. The Government has rightly responded to public concern by tightening aspects of its early release policy for the most serious sexual offenders. But the wider debate should be about ensuring that Britain has a criminal justice system with the capacity, resilience and common sense needed to deliver and maintain sentences that command public confidence. At the heart of that has to be the principle that anyone responsible for taking the life of another in our country should not be released early.
For Conservatives, this should matter. The rule of law is not simply about passing robust legislation to look and act tough on crime. It is about ensuring the entire justice system – from arrest to conviction to sentencing and rehabilitation – is capable of delivering outcomes that victims and the public recognise as fair, credible and proportionate.
Nowhere is this more important than in London. The Metropolitan Police continues the vital work of rebuilding public confidence after several difficult years under Sadiq Khan, who is London’s Police and Crime Commissioner. A falling number of officers face rising demand, increasingly complex crime, and relentless public scrutiny. Recruitment and retention remain significant challenges, while neighbourhood policing has been stretched at a time when many Londoners want to see a more visible police presence in their communities.
Against that backdrop, decisions that test public confidence in sentencing inevitably land heavily among both officers and the communities they serve.
The answer is not to criticise independent institutions carrying out their lawful duties. It is to strengthen the wider system around them and demand better from our political leaders.
That means restoring neighbourhood policing, so officers have the time and resources to prevent crime rather than simply respond to it. It means standing firmly behind the overwhelming majority of officers who serve with professionalism, integrity and courage.
We ask police officers to run towards danger so that the rest of us do not have to. I have worn those boots and returned home to my children thinking how lucky I was after one memorable shift. The least we owe them is a justice system that matches that courage with certainty, consistency and public confidence.
Britain’s justice system remains one of the finest in the world because it never stood still. Throughout our history, we have strengthened our institutions when they have come under pressure rather than accepting decline as inevitable.
We owe it to the memory of PC Andrew Harper, and to every officer who puts on the uniform knowing they may never return home. And we owe it to the British public, whose confidence remains the true foundation of justice itself.