Sleep Rough and become a Criminal

I recently met someone I have known for a long time in the Holborn library, London he gave me a flyer with information regarding a demonstration at City Hall, the home of the London Assembly and the political home of “Boris the True Blue” and alleged friend of the tax avoiders and the City of London slickers.

It contained information about a demonstration outside City Hall during the Mayor of London questions. The demonstration was against the support the Mayor of London, our beloved leader of democracy in London one Boris Johnston, is giving to the Metropolitan Police Service, (MPS), campaign to criminalise Rough Sleeping in six boroughs of London namely: Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Southwark, Westminster and Croydon.

 Operation Encompass  is the name of the project which once again with support of Boris Johnson will target vulnerable people who will once arrested have a Department of Justice, now there is misnomer, record on file in their computer system with their photograph, fingerprints, handprint, earprint, eye detection image and D.N.A.  The Rough sleeper may also be served an Anti-Social Behaviour Order, commonly known as an ASBO. The majority of people sleeping are doing so through no fault of their own.

When I was in a B & B, in reality a hostel for the homeless including refugees and asylum seekers, I met a bloke in his fifties who could not read or write. Yes illiterate, what amazed me was that he had been through the prison system a few times and he had received no help to enable him to read and write. Just imagine the confusion he must have felt when presented with written material that he was supposed to read and then sign to confirm he had read and understood what was in put in front of him.    

How is this helping rough sleepers improve their lives now that they have a Police record? In the future once the person who has been arrested has survived the trauma of sleeping in the street and gone through the process of being arrested and now deemed a criminal is looking to gain employment and a settled life structure. That person applies for a job and may have to go through a Criminal Record Check, or whatever it is called today, loses any chance of employment due to the fact they were arrested as a rough sleeper and it is on the criminal record files. So much for the Department of “Justice”.

Commander Alison Newcomb, leading the operation, said: "The MPS' priority is to ensure London's streets are safe for all”.

"We are committed to working alongside our partners to reduce the number of those sleeping rough and begging, which can lead to associated anti-social behaviour and crime.”

"We recognise that some of the people we engage with are vulnerable which is why we are encouraging them to access services to gain the support they need, while taking affirmative action against persistent offenders who break the law or cause intimidation to passing members of public.”

So there you have it all simply summed up by a Commander of the Met. (Metropolitan Police).In her eyes every person who sleeps rough is going to commit a crime and conduct anti-social behaviour. I would like to see the statistics which proves this. Maybe I should apply under the Freedom of Information Act and see what response I get.

The statement also mentions about, “taking affirmative action against persistent offenders who break the law”. They will only breaking the law due to the fact it is that the Met, (the Metropolitan Police Service), are pushing for rough sleeping to be an arrestable offence with the support of 6 boroughs in London and the support of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson

Is this Boris Johnson reaction to his Mayor of London manifesto pledge that there would be no rough sleepers in London by 2012?

“2008 Boris Johnson made a bold pledge to end rough sleeping in London by the end of 2012. It was a pledge he reiterated in his manifesto last year just seven months before his self-imposed deadline. This was despite official figures showing that the number of people sleeping rough on London’s streets has increased every year since he became mayor”. Boris's Pledge

Is this another statement by “Boris the Untrustworthy” regarding housing and rough sleeping where “Boris the Bad” pledged to have every homeless person housed by 2012 was this made to mislead the public the same as his manifesto pledge that no Fire stations will close “under his Watch”.  

Under the present London Assembly and local authorities in London there has been a rise of 43% in 2011-12  rise in rough sleepers compared to the previous year  Homeless rise  and what do our elected councillors in the London Boroughs of Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Southwark, Westminster and Croydon, the Dishonourable Mayor of London” Boris the Black Heart”, (with true blue Tory right wing blood cursing through his veins), the might of the Metropolitan Police Service, and of course the English justice system, decide to do?

 ARREST THE SCUM, CLAP ‘EM IN IRONS, DEPORT THEM TO THE COLONIES AND GIVE THEM A GOOD THRASHING ON THE WAY.

McTaggart