Franklin

We are not really talking about stopping organized crime in its entirety. That isn't going to happen. However, we can certainly work to diminish its impact and stop it growing so fast, both in the UK and in the EU. There are now people in basic industries in the UK who are afraid to speak to the authorities about what is going on. This is an outrage. One thing that was good about the UK was the basic honest way of life there, but now it is under threat. This cannot be tolerated or pretty soon we will have politicians too afraid to take action. English cities will start to look like Moscow with its organized gang problem. We should work to control the growth and power of these gangs.

sibsie

Can't say I noticed that in the 8 years I spent in the Met Police and I doubt that people who had to pay protection money to the various crime lords and the likes of the Krays would agree with you.

Franklin

I am surprised that you would rely on the Krays to bolster your argument. The Krays did not present a national or international threat.

sibsie

I was replying to your comment about the honest way of life in the UK.

Franklin

And I was referring to the level of honesty among the people who staff the UK agencies/authorities. The UK authorities are not yet corrupt and taking bribes across the board. Let these gangs grow and we risk that happening, once the authorities are corrupted across the board UK society will have suffered ENORMOUS damage. Lets not go there, lets hurt these gangs and stem their growth and influence in UK society.

sibsie

But the recent incident isn't anything new. It just happened to go tragically wrong and get wide coverage. The gangs aren't new. In the case of the Triads they've been going for literally hundreds of years and are all over London and the UK as well as the rest of the EU.

I think you're over dramatising the situation. To talk of stemming the flow is shutting the door after the horse has already trotted off and mated with every other horse out there.

Franklin

yeah yeah, "heard it all before", nothing really different ... the 50+ deaths in a container in Dover, the recent cockle tragedy, ordinary Brits in ordinary jobs too frightened to talk ... much of a muchness ... DEAD WRONG.

We need a new kind of policing, clearly the Met and other forces are incapable of cracking down on people smuggling and organized crime. British policing has failed and failed miserably and chronically. This new threat from gangs is on a different level from what we haven seen before. The British police system needs a radical shake up and those that can't or won't do what is necessary of them to meet this grave new challenge should go.

... and on Q … Blair and Blunkett announce the creation of a new FBI-style national law enforcement agency …

“A new force expected to boast at least 5,000 investigators will focus on serious and organised crime such as drug trafficking, people smuggling and fraud.�

See, e.g., URLs:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...988043,00.html
http://www.express.co.uk/story.html?...63058435182814

sibsie

Which ordinary Brits are you talking about and which ordinary jobs?

People smuggling would fall under C&E. Closing the Channel Tunnel would be an enormous help too.

NCIS promised great things when it was first established but in reality just created a load more desk jobs.

doctor scrumpy

I am worried more about the ecological effect on the area from organized gang pickers. After all the influx of workgangs will take a heavy toll on the stocks of cockles depleting any chance of next years breeding.

Franklin

Today, a poll on "Sky News" asked the question "Does Britain need a FBI?". The overwhelming response was YES (the voting figures currently read:

Yes: 71.4% (to 1 decimal place)
No: 28.6% (to 1 decimal place)

It is clear that there is a lot of support for a British version of the FBI. Sky News also reported that the creation of the new crime agency represents the biggest shake up in the police in some 40 years, "More than 5,500 staff from four government bodies will merge in the biggest shake-up in policing in England and Wales for 40 years." See URL:
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...988043,00.html

Re: ordinary people? From what I read there seemed to be quite a few ordinary folk who picked cockles for a living who were too frightened to speak out on the gang problem infesting their industry. The use of slaves and gangs operating slavery operations should be targetted by the new British FBI - the Met and other police forces up and down the UK have failed miserably. Go British FBI.

dudleydowg

Its just been reported that the cockle pickers were told to run like **** when the water came up to knee high, unfortunately knee high was sat in the van

Pimpbot

My brother texted me that joke yesterday.