I do not believe any one can deny the recent events in many of our cities have been very serious, whether we like it or not we will all be affected by them either directly or indirectly, and of course there has been the tragedy of three people loosing their lives apparently as they tried to protect people and property in their areas, and of course of the latest victim who has died from his injuries.
I offer my unreserved condolences to all their law abiding families and friends.
Personally I have not been directly affected, but two of my children have; One who lives in Birmingham, had a large gang assemble 200m away at the end of her road, and it was unknown if the gang were going to move up her road or go off towards the city centre. It seems they moved to the city sparing her home.
And my son who lives in Liverpool, who a few days before had helped to move his girlfriend out of the city for a new job, and was staying over as she settled in. On returning home found that several cars in his road had been set on fire.
A luck escape for both of them, but sadly it also means that others have suffered.
Consequently emotions are running very high, and understandably there are many questions about how and why it started, and how the authorities reacted, and who is going to pay for all the looting and destruction.
That is where we all will be affected, insurance premiums are likely to rise to cover the claims, and where insurance will not cover, and the 1886 riot act allows affected victims to claim against the local police force, we will end up paying high council tax or other taxes to cover the claims.
So the actions of the rioters (it is now officially recognised as a riot) have further devalued our whole society, damaged our international standing, and disrupted many peoples lives and livelihoods.
It is widely believed the riots were precipitated by the fatal shooting of a man by police a few days earlier. The circumstances are not clear. But it sparked much unrest and public speculation.
With such an unresolved situation, I can understand demonstrations about the incident, but I can find no justifiable reason for anyone to start to cause damage to property, or to threaten peoples safety. It seems that some people who are set on criminal activity may have used the incident as a catalyst and smoke screen to start a chain reaction of riotous events across our cities.
What was so staggering was the speed at which the incidents arose, and the diversity of locations. I have changed my mind several times about the way the riots spread and I am coming back to the strong possibility it was more than just 'copy cat' crimes but it may have involved a degree of gang land orchestration, with the view to stretch the authorities abilities to respond quickly and with sufficient numbers.
What I find encouraging is the large number of arrests the Police have made, but what is surprising is the diversity of age and occupation some of the rioters have. In some cases you would expect certain occupations to endow the person with enough social awareness and responsibility to not take up a criminal activity – but then it has been surprising to find doctors and lawyers be convicted of football hooliganism!
I am not trying to find excuses for the actions of these people, but I am drawn to the thought that our society fails to instil community values during our formative years, and the lack of these values can boil to the surface given the right stimulus.
There has been a lot of blame placed on poor parenting, and I have to agree with large proportion of that. Parents are our first teachers and role models, the foundations laid down in infancy remain with us through life, and as with any building if the foundations are poor the building will be unstable.
One thing that has struck me when viewing the scenes of the riots is how they reminded me of images I have seen from some of the video/computer games currently so popular. Are we seeing the effect of these games modifying some peoples perception of what is acceptable behaviour? Are they making the real world an extension of their fantasies? Can immature young people really tell there is a difference between theoretical pain or damage caused in a game and that caused in real life?
I have no doubt that many reasons will be offered up for the causes and mind sets of the people involved, but none of that can excuse the criminality of their actions.
Equally with the benefit of hindsight the actions and reactions of the authorities will be analysed. Failings will be found, but I personally don't think there should be a witch hunt for the heads of CPO's etc, the events that enfolded were totally without precedence and needed blue sky thinking on the hoof to try and understand and produce new strategies to mange the situations.
I am also certain there are no simple answers to what has happened or solutions to prevent it from happening again. I am also certain that we must not rush headlong into creating new legislation based solely on this one set of incidents. Care must be taken to ensure that any lessons are learnt carefully.
Earlier, some contributors compared the riots to the political expenses debeacale. In my view it is wrong to try and compare the two events. Fundamentally the rioters took lives and property, which is an entirely different ball game. Wrong doing was rife in both events and should be fully dealt with by the courts.
It was also suggested that Chief Police Officers should be elected to give them public accountability. I am personally against that as the concept for two reasons.
Firstly the job of a CPO is to police their area. That requires the person to have a skill set which frankly the majority of the electorate will not understand, and it is entirely possible the a less able candidate will be appointed.
And secondly having an election involves the candidates in producing electioneering propaganda and manifestos. Both these have enormous political overtones. We have seen from our politicians that elected representatives readily lie, and are as fickle as a chameleon.
Elections of this nature often lead to wild swings of policy and that leads to uncertainty and ineffectiveness, not to mention the costs of switching policy models.
I prefer to have an elected police board with the authority to appoint a CPO who is answerable to the authority, rather than directly to the electorate. This leads to a more consistent approach over successive CPO's. The board has the authority to remove the CPO if performance or other targets are not met.
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