Peter Hitchens questioned whether the public would notice if all police officers in the UK were ‘abducted by aliens‘ on the latest episode of the ‘Alas Vine & Hitchens’ podcast.
In conversation with co-host and Mail columnist Sarah Vine, the broadcaster and best-selling author criticised the lack of police presence on Britain’s streets, with criminals seemingly able to get away with all manner of petty crime, such as speeding or theft.
The ONS released figures last year that suggested crime in the UK had leaped by 10% between 2023 and 2024.
Hitchens added that the lack of proper policing has wider societal implications, the most problematic being the encouraging of more serious criminality.
‘The police have to be one of the most useless organisations on the face of the planet’, Hitchens declared.
‘If the whole police forces of England, Wales, and Scotland were abducted by aliens tonight, how long would it take us to notice?
‘Council tax bills are going up: you can see how much money you’re giving to these invisible people. Where are they?
Peter Hitchens: ‘If the whole police forces of England, Wales, and Scotland were abducted by aliens tonight, how long would it take us to notice?’ Listen here
Peter Hitchens: ‘I am old enough to remember when the police used to be an effective force.’ Listen here
‘If you enforce the small rules, then the big rules are respected. The moment people see the small rules being neglected, they start ignoring bigger and bigger rules, until serious crime and disorder become evident.’
Hitchens proposed that a laxer approach to neighbourhood policing began in his youth, with the merging of smaller forces leaving the wider institution more bureaucratic and impotent.
He argued: ‘I am old enough to remember when the police used to be an effective force, preventively patrolling the streets on foot.
‘There were stations in every area, police houses in every village: it was a presence which seriously deterred disorder on a large scale.
‘This ceased to be the case sometime around 1965 and 1985, in my view. In the sixties, Roy Jenkins, then Home Secretary, became beguiled by some innovative police chiefs.
‘They were having recruitment problems – so Jenkins decided to take police off the beat and put them in cars, making them react to crime instead of preventing it. He was completely wrong.’
Columnist Sarah Vine said that while she understood her co-host’s frustrations, it’s too simplistic to blame rising crime on just the police, with an over-stretched judiciary and Crown Prosecution Service also at fault.
Peter Hitchens: ‘The police have to be one of the most useless organisations on the face of the planet.’ Listen here
‘My son was mugged at knifepoint outside my house in West London last year’, Vine revealed.
‘The police came, and they were very good. What was interesting to me though was that with his stolen phone, the thieves had started messaging some of his friends on Snapchat.
‘They were able to trace the phone to someone who had already stolen a car – and he’d begun sending some of my son’s money to his personal bank account. They knew who he was.
‘He was probably called in by the police, but I think the CPS decided that it wasn’t worth prosecuting… so it’s also the judiciary at fault here.’
Hitchens concurred, arguing that people repeatedly evading prison sentences has inversely caused more strain on the system.
‘Prison is much harder to get into that university these days’, Hitchens said.
‘What matters is not how many people you send to prison, but when you send them to prison.
‘What we do now is wait until someone has committed 40 or 50 offenses before they come anywhere near close to imprisonment.
‘That means that by the time people get to prison they’re already confirmed recidivists, and it won’t do the slightest bit of good for them.’
Listen to Alas Vine & Hitchens, with Sarah Vine and Peter Hitchens wherever you get your podcasts now. New episodes are released every Wednesday.
