Top police officer claims delays drive the public away from assisting justice

WITNESSES are so fed up with repeated delays at magistrates’ courts that they are not bothering to show up and give evidence, according to Camden police chief Mark Heath.
Chief Superintendent Heath (pictured) said minor cases which should be dealt with in six to eight weeks were dragging on for an average of six months at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, with one in three trials failing to going ahead on the date they were scheduled for.
Speaking at the launch of Camden Council’s Safer Camden Strategy at the General Medical Council in Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, he said: “If all the other agencies are working together to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour it’s not doing a lot of good if a witness or victim waits months to give evidence and then finds out the case is dropped, or that they have to wait so long that they give up.”
Later, speaking to the New Journal, he added: “The problem is volume; the courts open at 10.30am and are normally pretty quiet by 3 or 4pm.
“We have to ask how we can increase the capacity.
“Non-summary offences should be dealt with in six to eight weeks but they are taking six months on average.”
Mr Heath, a workaholic who regularly puts in 14-hour days and expects senior colleagues to make similar sacrifices, is understood to be privately exasperated that the courts are undermining his efforts to drive down crime.
In his last job before taking over in Camden last year he led a London-wide police review of the criminal justice system, urging closer monitoring of performance by the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts.
A spokesman for the Department of Constitutional Affairs, responsible for the UK courts, said: “The start time allows for defendants to be transported from prison and to consult with their lawyers before the hearing.
“We are working to reduce the number of ineffective trials and magistrates do sit on Saturday mornings when there is an urgent need.”
Overall crime fell by 11 per cent in Camden last year but violent crime rose by 17 per cent and police and the council both agree fear of crime is a harder problem to deal with.
Their joint strategy for dealing with crime over the next three years prescribes more of the measures that are already familiar in Camden, including increased community policing and a continued use of anti-social behaviour orders.