Civil liberty groups attack police name and shame policy

CIVIL liberties campaigners have slammed a police scheme launched in Medway this week to name and shame criminals by making details of punishments handed down by courts more widely available.

Kent police is one of the first forces in England and Wales to pump resources into making court results accessible through newspapers and websites.

But Civil Liberty, a human rights organisation, fears the system could be open to abuse by the force or individual officers who want to hide a name from public view or to manipulate successful prosecution statistics.

Police have said safeguards are in place and its rigorous procedures followed and checked.

The scheme, entitled Justice Seen, Justice Done, means police staff choose which names and offences are released, using guidelines drawn up by the government.

It will focus on the crimes of antisocial behaviour, speeding, drink driving and criminal damage. Previously, reporting the outcome of low-level cases relied on journalists being at court at the time of a trial.

Ministers and police chiefs hope the move will make the justice system more open to scrutiny.

But Steve Blake, spokesman for Civil Liberty said he believed the scheme was seriously flawed.

He said: "Readers want to know who the criminals are in their midst, where they live, what they have done and what punishment has been delivered.

"In practice I am very suspicious of police involvement in the reporting of court cases.

"Police would prefer to screen out the revenue raising cases and concentrate on the higher profile convictions for violence, theft and burglary; issues which the general public are most anxious about.

"It should be this complete list which is passed over to the media."

However, ACC Beautridge said safeguards were in place.

He said: "This has followed extensive consultation with our legal experts and is based on information supplied from the Magistrates' Courts across Kent. There is a rigorous process of scrutiny involving a number of checks but it is a matter of public record as the information we use is produced in open court.

"We will only be publicising crimes that relate to areas where the public have expressed high levels of concern - for example around criminal damage, anti social behaviour, drink-driving and the use of a mobile phone whilst driving."