Grieve: Back public against crime

Mr Grieve says people should not feel they were powerless to intervene

Adults should be able to challenge young people acting in an anti-social way without fear of prosecution, the shadow home secretary has said.

Dominic Grieve said people should not be encouraged merely to report such minor grievances to police.

He told the Independent people were being forced to "bleat" to police but said he was not promoting vigilantism.

The government has said a Green Paper on community involvement in the justice system will be published this spring.

But a Ministry of Justice spokesperson refused to confirm reports it will look at giving the public a greater say on how people convicted of low-level crimes in their neighbourhoods are dealt with.

According to the Guardian, the Green Paper will propose giving the public the right to vote on punishments such as cleaning graffiti.

Empower citizens

Mr Grieve said the Tories would re-write current rules to give police officers more discretion when dealing with people who intervene in low-level crimes.

The public have come round to seeing the police as more likely to bite them than do something about the problems in the community Dominic Grieve

At the moment, police across the UK advise people not to put themselves at risk if they come across young people acting in an anti-social way or committing a crime.

Mr Grieve also said police were wasting their time investigating trivial offences.

While not defending people who used excessive force or vigilantism, Mr Grieve said he wanted to "stop people feeling that they could not intervene in their own neighbourhoods to prevent bad behaviour".

"There is no doubt - the police say their discretion has been eroded," he told the paper.

"If somebody comes in to a police station and makes an allegation clearly of the most trivial character they nevertheless have to go through a process of dealing with it which may involve going round and confronting the person against whom the trivial allegation has been made."

He said people have become willing "to go running off to the police to bleat about the most minor matters" because they feel powerless to do anything themselves.

"... the public have come round to seeing the police as more likely to bite them than do something about the problems in the community around them."

Mr Grieve, a QC and shadow attorney general, added that if the police were allowed to show discretion, it would restore people's confidence in dealing with low-level crimes.

His comments come after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said people were the "best weapon in fighting crime and anti-social behaviour".

She said the public would get a "clear deal" on what to expect from their local forces, under a "policing pledge" initiative being rolled out this year.

All 43 police forces in England and Wales have promised to set priorities with local communities and updating them on progress at least once a month.