Crime
(Return to the manifesto)
The law enables organized crime to supply narcotics
Much crime is organized to profit from illegal import and sale where legal commerce cannot compete.
To limit these illegal opportunities we will decriminalize in particular the manufacture, sale and consumption of all classes of narcotics.
The resulting quality at the point of sale will improve health outcomes and reduce deaths significantly, while organized criminal recruitment and involvement in drug distribution will be a thing of the past.
The most lethal drug of choice, alcohol, has never been banned and will continue to kill more people and lead to more antisocial behaviour than all these decriminalized drugs put together ever have. We will continue public health initiatives to dissuade vulnerable users from substance abuse.
Extension of King's Evidence
We will reform and extend the use of King's Evidence, and in particular the policing of corruption. Anyone approached with an offer of criminal profit should be lawfully able to immediately and enthusiastically agree, contingent on his then giving heads-up notification to a guaranteed secure channel into police intelligence. Continuing to forward information should result in the informant getting the judge's thanks and a proportionate reward from the public purse when the schemers are found guilty in court.
This isn't encouraging people to participate in crime, it's what any reasonable citizen would do were the risk of being taken for a criminal, or exposed to danger as an informer, not the deterrent it currently must be. It would, among other things, bring to light much currently unrecognized white-collar crime. Whistle-blowing must be incorporated into crime prevention in a way that rewards social responsibility.
A larger proportion of these crimes could be prosecuted as conspiracy with the same penalties. This involves less risk to the public than only reacting once the crime had been committed. There is a major potential improvement in public safety if the police are aware of the planned crime before it happens.
The advent of AI as an intermediary in the initial contact and subsequent reporting phase can establish a far likelier cordon around the information and subsequent surveillance, which in turn provides potentially far more confirmation of the truth of the original report.