INTERVIEW
Let’ take an example: define a
robbery? Perhaps you would think
of two people walking into a bank
and holding up the cashier, or people
walking into a petrol station armed
with baseball bats and stealing the
takings, or a kid of thirteen taking
a mobile phone from another
teenager? Well, believe it or not,
all these examples are classed and
logged as the same crime – robbery
- or at least that’s how all these
crimes have to be recorded. Another
good example is ‘threat to kill’. If
two adults had a row and it got out
of hand and one threatened to kill
the other, that would be classed as
a ‘threat to kill’. However if two
youngsters in a school playground
had a row and afterwards, one of
them texts the other saying ‘I’m
going to kill you’, that is also classed
and recorded as ‘a threat to kill’.
This gives just some idea of the
challenges Steph faces every day as
Police Chief.
Everybody
bemoans
crime
statistics, but it’s important to keep
things in perspective: says that the
Island had four robberies last month,
probably doesn’t mean four banks
were robbed, but more likely that
two handbags were snatched and
two mobile phones stolen. Having
said that, Steph Morgan has a zero
tolerance approach when it comes
to crime, which is why she says she
has chosen to police pro-actively:
“I am often in a no-win situation. I
instruct my officers to go to Ryde on
a Friday or Saturday night and arrest
anybody who’s causing a nuisance
or are too drunk to stand up, and
then these arrests go on my figures
as minor offences. Whereas, if my
officers left the situation to develop,
then we might be arresting the same
person later on that night for GBH,
or even murder. My approach is to
catch any potential trouble early
on. This saves us money, the local
council money, and the victims all
the heartache, but it does not do
my crime figures much good. Being
pro-active, however, does make the
Island a much safer place.”
Another area where Steph knows
there is a problem is drugs. The
Island’s drug statistics might
suggest that the Isle of Wight is a
drugs capital of Europe, which again
occurs because Step is very proactive when it comes to drugs, and
will not tolerate them:
“As a police force we are very proactive when it comes to drug. Only
last month, we carried out a raid on
18 Island addresses, which resulted
in the arrest of 17 drug dealers.
Taking out drug dealers is a main
priority for me - I will not tolerate
them, and if high figures are the
result of this action then so be it, I
will not just sit back and watch it
happen.”
Steph’s job really is an
unenviable one, because she’s
constantly doing battle with
the crime statistics: if she
does her job well, then the
figures will be high because
she is making high numbers
of arrests and being proactive, and yet if she sits
back and does nothing, the
crime figures will also be high.
Some might describe it as a
no-win situation for her.
A major problem seems to
be a lack of public awareness
of what really happens on the
Island, and how the modern
police force operates, so in
future editions of Island
Life we plan to uncover and
explain what really happens
on the Island, and what the
crime figures really mean.
“I’m really happy that Island
Life are going to give us the
chance to explain things better
to the public,” says Steph. “I
think it will show Islanders
just how safe and secure their
Island really is, and it will
give us a chance to explain
the real reasons behind all the
local gossip regarding police
matters.”
We all know that the Island has a lot less crime than the
mainland, that’s why most of us chose to move here!
Island Life - www.islandlifemagazine.net
Actual Crime
Statistics for
the Island.
Robberies - Anything
from snatching a handbag
to robbing a bank.
IW Average P/M - 0
National Avg P/M - 12
Theft of and from vehicles.
IW Average P/M - 4
National Avg P/M - 10
Burglary - Theft from
homes (non violent)
IW Average P/M - 2
National Avg P/M - 6.4
Sexual Offences Anything from pinching
a bottom to rape.
IW Average P/M - 2
National Avg P/M - 0.9
That’s Interesting!
n The police are not employees
they are servants of the crown,
n The police are not
allowed Ѽ