Published: Wednesday, 21st October, 2009 8:00am

'Prison is not the answer' - Reading police chief

by Adam Hewitt

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SHORT sentences for burglars mean prison is failing as a means to stop their crime, says Reading's police commander.

Supt Steve Kirk, speaking at the quarterly Safer Reading Campaign meeting on Monday night, said: "There's an issue with sentencing. A couple of weeks ago we had a burglar who got sent to prison for 10 weeks, who will serve four or five. Then we start again.

"Catching them is one of the worst ways to stop it. Prison is not necessarily the answer."

He said that community sentences were seen by some as a "soft option" but that he actually finds them one of the most useful punishments because they can help tackle the reasons burglars commit the crime in the first place, such as drug addiction.

Speaking to councillors and the chairmen and -women of the borough's anti-crime forums at the Civic Centre meeting, he said: "If we can somehow work at the fundamental issue that's causing that person to offend, we have a chance of stopping it. Plus the more work we can do on the pre-sentence report, the more informed the court can be when sentencing."

Peppard ward Tory councillor Jamie Chowdhary said if courts were handing out lenient sentences, one solution could be American-style tracking, where once out of prison burglars could be tagged so police always know where they are.

But Supt Kirk said this was not possible in Britain, beyond current tagging aimed at ensuring someone stays in one place at certain times.

Tory Mark Ralph accused the police of failing Caversham, which has seen a spike in burglaries, even though Reading-wide burglary has fallen by 14% compared to last year.

He said if the police know who the burglars are, as they claim, then they should be able to lock them up.

Supt Kirk admitted that over the summer Caversham was being hit "from all sides" by home-grown and roving burglars, but added: "Caversham went from very few burglaries to a lot and is now comparable to other areas in Reading - the river was a bit of a moat at one point and it isn't any more. It's not more prevalent than elsewhere in Reading, it's just a new phenomenon."