Mike’s Minute: We wanted citizen arrest powers. Stop moaning

The trick, and we fail it virtually every time, is not to get bogged down in the minutiae.  There aren't prizes for coming up with dumb scenarios to try and catch the idea out.  Amending the law to allow greater use of locals to grab a scumbag and hold them till the coppers arise is a good, and welcome, idea.  If the Government is making tangible and positive progress anywhere, it's on the crime front.  More people are in jail, more people are being rounded up, more of us feel safe, the police feel better about doing their job, or being allowed to do their job, and the citizens arrest news is merely adding to that progress.  Coming up with scenarios about criminals bringing bigger weapons to robberies won't happen, the same way we haven't seen the gangs give the bird to the coppers over patches.  At the Prime Minister's press conference this week with Paul Goldsmith, Mark Mitchell, and Commissioner Richard Chambers, they were asked about there being more gang members, with the inference being the law is failing.  Yes, said Richard Chambers, there are more members because we are putting more groups on the register. And arrests aren't going up commensurately because gangs aren't flouting the law and retail thugs won't flout this one either.  Thugs are cowards and opportunists. They try it on because they know they can.  The moment they know a guard in a supermarket can jump on top of them they won't bother, the same way they tried to get work when the traffic light system came in for Jobseeker.  Bottom feeders are essentially lazy. If it's easy, they’ll abuse it or nick it. If you crack down the game's up and they will give up.  This sort of thing should be welcomed. This is what we wanted. Memories can't be so short that we have forgotten the madness that filled our streets just a year or so back.  The ram raids, the gangs, the blocked roads with their intimidation, the non-existent police to round them up, the endless criminals on ankle bracelets reoffending - we hated that! We got furious at that. A year and a bit later the change has happened, and the statistics have turned.  Let's not get bogged down in a petty game of "but what if".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.