Vera Baird DBE KC

Chair Criminal Cases Review Commission. Member Women’s Justice Bd.
Ex Victims’ Commissioner, Solicitor Gen & PCC. Fellow St Hilda’s Oxford. Writer. Labour Party

Category: Media

  • Vera Baird speaks of commitment to stamping out Modern Day Slavery

    Police arrest a man in connection with Modern Day Slavery in Blyth.

    The arrest follows an on-going investigation by the Blyth Neighbourhood Policing Team into reports of people working without payment and living in squalor in private accommodation in the town.

    On Tuesday, March 15, a 44-year-old man was arrested for assault and Modern Day Slavery. He has been released on bail pending further enquiries.

    The activity forms part of Operation Merlin – an initiative ran by the Blyth Neighbourhood Policing Team to protect the most vulnerable in the community and work with partners to provide help for residents who need it the most.

    Modern Day Slavery includes a person being exploited through domestic servitude, sex trafficking and forced labour.

    Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird said: “We will not tolerate the enslaving of anyone. Everyone has the right, and is entitled to be free. Here in Northumbria we are fully committed to stamping out all forms of modern day slavery and human trafficking, and this arrest proves that we will take swift and direct action where any such offences are suspected to be taking place.

    “It’s important people realise that these offences can happen on our doorstep, right here in the North East, and we need to ensure people caught up in these terrible situations have access to the help and safety they need.

    “I urge anyone with any concerns to seek help – our officers will offer full support and bring offenders to justice.”

    Chief Inspector, Nicola Musgrove, said: “Safeguarding vulnerable children and adults is a key priority for us and we are committed to minimising harm in communities.

    “Modern day slavery is a hidden crime and can happen anywhere, in all sections of the community and we investigate reports of this nature thoroughly.

    “This arrest is a direct result of community intelligence and we urge people to look out for potential victims and if you are concerned or have any suspicions to contact police straight away.

    “Our enquiries are ongoing and I would urge people to be vigilant and if something doesn’t look or feel right I would ask them to contact us.

    Anyone who may have concerns is asked to contact police on 101 or alternatively Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

  • “PAY UP” says Police & Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird QC.

    Northumbria’s Police & Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird has insisted that Conservative Chancellor, George Osborne must pay back over £1 million pound to Northumbria Police.

    Mr Osborne has been reprimanded by an official statistics watchdog – after he cut police funding for Northumbria despite promising not to.

    The Tories also used the council tax precept by planning a budget that included an assumption local residents in Northumbria would pay £5 a year more for their policing with no consultation with local people, police & crime commissioners or council leaders.

    PCC Vera Baird, said: “All of Osborne’s bravado last year was hot air – we knew at the time he had cut police budgets and this has been confirmed by the UK Statistics Authority. The government manipulated the figures, assumed a council tax increase of £5 to just maintain the services. The Police Grant that we receive from government is less, it’s wrong that the government forced the police to keep services at their current level by imposing a £5 increase with no consultation.”

    Here in Northumbria, police funding is made up of a grant from central government and the police precept element of the council tax. The government put their funding package together including a £5 increase. Forces then have money taken off them through “top slicing”, this is where money is used to pay for national schemes.

    Vera Baird added: “In relation to the Police Precept, it is normally the role of police & crime commissioners to determine an increase, if at all. This time the government put in place the £5 increase – if this amount had not been included, our police force would have received even less funding. Northumbria has also had £1.2 million directly removed and I want it back. I want this money to invest in policing to ensure we keep bobbies on the beat and that Northumbria remains one of the safest places in the country to live.”

    Vera Baird will be meeting the Shadow Home Secretary, Andy Burnham and the Shadow Policing Minister, Jack Dromey, to urge them to keep the pressure on the Chancellor , to get him to correct the record and find the extra money to honour his promise.

    Since 2010, Northumbria Police budget has been cut by the Tories and Lib Dems by more than £100 million, this has resulted in the force loosing 861 police officers and nearly 1000 police staff.

  • Think Twice!

    Vera Baird SBE KC

    The plea follows an increase in the number of reports received by police in Sunderland and South Tyneside about teenagers and young people posting images of themselves on social network sites of a sexually explicit nature.

    Officers are asking youngsters to think carefully about the content they post online and are reminding them that these images have the potential to be shared worldwide with strangers and online criminals.

    Southern Area Command Superintendent Sarah Pitt said: “If you are posting images of a sexually explicit nature you are putting yourself at risk of unwanted contact from other teenagers, harrassment, bullying and exploitation from cyber criminals.

    “Never send or share an explicit image in a text or over the internet. However much you trust the person you are sending it to you have no idea where it could end up.

    “It’s also important to be aware that you may also be committing a criminal offence for which you could be arrested. The consequences of this could follow you into your adult life and in certain circumstances may affect your prospects of a career.

    “The internet is an essential tool and social networking sites are a popular way for young people to communicate but we need to make sure they stay safe online and know how to use it responsibly.

    “Anyone who may have concerns about images they have shared or received should speak with a trusted adult or the police straight away.

    “We will be working with local schools across both Sunderland and South Tyneside to educate teenagers around the risks and their personal responsibility to ensure they use social media responsibly, it is a great tool for them to keep in contact with their friends but there are risks attached and these risks can be greatly increased by the content they post.”

    Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird, said: “The internet plays such an important part of everyday life for so many young people, especially with social networking being a popular way to communicate. It’s very important that we make sure young people stay safe online and are aware of the risks and what they can do to avoid them.”

    For more information about staying safe online please visit:

    http://www.northumbria.police.uk/esafety

  • PCC Vera Baird – delighted Wildlife Crime Unit has been saved from closure

    Vera Baird SBE KC

    Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird has expressed delight at news that the UK’s specialist unit for wildlife law enforcement will continue, following a successful national campaign to prevent its closure.

    It was feared that The Wildlife Crime Unit, which tackles wildlife crime would be forced to close at the end of March due to Government funds being axed. However, on Tuesday, March 1st, it was announced that four years’ worth of funding has been secured keeping it open until 2020.

    Vera Baird, said: “This is a great victory for campaigners. The Government had to be pushed into funding this unit and I am pleased they finally came to their senses, recognising the importance of this vital work in tackling wildlife crime. Unfortunately other areas of the police budget have not been protected in the same way.

    “Across Northumbria we are fortunate to have some fantastic wildlife and we need to do all we can to protect it. Without this unit, crimes like badger baiting and the slaughter of wild birds of prey would have been forced to go uninvestigated. We need this unit because its members are specially trained to respond to these crimes and work with our officers to prevent animal cruelty and prosecute the criminals responsible.

    “As a country, we need to strengthen our stance against these crimes and I’m pleased the unit will be able to continue its efforts in investigating wildlife crime and working hard to put a stop to it.”

    Anyone who sees an incident involving the harming of wildlife or witnesses a crime against wildlife should report it to Northumbria Police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.

  • Protecting our Emergency Services

    Vera Baird SBE KC

    Northumbria Police and our Fire Services work closely together and have developed great partnership working and I am keen to see this continue.

    I don\’t believe that the Fire Service should come under the control of Police & Crime Commissioners, but I do believe the government has a duty to ensure all of our emergency services are properly funded.

    The article in the Chronicle shows how our region is losing out – I will continue to work with Councillors, MPs and partners to ensure the North East\’s voice is heard loud and clear.

  • North East PCCs call for debate to reduce alcohol consumption.

    Vera Baird SBE KC

    A major conference in Durham today has called for changes in the licensing laws for alcohol. The key outcomes of the conference are expected to form the basis of a debate in Parliament.

    Over one hundred people from decision-making bodies met with the North East’s three Police and Crime Commissioners at the Durham Centre in Belmont to hear about the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption, and to share ideas about how consumption might be reduced. As well as the Police and Crime Commissioners, speakers at the event included:

    – Jon Foster, Senior Research and Policy Officer, Institute of Alcohol Studies

    – Professor Dorothy Newbury Birch, Professor of Alcohol and Public Health Research, Teesside University

    – Colin Shevills, Director of Balance

    Ron Hogg, Police and Crime Commissioner for County Durham and Darlington, said “There has been a 57% increase in alcohol-related deaths since 1994. As well as the tragic consequences for the families concerned, this means that resources are being used by the emergency services which could be better committed elsewhere.”

    Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird, said “It’s vital that we work together to reduce the cost to society of alcohol related harm by changing attitudes, deterring offenders and tackling irresponsible supply.

    “Many residents are calling for a lower drink drive limit, which in Scotland has led to a 17% reduction in drink-drive offences. I give my full support to this and, along with my fellow PCCs in the region, will continue campaigning for its implementation.”

    Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland, Barry Coppinger, said “Our hardworking emergency services are all too aware of the long term effects of excessive drinking and the impact on their resources and our communities. This debate is long overdue and I firmly believe that our experts in the North East have a valid and relevant story to tell in helping to inform this debate.”

    I believe that a minimum unit price for alcohol would serve to reduce consumption and improve community safety.’

    The three PCCs are working with local MPs to secure a debate in Parliament, to review the licensing laws.

  • PCC Vera Baird says In Northumbria sex abuse complainants will be believed as all other complainants are

    Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird, is in complete disagreement with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan Howe who has suggested that police should not believe sex abuse complainants, in contrast to the way every other complainant is dealt with.

    He has said: \”There is a grave danger at the moment with the advice that is around that there is a tendency to always believe any complaint that is made and that\’s not wise for any good investigator.\”

    Vera Baird said: “The Met Commissioner has been criticised for the investigations into two peers whose names were published at an early stage before there can have been evidence to justify a charge, because no charges were ever brought. The key problem was the irresponsible, presumably glory-seeking, publication of their names, not that complaints should not be believed in sexual abuse cases in the same way that a burglary victim is believed and their complaint investigated.

    “Thousands of victims of sexual abuse have been denied justice through the attitude the Met Commissioner now advocates. Sexual abuse is extremely difficult to report, because of its intimate nature and its undermining impact on victims. They have to be told that police will not doubt them as they have habitually done in the past but will believe them as they do in any other kind of complaint, ensure that they get support and investigate the case thoroughly.

    \”In Northumbria we have been judged highly for our investigation of sexual exploitation and domestic abuse. We intend to continue to rely on what complainants say and to give them support. We will investigate thoroughly, not rushing to publicise inappropriately, simply doing a thorough policing job to determine whether a case should go forward to the CPS. We encourage any person who is suffering from any kind of crime to come forward to report it and they will get help.”

  • David Cameron a man of many words and little action

    David Cameron has today said that prison reform has been a “scandalous failure” for years and has pledged  to make it the “great progressive cause” of politics.  Ironically, the Prime Minister has expressed the same concerns nearly a decade ago when in 2007 he said that prison reform was one of the key planks of his “central mission”.

    Northumbria’s Police & Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird QC said “I’m very sceptical about what David Cameron has to say on prison reforn, he tends to re-hash his words every year and then deliver nothing.  The failures that he condemns are his own – since the Tories entered Downing Street in 2010 we have seen over stretched prison staff dealing with violence and overcrowding”.

    We have seen these problems first hand in our region.  Last year, HMP Northumberland was branded “shambolic” by campaign group the Howard League for Penal Reform, has seen massive staffing cuts and prison officers have raised concerns about safety over staff levels and growing unrest among inmates.  Staff levels dropped from 441 in 2010 to 270 in 2013.

    The former Chief Inspector for Prisons in England and Wales, Nick Hardwick, has told Cameron and his government that action needs to be taken. Hardwick made it clear to ministers that a 69% rise in self-inflicted deaths in jails is unacceptable in a civilised society and he warned that the public were being put at risk by a “political and policy failure in jails”.

    Since Hardwick took up his post in 2010, he has published a series of increasingly damning reports documenting the depth of the growing crisis inside jails in England and Wales. His reports have also highlighted the growing toll of prison suicides and a rising tide of violence behind bars.

    Vera Baird said “I commend Nick Hardwick for the issues he has raised over the years, if it had not been for his leadership things would be a lot worse than they already are.  There is no getting away from it, David Cameron should hang his head in shame.  Despite his promises, Cameron hasn’t tackled the drug abuse in prisons, he hasn’t tackled the problems that privatisation of prisons has caused  and he hasn’t tackled the violence, squalor and idleness that the Chief Inspector of prisons referred to in his Annual Report 2014-15”.

    Mrs Baird added “Nick Hardwick has tried his best to convince the government to take action, it’s a pity his findings fell on deaf ears.  Now is the time for Cameron and Gove to buck up and get this problem sorted.  Labour has long called for governors of successful prisons to be given greater autonomy and for prisons to become more rehabilitative – something the government is now suggesting, but given Cameron’s failures since 2007, I’m not confident that he will succeed”.

  • Keeping cops on the beat.

    The Police and Crime Panel for Northumbria have unanimously approved the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner’s proposed increase to the police precept (the police element of the council tax) of 10p per week for a band D property. The Chief Constable confirms that this figure which is £5 per year will enable him to retain 100 officers over the spending review period of four years.

    Following public consultation, which was mainly complimentary about the police and supportive of the rise, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird QC, said:

    “Despite Chancellor Osborne saying that he was not cutting funding to police, the only way in which that is true is if every PCC in the country raises their precept by the maximum amount possible. The Government is telling the ten police forces with the lowest police precept to increase by the sum of £5 per band D house per year and Northumbria is one of those forces.

    “The Chief Constable and I are determined to keep officers on the street and preserve high standards of policing, and as your Commissioner, I’m left with no choice but to raise the precept to ensure the police have the resources to cut crime and continue delivering excellent neighbourhood policing for the people of Northumbria.

    “Northumbria has the lowest police precept in the country at £88.33.  The National Audit Office agrees with me that we have suffered the worst cuts out of all 43 forces in England and Wales. Since 2009 we have lost almost 900 police officers and hundreds of staff due to those Government cuts.  We will still have to lose more because there are still cuts, albeit some of them are hidden and labelled ‘top-slicing’.

    “The figure of £2.05m which will be raised by increasing the precept by 10p a week, £5 a year, will not replace those funding cuts but our funding will be significantly less without it and the Chief Constable tells me that 100 more officers would have to go if I do not make this increase.

    “This money will be invested to benefit the communities served by Northumbria Police, keeping 100 officers on the streets and helping to preserve high policing standards and the force’s national reputation for victim satisfaction.

    “The Chancellor did not consult either me or the public before dictating this course of action but we have asked the public for their views and I am pleased to say that most responses accepted the need to keep officers on the beat and expressed the view that 10p a week is a very small increase to pay for that security.”

    Councillor Gary Haley, Chair of the Northumbria Police and Crime Panel, said: “Local residents have made it very clear that they want to keep officers on the streets and the clear steer from Government has been that the local residents should pick up the tab for their withdrawal of funding. At a time of swingeing cuts from the Government who have been using an out of date funding formula, the Commissioner has been left with no choice but to raise the precept in order to protect police numbers and help keep our local communities safe.”

  • Vera Baird urges Home Secretary to take action.

    Following news that American blogger Daryush Valizadeh known as Roosh V has organised rallies in various cities across the world this weekend, including Newcastle, Northumbria’s Police & Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird QC, has written to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, urging her to ban Roosh V from entering the United Kingdom.

    Valizadeh is urging people who share his extreme anti-female views, which include that rape on private property should be legal and that women should not be able to vote, to meet in Newcastle on Saturday.

    Vera Baird said “Valizadeh views are abhorrent and not something that we want in Newcastle.  He has produced videos described as ‘ thinly veiled guides to rape’ by those who have seen them. He needs to receive a loud and clear message that he is not speaking for Newcastle and that the police will arrest and prosecute any actions or words amounting to incitement or encouragement to sexual assault or which might be hate crime”

    Mrs Baird added “The Home Secretary can ban people from entering the United Kingdom, a number of people who have fostered hatred have been banned from our country.  The UK Border Agency can turn someone away if they feel a persons “character, conduct or associations” would not be “conducive to the public good”, Valizadeh clearly fits this criteria – so if he is thinking of coming to the United Kingdom this weekend, the Home Secretary and UK Border Agency have grounds to refuse him entry”.

    A spokesperson for Northumbria Police said: “We want to reassure residents in Newcastle after media coverage has appeared in recent days in relation to the ‘Return of the Kings event’ that is proposed to take place in the city on Saturday night. Our view, along with every other reasonable person, is that everything this group stands for is abhorrent and there is no place for it in our city.

    “We will have extra officers on patrol in the area around Greys Monument on Saturday evening to reassure members of the public and monitor what, if any, activity takes place. We will deal with any incidents swiftly and will not tolerate any acts that incite or encourage individuals to commit criminal offences. Newcastle is a safe, diverse and welcoming city and we will not allow the actions of a very small minority to jeopardise this.”