Exploitation, prosecution cost recovery and 'unintelligent' parking among South's top issues

Police roadshow heads to Castle Rushen High School

Exploitation of young people, funding and cost recovery, 'unintelligent' parking, and frustrations over some of the Island's infrastructure are some of the issues raised at the latest police roadshow.

The third session got underway in Castletown last night which saw a sizeable handful of residents turn up for the chance to discuss the problems that matter to them, and to ask how they can be resolved.

One of the more unusual topics of discussion which hadn't previously been discussed at any of the other events was how the court system and sentencing works, and the extent to which someone prosecuted can be used to recover the finances spent bringing them to justice.

That would essentially be a full recovery procedure which looks at the time spent by officers in co-ordinating their investigations, all the way to what we hear regularly as 'prosecution costs'.  This figure would be calculated as presented for a judge to consider when delivering a sentence.

Currently, 'prosecution costs', only relates to bringing the prosecution - in other words, the cost of the administrative tasks, but doesn't account for police time and resources used to get to that position.

Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHKs Jason Moorhouse and Tim Glover were at the meeting, Manx Radio's Christian Jones asked what they thought of that idea:

Another of the big issues was raised by a couple of attendees who looked specifically at the exploitation of young people.

The chief constable has previously labelled that as one of his top priorities in trying to tackle.

But for those who are vulnerable and susceptible to being groomed, how much of a challenge is it for the force to target those at the top of the organised crime pyramid?

Superintendent Danny Rotchell explains: