Steve Wood, a former President of the Certificated Enforcement Agents Association (CEAA) has had his say on the amendments we discussed in a recent blog of ours…
“The announcements are hot air” is how Mr. Wood refers to the changes to police powers, and as we laid out in our last blog, we’re in complete agreement with him.
Common Law and Civil Law have always been applied to trespassing situations, often preventing criminal damage, community disruption and environmental disturbance, by stopping them in their tracks.
The police’s new powers might enable them to act more quickly, but the travellers and other trespassers they seek to move on will be well ahead of them, and fully abreast of how malleable and open to interpretation the new laws are.
In fact, they aren’t even ‘new’ laws, just extensions on laws that have been around a long, long time.
As we said all along, leaving things down to ‘potential’ and ‘intent’ is about as reliable as a chocolate fireguard – offenders will find the loopholes if they are there.
Mr. Wood isn’t being disrespectful to the police with his comments and use of the term ‘hot air’, as he has over 25 years’ experience in the eviction and removal of trespassers from illegal encampments, and therefore knows firsthand just how difficult and demanding the task can be.
We think that he’s just being realistic, in recognising how an underfunded, understaffed and poorly resourced institution like the police, can’t possibly be successful with removing trespassers and illegal encampments from an increasing number of sites.
We haven’t used ‘hot air’, but we feel ‘paper exercise’ is just as appropriate…
The amendments don’t make it easier for the police to act, they just give them more to do.
We are perfectly placed to remove trespassers and illegal encampments. Our 100% success rate shows that.
We’re not knocking the police, far from it, we’re reminding our clients that for the best results in the quickest possible time, using a company like ours at #TeamCES is always the best way forward.
