David Ruffley

UNTRAINED civilians are being given mobile phones and reflective jackets by police and asked to patrol their own streets, tackling thugs or criminals if they need to.

The volunteers will be unleashed in a pilot scheme to crack down on antisocial behaviour, dealing with problems from yobs causing trouble in local parks, to dog-walkers who allow their pets foul pavements.

However, critics warn that the new breed of frontline volunteers could themselves be vulnerable to attack because they will have few real powers and insufficient training.

POLICE spent a record Pounds 22.1million on interpreters last year as the number of foreign offenders soared, it emerged yesterday.

Forces are having to hire agency staff to read immigrant law-breakers their rights and translate for officers questioning them.

Figures show spending mushroomed 63 per cent from Pounds 13.5million in 2003, with even rural forces dealing with 70 languages.

POLICE spending on interpreters has rocketed by more than 60 per cent to £22million a year, following the recent influx of migrants.

Some forces have seen their translation bill soar by more than 400 per cent, as regions previously untouched by mass migration absorb large numbers of arrivals from Eastern Europe.

The Conservatives said this was draining taxpayers' cash from priority areas such as fighting crime.

Tory police spokesman David Ruffley, who unearthed details of the spending surge, said: 'These figures suggest we are importing more foreign criminals.

POLICE forces are having to spend more than pounds 22 million a year on hiring interpreters for foreign criminals, new figures show.

The overall cost has risen by two thirds in the past five years, but for some individual forces the amount paid to translators has increased by 400 per cent.

David Ruffley, the shadow police minister, said the cost of translators was unacceptable and was putting a strain on police budgets.

LABOUR was last night blasted for claiming success in the war on crime - as it was revealed figures were fixed to hide soaring violence like GBH.

Tory shadow police minister David Ruffley said: "It is sheer hypocrisy to now blame this surge on an accounting error."

FOOTBALL violence has EXPLODED among fans at lower league clubs, new figures show.

The number of arrests rose by more than a QUARTER last season-from 1,496 in 2006/7 to 1,900-at non-Premiership matches.

Offences included carrying weapons, throwing missiles, arson and assault, the Government figures reveal.

It comes a few months after the Home Office boasted how arrests at Premiership games had plummeted by 46 per cent in the last three years.

David Ruffley MP has welcomed news from the Highways Agency that the new dual carriageway on the A14 Haughley New Street to Stowmarket Improvement will be fully open to traffic in both directions from Monday 1 September. The finishing touches to the £32 million scheme are due to be completed by the end of 2008.

David Ruffley MP has today released a letter he has received from the Highways Agency detailing the problems encountered at the site of the former Rookery Crossroads and the proposed work to correct it.

In the short term the Highways Agency have stated that 'patching work' will be carried out and agents will collect cores from the carriageway to help the Agency find a permanent solution. For this work to be done an overnight total closure of the carriageway will be necessary.

David said:

David Ruffley MP has this week commented on the Healthcare Commission's Urgent and Emergency Care Review on the Suffolk PCT area.

Overall Suffolk falls within the top performing areas, however, it falls into the lowest category for the percentage 'of patients transported to A & E by ambulance where the turnaround takes over 15 minutes'.

David has written to the Chief Executive of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Hayden Newton, asking for an explanation for the poor performance.

David said:

David Ruffley MP has today applauded the hard work of nurses at the West Suffolk Hospital following the second annual preceptorship and innovation awards at the hospital.