A stitch in time.

Plod have been in and out like the bird on some cheap and nasty Swiss Clock today, in the aftermath of our great spate.

It takes a thief a minute to grab something and get out.

On those few occasions when the thief is spotted we and the County's finest are then tied up in knots for hours. Viewing CCTV footage, gathering or giving interviews, filing reports. Then the so-and-so gets called to court where, if he or she should happpen to turn up the magistrate will slap down an £80 fine that doesn't even begin to cover the costs incurred.

They might, just might, if they offend and are convicted repeatedly eventually find themselves kicked out of their social housing but then they only end up on the street having to commit more socially damaging crimes to support themselves or some other Housing Association has to take them in.

As often as not they don't bother to turn up at court. They're already drawing social welfare so they don't have the funds to pay any fine that does happen to be handed down.

This is insanity. We can't name and shame them. In fact our capacity to institute any kind of deterrent is severely restricted. We can't lay a hand on them when they do offend lest we find ourselves in receipt of a charge of assault.

The couple I was tipped off about are to receive a visit from the Constabulary tomorrow morning. Very early tomorrow morning. This sort of he-man style action doesn't happen when Plod are after those coyly named ShopLifters. No, they're obviously after them for something more serious and it relates not just to us but the other two leading retailers in town.

In the mean time Scabby Lou's mate has had her flat gone over by Drug Squad or whatever they're called these days. Scabby Lou's mate spent a year and a half locked up with her two children in an apartment in France somewhere by psychotic boyfriend. Mother and children were eventually rescued by the maternal grandmother who effectively abducted them and smuggled them back into the UK. The older child, when she started school, was still unable to speak and spent her early school days cowering beneath a desk miaowing like a cat.

What possible chance do any of these people have. It's all very well for the David Davies of this world to demand we get tougher on social delinquency, but when you look at the almost vacant shell of a human being that is Scabby Lou what possibly could there be to come down tough on?