THE consultation by Thames Valley Probation Service, about the proposed location of a mega-probation centre in Mill Street, Oxford, which took place at the Town Hall on June 15, was a sham.
Their representatives went to remarkable lengths to deliver pre-prepared answers to virtually all possible questions from residents of West Oxford. We were treated to a plethora of answers that made one think it was a protest against a plan for too many vicar’s tea parties in the road.
The real ‘party’, though, is the planned presence of tens of thousands of offenders with backgrounds ranging from petty crime to sex offences and murder, in a road full of families and many elderly people.
One question chief officer Gerry Marshall seemed unable to answer, however, was how many of those on probation with his service had committed murders in the past year.
Instead, he referred me to some glossy handouts on a table and suggested I look there. So the chief officer holds in his head remarkable details of his plans for his luxury building, presumably down to the door knob he prefers for his office overlooking the Thames, but does not know trivial facts about murders.
Are we safe in his hands?
Robert Mitchell, Mill Street, Oxford
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