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Loquitur Talk by Detective Chief Superintendent (ret.) Richard Tucker

Oratory 6th Form had the privilege to be visited by Detective Chief Superintendent (ret.) Richard Tucker to share his wealth of experience and knowledge that he has acquired in his prestigious and exemplary career of 36 years.

Richard started with a brief introduction on the influence of the open borders mandate when the United Kingdom joined the European Union. He then proceeded to describe how the award of the hosting of the summer Olympic games in 2012 impacted crime in the East of London.

Thereafter, he proceeded to share some case related examples of the cost of individual cases to the MET and ultimately the general public, as well as the sociological implications of crime; ranging from the less serious volume crime to more serious crimes such as sexual offences as well as murders.

What was most notable from the talk was the overall approach to policing by the MET, the challenges that they face when policing, but above all, the compassion with which they protect and serve all the people living within the borders.

Werner Janse Van Rensburg, Lead Teacher of Oratory Psychology says "The students were engaged almost to the point of being enthralled by Richard's talk, especially when he spoke of the cases that took him to Lithuania, The Philippines and the United States of America in pursuit of criminals that have fled the Crown justice system. With a generous portion of the address set aside for Q&A, the students jumped at the opportunity and even stayed after our time had run out to continue to ask Det. Ch. Supt Tucker questions. He was very impressed by the questions that were asked of him and praised the students for their depth of knowledge and commended them on the evaluative and thought provoking nature of the questions."

U6th Former, William Muckalt, says "Oratory 6th Form psychologists enjoyed an amazing talk on Tuesday by Richard Tucker. Richard was very insightful into the impact the London Olympic games had on the police thanks to an influx of many migrant workers, as well as the poor living conditions many of them dwelled in, resulting in a huge jump in crime rates around London.

Richard shared some thrilling stories such as how he travelled to the Philippines to catch a murderer who had fled the country, and how the use of offender profiling helped him pin-point the criminals. We had the opportunity to ask many thought provoking questions, such as “Are the adverse mental health conditions prisoners develop ethical?” This allowed us to put our psychological knowledge to practice, and receive some amazing answers from a professional!

The talk gave us a much more realistic insight into what prison life is like and the psychological effects it can have, further developing our understanding of forensic psychology. Richard was so impressed with our questions that he has decided to take them to his superiors as he believes they are important questions that should be discussed to better policing and the justice system across the country! Thank you Richard for providing us with this phenomenal experience."

U6th Former, Lando Bilton says, "The loquitur talk with Mr Richard Tucker provided much insight into some beliefs and views that are necessary in order to preserve one's mental health whilst aiding the criminal justice system. This is partially owing to the difficulty of making sometimes life-changing decisions to combat crime in such harsh environments in order to better the standard of living for the majority of the surrounding society. Some of the questions I posed included the questioning of how the police force is trying to accommodate the progression of criminal justice in relation to sentencing and more specifically custodial sentencing. This question seemed important to ask because of the cost efficiency of these specific sentences being so low and the burden then being on the shoulders of society. From Mr Tuckers' response I ascertained a deeper understanding of the frequent re-evaluations of the different types of sentencings and that the Met is always looking to improve upon their already effective forms of retribution, confinement and rehabilitation. Another question I asked Mr Tucker was his personal opinion on sentencing as a deterent and if he thinks this works or if they are necessary? His response to this was extremely interesting, he does believe deterrents work well and that for most offenders they are definitely effective, because 'who wants to be locked up for 22 hours a day?' However, the deeper issue is the length of sentences that criminals face even after they have made radical changes. In this capacity, Mr Tucker helped me to take a different perspective and understand that the time in one's sentence, even after they have made changes to themselves, may be unnecessary but simultaneously perceived as a form of justice for the victim's family. However, I feel this needs to be evaluated to a greater extent and it would be interesting to see a beneficial change to the lengths of sentences that some criminals face even after change, possibly by implementing some form of psychological testing for differences in values and beliefs to criminals at different intervals throughout their sentence." 

 

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