Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

We seem to have a culture of excuses thriving in this country at the moment that is top down. When apologists are at the helm it’s I guess where we end up. I noticed over the weekend it’s now crept into our policing.  We're now making excuses for repeat raiders of retail stores, the same way we made excuses for ram raiders. (Who, to refresh your memory, apparently only needed a bit of a talking to by their parents.) But reports of retail crime have nearly doubled in five years under Labour. That includes shoplifting, vandalism, ram raids, the whole gamut. Police and the retail sector confirm it’s ‘a violent trend.’  So why then are we making excuses for it?  How does that go anywhere towards fixing it? National says this spike in violent retail crime is evidence of a government soft on crime. Hard to argue with? Well not if you’re the Labour party, or it seems even the Police. Police national retail investigation manager was reported saying, "[The increase] is not actually a bad thing.” The increase is not ac