Food link to crime?

POLICE and politicians agreed at a meeting in Uckfield on Sunday that chaotic lifestyles, food additives and E-numbers play a large part in creating the villains of today.

Three MPs, a police chief inspector, a magistrate and a prison chaplain came together for a discussion on crime and punishment.

All shared concern about the nutritional health of the country and supported studies being carried out to investigate its effect on behaviour.

Labour MP for Kemptown Dr Des Turner wanted to see nutritional values improved in the home and in prisons. He said behaviour was affected by additives.

Lewes LibDem MP Norman Baker said: 'You are what you eat'. He described additives and E numbers as dangerous and said we were not particularly healthy eaters in this country. He added that colours and noise also made a difference to people's behaviour.

Chief Insp Samantha Coates said that getting chaotic lifestyles and poor diet under control did make a difference to behaviour.

Hyperactive

And Conservative MP Charles Hendry said more children than ever were now hyperactive. Studies were looking at their behaviour and the effect of cutting additives from food.

Prison chaplain at Lewes the Rev Martin Batstone told how it had been noticed there that the behaviour of people changed for the better once they were on the prison diet of three meals a day rather than their customary fast food snacks.

The meeting, chaired by Mr Doug Scott, from the Uckfield URC/Methodist Partnership Liaison Group, was held at the town's United Reformed Church.

Panellists agreed that the root causes of crime were greed and need, and concern was shared that drugs were more dangerous than alcohol and tobacco.

In talking about police resources Mr Baker said they were back to the levels of 1997. More police were needed, more money and more bobbies on the beat.

Mr Hendry said he was appalled at the graffiti appearing and the fact that people were afraid to go out at night. He said the village and town bobby with their local knowledge were worth more on the streets than police in cars.

Mr Turner said there was too much paperwork and Mr Baker said the police needed to waste less time taking prisoners to custody suites, processing information and on escort duty.

Chief Insp Coates said that each officer on each shift spent an hour on the beat and she stressed the importance of people reporting every crime, no matter how small, because that helped in the allocation of resources. She said resources had been targeted in Buxted after a run of burglaries on garden sheds and an arrest made there.