Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner candidate says ‘cops must not be scared to offend’

A candidate for Bedfordshire’s police and crime commissioner role has said ‘police need to stop being scared of offending people’ after calling for a burka ban in the county.

Toni Bugle who is running for the English Democrats and is the founder of Mothers Against Radical Islam And Sharia, which has previously been linked to groups such as the English Defence League, has spoken out about why she’s going for the role in the May election.

Her suggestions include: big business paying for policing; burkas banned as they can be used to protect the identities of criminals; and that police must stop worrying about being ‘politically correct’ to do their job.

She told BoS: “These big businesses such as Luton Airport or Luton Town Football Club, take up a lot of police time, and should therefore be expected to shell out to pay for them.”

And as for her burka plan, she claims this should not be interpreted as a racial decision.

She said: “Being able to see someone’s face in society is extremely important so you know what their intentions are and burkas and niqabs stop this.

“I have no problem with hijabs but for someone to potentially be able to hide their face from CCTV cameras while committing a crime from is not acceptable.”

But Ms Bugle insists she is not an Islamophobe, a racist, or even ‘far right’. She said: “I am definitely not far right, I prefer to think of myself as middle centre and I’m certainly not an extremist.”

And while she has hit out at some particular members of far right groups calling them ‘Neo-Nazi pillocks’ she admits she can see where they come from.

She said: “I am not at all a supporter of the EDL, but I can see where they are coming from and I can see why they are cross.

“As a nation we are on the brink of a civil war and I don’t want to see any innocent people attacked, not in my beautiful England and we can combat this with my changes to policing.

“In the past we have had the best police force in the world, and that is no longer the case as they are scared of being interpreted as racists or bigots for doing their job.

“But with the proposals I have suggested, we can get back to that and have a force we are proud of.”

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