Apparently it's bad blogging form to just post up a link to an article elsewhere and then give a few opinionated comments about it.
Oh well.
It's Friday and I'm waiting for some work to finish so I'll do it anyway.
According to the BBC, click here, the Police are to hold talks with several south London gangs. Greenwich is one of the Councils involved.
Now on the one hand it's worked in America so there's got to be something to it.
On the other is it just giving the little scruts the attention, profile and "respect" that some say they are after? Without the guns and violence the closest those gang members would get to a senior police officer would be passing them by in the Police Station as they're dragged to the cells for stealing cheap cider from Morrisons. So they listen to some big guy rapping about rolling with his gun packing homies, think they're in down town LA rather than SE7 and start popping caps in peoples bottoms.
So anyway you end up with feral children with no hopes or dreams, other than perhaps to end up as another "fallen soldier" when someone from the postcode next door takes a dislike to them. Then they begin to get attention and one to one chats with big and important people. Is that really going to encourage them to stop playing silly sods or will it just reward them and incite them to keep on doing what they do?
I also wonder how bad the gang situation really is? Is it really that serious or is it just the latest thing that the media like to go on about?
There's meant to be the gang at the top of the hill, the Cherry Boys, and Woolwich has a few too. There's also been one incident of gun shots within a couple of minutes walk from me. I can say that I'm hearing about it far more now than I used to but I don't think I'm actually seeing any more evidence of it.
I still feel pretty safe around here and toddle around without too much concern. Head in the sand?
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5 comments:
Hi Charlton Average and thanks for a superb blog!
The reason the police are asking for permission and public support to 'speak' with the gangs is that there nothing else they can do.
There seems to be no will on behalf of the government to lock these scumbags away.
The police get investigated if they so-much as search one of the pr1cks and thus there's only one option left to them.
"Lets ask these gangs nicely if they will stop running our streets!"
I am so glad I moved out of London 5 years ago. It's getting progressively worse.
Here's a question for you and the fellow readers:
"Seeing how far it has deteriorated in the past five years - how bad do you think it will get in the next five years?"
It would be good to hear your views!
Jimbo
(Formerly from Plumstead)
You certainly hear about guns and gangs more now than you did five years ago but as I said in my post I'm not sure how much of a problem it really is.
Yes one teen death is one too many but is the issue exaggerated?
I have more trouble with the idiot downstairs thinking he lives in a detached house than teens thinking they're living in downtown LA.
All the same I am considering my future so my eyes are wide open.
I agree that the fear of crime is usually worse than the reality.
However, reading the local newspaper websites, there seems to have been a steady increase in violent attacks - not just murders. I never heard of those gangs 5 years ago when I lived in London - now everyone I know in the area knows their name.
I sold my 3 bed semi in Plumstead in 2002 and bought a large 4 bed detached house in a small rural village in South Yorkshire.
It was the best thing I ever did. Everyone here knows everyone and the kids actually speak with you. Kids here have to toe the line because everyone knows everyone; so you know their parents and often their grandparents too.
There are a lot of Londoners here by the way. Two of my neighbours are from London; with another from Maidstone.
I love London and it's nice to go back home now and then. Tell ya what though - It's even nicer coming back to the village after a weekend of; traffic, car alarms and 24-hour noise.
From that BBC item;
"Leaders of seven gangs will be brought in one-by-one and told gun crime has to stop or police will come down hard on them, Scotland Yard said."
Simple question; why aren't the Police coming down hard on them in the first place? They've been going easy on these scumbags then? It's beyond a joke.
London has about double the average rate of violent crime. But the issue with perception of London crime is that because it is such a huge place with so many people (obvious point but it's easy to underestimate), instead of 2 murders in the papers for, say, Greenwich (versus 1 in York) you get to read about fifty, covering the whole of London.
Also, papers now report the incident more than once - when it happens, when the police issue a press release, when a local person says something, when someone is questioned, when someone is arrested, when it's been a month and a relative speaks out, when someone is brought to court, every day of the court proceedings, then the sentencing. It makes an impression on you that is totally out of proportion.
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