Our streets: social media mayhem or crime chaos?

As per a previous post I wrote http://themelican.blogspot.com/2017/07/constant-concerns.html it’s not the first time crime and personal safety has been a concern for me.

My other half still thinks I worry too much and I’ve got worse since giving up work and becoming a stay at home Mum.

Granted, I don’t commute in to London anymore and I’m not out at night socialising and drinking.

I do view news via watching the TV or reading online and there seems to be nothing but negativity nowadays - what with Brexit, knife crime, terrorism, moped crime and the like, media is never short of a doom and gloom story.

Neither is is short of people being offended and people being scared to say what they truly think at the risk of being accused of being offensive.

However, it is social media where the up to date and as it happens updates come from and it is overflowing with crime now.

None moreso than local Facebook groups and Twitter.

In fact it’s social media that my fiancé feels is fuelling my fears and at times obsession with the various issues we now face.

I’ve always felt safe where I live and grew up and certain incidents would never happen here and always be the sort you’d hear taking place elsewhere and in ‘rough’ parts of London. Be that fights, theft, stabbings and so on.

Now? Every day there are tales of stabbings, muggings, car theft and burglaries.

To me it feels like crime is rife and my local town is being filled with crime and low life scum who want to harm and steal from the locals. The general consensus is typically people are travelling from other areas to come and do no good here.

What I really don’t know though is whether things really are as bad as they appear - schoolkids getting mugged in broad daylight, stabbings, burglaries, cars being stolen, assaulting innocent people...

And is it any worse where we live or not? I can’t help but feel the area is getting worse and just pray it gets better by the time my children are old enough to be out and about alone.

Belonging to some social media groups helps give an insight into what’s going on so we can be more aware and alert and take extra precautions with our homes or when out.

But do they?

Are these groups giving a true picture of what’s going on and revealing the reality of life now?

Or is it a case of scaremongering?

Is life really so bad now? Or are people getting paranoid and listing every little event and person they see who MIGHT be causing issues. Are people simply sharing more and it’s more accessible to us than ever before so it seems more prevalent?

One things for sure, if our streets really have got that bad something needs to be done and fast. Control has gone, respect for others and the value of life has disappeared. But why?

We know police numbers and funding are drastically cut and everyone is very clear the mess they feel the government has made.

But why have our younger generations and so many of the English population started to feel its normal to carry a knife and use it? It’s okay to just mug a stranger to take what they’ve earnt or been given and treasure from family? Just enter somebody’s home or take their vehicle, snatch away things they’ve worked hard for and in the process cause mental and even physical scarring to any number of people?

I’m genuinely intrigued to know why and if people think things are as bad as it seems.

And also whether I’ve turned into some sort of stereotypical neighbourhood watch older person twitching their curtains and nervous about stepping outside at times!

What’s really going on?

Bookworm: The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne

Over the last week or so I've been reading The Guilty One - my fifth book so far in 2013.

I've just finished it, laying in bed on a lazy Sunday, with the grey skies and cold and wet outside my window. The view outside aptly matches my mood.

This book has left me feeling down, a result I believe somewhat intended by the author.

Ballantyne's fictional tale features young, accused murderer Sebastian and troubled, confused solicitor Daniel.

The story alternates each chapter between the present day court case and Daniel's life as an adult and the past when Daniel was growing up.

Having a troubled childhood Daniel relates to young Sebastian and his odd ways/not so simple background, but is he trying to save this boy in a bid to settle issues with his own past?

It takes the whole book to cover the court case, I of course won't reveal the outcome or the ending.

The book packs some punchy shocks to the reader and often left me feeling uncomfortable - vivid descriptions of how the victim Ben's body was found and what had been done to it. Although I found the strong descriptions and details from the expert characters helped add to the authenticity of the story.

The title itself is a clever one - suggesting someone is guilty, but who? As you read on in the book it becomes clear many of the characters in this tale are guilty of something.

What I found hard to overcome at first was the fact the name of the murdered little boy matched that of a nephew/son of some people I know and it chilled me reading that name on the page.

In addition, you can't help but build comparisons between The Guilty One and the real life story of James Bulger, which again I found tough as it's a story that has upset and angered me over the years.

Good points
Gripping storyline
Strong characters
Powerful impact on the reader

Not so great
Some things felt left unfinished
The story can bring you down, it's not pleasant subject matter
At the end you may find yourself feeling frustrated and emotionally a tad drained

Overall I would recommend this book as one to read. Although I'm not sure those with children would find it comfortable reading...

Violence - how do we stop it?

I’m a bit all over the place emotionally today what with it being my last day at my job, so I was a bit unsure what I was going to blog about. That was until I had a bit of a nose at the news and recalled a conversation we had in work yesterday.

Violence. The fact that it seems to be happening at an increasing rate and more worryingly appears to be accepted more freely as a way of life nowadays.

Only in the paper this morning there was the story of a young boy who was stabbed in Greece by a taxi driver, or earlier this year the lady who was stabbed and beheaded in Tenerife! How cautious are we going to have to be about going on holiday soon?

The reason I started thinking about this was yesterday a new joiner to the company was talking about how she’s looking for somewhere to live when she starts the job full time. She’s from the countryside and is a bit wary of where to base herself in the capital. What made me laugh was the conversation that developed off the back of this where we all tried to suggest places that were deemed ‘okay’ to leave. We got a bit stuck. In a classic quote from a colleague “London is best described as a big pile of s**t, where somebody has just thrown a few scattered diamonds over the top of it”.

As the chat continued a few places were mentioned where I noted that they might not be the best choice as someone had been stabbed there. To which people cried “well that’s good as it means there’s already been one there, there might not be another one for a while”, or more shockingly “people get stabbed everywhere!” Obviously it’s not like people are getting stabbed every day in broad daylight just for leaving their house, but it does now seem to be a fact of life and something people are willing to accept just happens.

Of course we’ll never forget the case of Stephen Lawrence. That was back in 1993 when it seemed stabbings weren’t quite as common. But now magazines and papers seem to be full of articles detailing stabbings, gang attacks and even girl gangs’ increasing popularity.

As I mentioned last week I felt threatened by a guy on my morning train who I was pretty sure was going to get violent so I moved and only this morning a pair of men were arguing, near fighting at the train station over pushing each other to get on the tube. At a recent festival I witnessed two guys turn from pushing each other to get through the crowd, to one headbutting the other and another punching him in the face in return.

What is causing people to turn to violence so much more now? And how bad are things going to get? Are we soon going to get to a stage where it gets dangerous to be walking on the street after a certain time and avoiding eye contact in case we get on the wrong side of someone?

Some reports show that domestic violence has increased with the credit crunch and even more disturbingly there are more cases of violence against children in England and Wales now too. Others suggest that trying to place more laws on drugs means that violence and murders are likely to increase.

It’s not looking too positive is it really? Whatever happens, something needs to change soon to address people’s views on violence and from a young age too – with teachers faced with pupils carrying weapons and reports suggesting violence in schools is up even the younger generation see violence as an acceptable option. If we don’t stop them what are our children’s children going to have to face? 

Criminals and their 'rights'

I must admit I’d been struggling to decide upon a topic today and then just now it hit me – an issue I feel very strongly about and I suspect is going to generate some strong opinion.

Criminals and their rights.

What specifically sparked this off for me lately was potential changes to the rules under which innocent people can face prosecution for defending themselves if they are faced with an intruder in their home.

It may well come across as very narrow minded and an old fashioned approach to things, but in all honesty in my opinion once somebody commits a crime – of a serious nature – then they give their rights up on carrying out that act.

This first came to light when I was a lot younger, about 11 in fact, and there was the case of poor little James Bulger who was brutally murdered by two 10 year old boys when he was just 2 years of age. Despite taking place now 18 years ago, just looking online at the story for research purposes it makes me go cold, feel close to tears and have a sinking sick feeling in my stomach.

I remember the anger felt at the time by many at how Jon Venables and Robert Thompson went to court and were given anonymity because of their age and to protect them. Now, I know how young they were, but why on earth are they allowed any sorts of rights and privileges when they took all of that away from their victim? I just cannot justify that.

Similarly when people are woken up in the middle of the night by a masked man or threatening intruders, what are they expected to do? Politely ask them to leave and put the expensive valuables and sentimental pieces back on the table? Enquire as to what brings them into your home in the middle of the night in the first place? No, they are going to naturally defend themselves and their household and so they should. Yet again, if you break into somebody’s home to get a bit of cash to support your burglary business, drug habit or kleptomania problem, then you gave up your rights at the door when you decided to frighten the life out of an innocent party.

The absolute joke of the proposals to perhaps shorten the sentence for rapists if they admit to the crime was another recent development that I just could not get my head around. Why on earth would you give someone who would commit such a disgusting act any sort of leeway or benefits??

I know some people are going to argue these individuals at the end of the day are still human and need to have some sort of rights. However, take a look at the victims involved – a child is murdered; they will never get their life back or have a chance to become a great or better person, they’ll never grow up and make their parents proud. Or a young woman who gets raped – for months or years she will have difficulties building relationships and issues with trust, her sex life will be affected for goodness knows how long to come, she’ll have to face a trial where her personal life gets ripped apart and potentially face accusations of promiscuity and unsuitable suggestive clothing. Or if she’s too frightened to prosecute she’ll face a lifetime of feelings of shame and fear brought upon by her attacker.

Or say an old woman wakes in the night faced with a masked burglar because she hears a sound which wakes her and she interrupts him, whether or not he pushes her , shouts at her or just runs, can you imagine how frightened that poor lady will be, scared to sleep at night and frightened in her own home?

These people are taking away all the rights of their victims, so why do we feel we need to take care of them and make sure their rights are looked after? It just doesn’t add up.

I understand that some people make mistakes and their life has led them to take the path they’ve chosen, BUT why is it then that other individuals who go through a tough life are able to be good people and don’t feel the need to follow a life of crime and ruin other people’s lives?

What is the logic and what sort of message are we giving to the younger generation when a young child commits a murder and then is given anonymity and protection and years of perks and training for free? Making prisons more like a community centre/hostel rather than somewhere to consider your behaviour and try and become a better person to me is not the way to go. Hence why so many people go on to reoffend – you’re sorted, learn some tips on how to improve your breaking-in skills, score your drugs and make contacts within your world who can ‘help you out’ or know people on the outside who will. Okay, okay so perhaps I’m being a bit extreme here but you get my point.

So do criminals give up their rights when they commit the crime? Go ask the victims and see what answer they give...