Last month, I wrote a post about my new neighbourhood - how the streets are definitely not safe, how Bruv was mugged and the police did their best, how it was a battle they were valiantly losing. Inspector Gadget picked up the post, and broadcast it to more than a thousand police officers, some of whom offered advice, all of whom offered sympathy.
I have an update.
A month and three days later - yesterday - Bruv was returning home again. Same time, same road. And the same thing happened. This time there were just two of them, but there was a knife involved. Bruv spotted them well in advance, eyeballed them, tried to slow down to avoid them, crossed the road. But eventually one turned back, also crossed the road, showed him a knife and demanded his wallet, Oyster card and phone. Bruv gave them to him. An everyday transaction in N15.
This time though it went down a bit differently. It was slightly earlier in the evening, and a passer-by saw what was going on. He came up, Bruv told him what happened, and the police was called.
An unmarked car - the same response team who came last time - turned up within a minute, and they went driving. One policeman had a hunch, and they cut through to a nearby housing estate. Soon enough two similar looking suspects - young black men in hoodies - turned up, and ran when challenged.
Bruv stayed in the car, but the police did good. It was the same pair - his phone and wallet were recovered - and not only did they run, they fought. The policeman returned to the car a bit bruised, one of the muggers came off worse. Resisting arrest is sometimes used as a euphemism - not here, but if it was, maybe it should have been.
This time, Bruv's praise for the police was unrestrained. They were 'fantastic'. And it's a good result, no doubt. Chalk this one up as a victory in the war on street crime, Jacqui Smith.
Then again, maybe not. Bruv's still lost his stuff (it's in for evidence), and I am now currently lending money to both him and Girl, who was also pickpocketed a few days ago. He's going to have to give evidence, against people who live just down the road. Let's hope they didn't figure out where he lived.
And that quiet, residential road we walk down every day to get to the tube doesn't seem so quiet anymore. But it's the only way to walk.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
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19 comments:
Standby for 'incoming' - I have linked to you again.
INCOMING
Dear, oh dear, oh dear....wot a toilet we live in!
Incoming..........Shame about this, but a sad indictment of the world we live in and seem unable to sort.
Its not everyday that this happens
http://whichendbites.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/storming-swooping
but occasionally there is a chance to balance up the evils of the world.
Hope your brother is OK.
Good news indeed on the arrests!
Even better that they fought, and even better that we fought back!
This stuff is but a whisker away from another stabbing and another murder. When will they learn.
Glad your brothers alright.
isnt it just too dangerous for anyone to fight the knife-armed yobs on his own? at least i think so.
get the oic to photograph your bruv stuff after the soco's have done there bit , and you can get it back quicker..
Incoming from IG..........
What absolute scum of the Earth some people are. You know, we work had to purchase our belongings and then they think they can get away with it by just showing a knife! Well done the MET is all I can say, I just hope they get more than a night in the cells and then let off with a caution.
Glad your bruv will get his stuff back in the end and that he is OK, it could have been all too easily different.
Hope he does get the stuff back. I was carjacked about 5 years ago and the police took my jumper for evidence (fibres and the like). Never returned it. I chased it up a few times and was given the runaround.
I'm sure a wallet and phone are a little more important though!
Not having a go at the police. The guys who picked me up after the 'jacking were great and I did get the car back (company vehicle so I wasn't that fussed) but we never got the b*stards who stole my footie shirt and scarf (and prescription sunglasses, mints, roadmaps... and left the CD player!)
Incoming from Gadget
Don't let the sh1t of this septic isle grind you or your Bruv down. Maybe if Jacqui Smith spent more time getting these crims sent down for longer and less time on sound bites we might all walk down our streets feeling safer. As stated ask for SOCO to photo the stuff and he should get it back sooner (plus promise not to lose it and bring it to court if needed.)
Regards
A Yorkshire copper
How can he promise not to lose the evidence if it keeps getting stolen :(
It's all :(
Woffle,
This is a good result, 2 arrests!
But from my point of view, the rest of the CJS will let you down.
Guaranteed.
Angry Rozzer.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had concealed carry firearms so that scrotes like this didn't know the defence capability of the person they were trying to rob?
Eventually the gene pool of these scrotes would disappear.
Conceled carry certainly seems to work (if you look at the statistics from the States)and indeed you can trace an direct statistical link to the tightening up of gun control laws in this country with the increase in criminal use of firearms; however ......
On the subject of statisitcs, and since in this case you say the two muggers were black, immigrants (illeagl or otherwise) are disproportionately represented in the commission of criminal offenses. Are these guys immigrants and if so how did they get in to the country and will they now be kicked out (questions for the government to respond to but don't expect anything practical or effective). If not immigrants, why are certain British born members of ethnic groups disproportionately represented in the commission of certain types of crime? What is the government really doing to understand this problem and tackle it (again don't expect anything sensible).
Don't get the wrong idea. I do not attribute all the ills in our society to members of ethnic groups. The issues presented are just one element in the matrix of problems this country currently faces.
The answers to many of our current social problems often seem glaringly obvious but require the devotion of resource to produing real and effective solutions not just pretending the problem does not exist or attributing it to the usual left wing shibboliths of deprivation, discrimination, etc.
In cases where the causation is not so clear it needs the courage to find out what the facts really are and then address the issue based on these facts not utopian PC assumptions.
However, I do not have any confidence in the government abandoning the fictions on which it seems to base most of its actions or having the guts to really tackle the problems.
The case will fail in court because:
1. Having lost sight of the males before the police arrested them, the chain of ID is broken. If he glimpsed them again following arrest, the ID is ruined.
2. It will be too expensive to do forensic tests on clothing.
3. The offenders will claim they "found" the stolen items and ran because they "don't like the police".
4. The knife will never be found.
5. The passer-by who witnessed it won't show up in court.
6. Bruv, disillusioned by three adjourned court dates and lack of support from witness care, CPS or anyone else, may not show up in court.
Even if found guilty, you can expect a couple of years of a Community Order - given that the knife was never located and therefore "never existed". They'll be back out robbing before nightfall.
Just thought I'd cheer everyone up.
I hear what the last poster is saying. ID procedures (particularly where sight on suspect has been lost) are now heavily weighed in favour of the suspect.
Whats gone wrong??
I know a lot of old school retired PC's. They've all asked "Why can't you just give the little f**kers a good shoeing and tell them to stop??"
Such a shame LIFE ON MARS was fiction ;o)
Life on Mars wasn't fiction. I was there and we were a damn sight more effective then than when I retired in 06.
Please call me " the-mong "
Just a little more news. I was one of the officers involved in both incidents and was the arresting officer in the second, latest matter.
I have learnt that the suspect in this case has pleaded guilty.
Once I confirm this I will explain a little more (in so far as I can) about the case..
I think the Police are ace, some are not so gud but the frontline officers are ace , plus they look hot in the uniform
Hope ya brvs ok
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