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Hi I agree with the sentiments but what role models do kids have today? Highly paid footballers who cheat, singers on drugs, politicians who lie cheat and steal, the list is endless. but the message is that crime pays, and the world owes us a living.

Olley

If I had my time again I think I would be totally corrupt to be honest.  It seems to pay, why pay taxes, work for a living etc when you can be a scumbag and get it all for nothing?

No brainer it seems.  Oh, and not have to do time these days for your crime either, that is if you are very unfortunate enough to get caught of course.  Even if you do, you can cry in a remorseful way and be let off of jail and given community service instead, honest, it's easy!

Ali

Last time I posted on here regarding how the police handle some of these low life scumbags I got into a heated debate but I must say that my experience at our shop of how the police respond to certain crimes is not very posiitve! In my experience and I must stress that I can only talk from my own point of view and what I have witnessed myself is that the police cannot be bothered with criminals that they see as small time crooks/petty thieves!

Whenever we have called the police out to shoplifters that we have caught in our shop we generally find that the police see the theft of a relatively low priced item as a lot of fuss about nothing and often seem reluctant to write out statements and apprehend the culprit! However from our point of view continual theft mounts up and we lose a lot of money each year through theft - so to us each shoplifitng incident is equally as valid as another regardless of its monetary value. To be honest we tend not to bother calling out the police to shoplifters anymore if we can help it and we now deal with it in our own way. If we catch someone we demand (if they have the money on them) that they pay for the goods, if its kids we ring their parents and get them to come to the shop to collect them and we also put the shoplifters description out over the radio. We always make sure they hear us do this as this then makes them aware that when they leave our shop the rest of the town will be watching them! This radio is linked to all the other shops in the town and is also linked to the towns CCTV control room and I find confronting them like this has far more consequences for the shoplifter than calling the police and they know that once they leave our shop that any other shop they go in afterwards will be keeping a close eye on them or in many cases some shops will even refuse to allow them into their premises. They also know that wherever they go in the town from then on they are being followed by the CCTV camera and its operator.  We also ban them from ever coming into our shop again and in general especially with kids - this direct confrontation from us deters them from ever trying to steal in our shop again! You do get the odd cocky one who maybe a day or 2 later and in order to try and impress his little mates, tries to sneak back in but god help him if I spy him ............. let's put it this way after coming into contact with me - he doesn't try it again lol

I appreciate that there is an awful lot of paperwork involved for the police when responding to such petty crime but that really is not we, the innocent victims fault, is it? We deserve protection and in my opinion if these criminals are allowed to get away with relatively petty crimes this sets up a pattern and can only lead to them committing more serious crimes in the future. Let's face it as they get older they get bolder! Any sort of crime should be harshly dealt with and any offence whether it be major or minor should carry a punishment. I think it is so important that criminal offences involving juveniles should be taken very seriously by both the police and parents alike and any acts of crime should be nipped in the bud at the very start! Mind you a lot of parents are to blame for their kids unruly behaviour and sometimes I just wonder what chance some of these kids stand when you witness how some of the parents carry on and it just makes me wonder where it will all end and what on earth can be done in order to make the world a nicer, safer and more law abiding place to live in!

I am no politcian and certainly no expert on criminalogy but I think we are too lenient with offenders, especially young offenders and when I was a kid scrumping apples was considered a serious offence by our local bobby and my god you lived in fear of him and whenever you saw him riding around the village on his bike you quaked in your boots! There just doesnt seem to be the respect and values any more and personally I think this is where the problem lies and without respect for people, property and authority what hope is there?

Sorry If I have ranted on but it's a subject that makes my blood boil!

Post last edited on 11/07/2006 03:25:06

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SONESTA'S MOTTO IN LIFE ..... LAUGH AND THE WORLD LAUGHS WITH YOU. CRY AND YOU CRY ALONE!

It's partly down to a general lack of respect in society and also to the fact that the police force, like most institutions nowadays, is run by accountants and statisticians.  You can't blame the poor plebs on the ground for turning a blind eye. More than one arrest a week and they'd never escape from the mountain of paperwork!!

Eeeeer, did you mention 'local bobby' Sonesta?  They got rid of them round here years ago. They used to know exactly who was who and up to what. I remember when I was at school. If you saw the headmistress walking down the corridor towards you, you'd poop yourself whether you'd done anything or not. I can still remember that stern look on her face. I don't think the old battleaxe ever smiled.

If you were told off by a teacher of copper you'd keep quiet about it at home and hope your parents didn't find out or you'd be in for it again. Nowadays the parents are off down the school complaining that poor little Johnny is being victimised.

There's no fear of punishment now and no deterrent. Until that is rectified I can only see the problem getting worse.

I dont believe for one moment that everything was perfect when I was a teenager and I know crime and criminal behaviour has gone on throughtout the centuries ecclesman and I am sure that bullying and fighting at school is something that children of all eras have been subjected to at school. I too can recall fights and bullying taking place at my school  and I am sure that many people will have terrible and horendous tales to tell of injustices committed against them by people in authority etc. I am under no illusion that times were very harsh for some people back then but despite all this I still believe that the young people today who commit crime are treated far too leniently by the courts and the authorities. Like I said in my earlier post I can only speak for myself here and can only comment on what I what I have witnessed personally and I think I have reported enough incidences of shoplifitng now to be able to offer a fair and honest opinion of how the police view such offences and I genuinely believe that such crime is viewed by the police as petty and relatively unimportant!

I cannot comment on whether or not crime against people has declined over the past 3 decades as I have no access to such figures and information but all I do know is that everytime you pick up a newspaper, switch on the tv or radio you hear about yet another attack or assault on an innocent victim. Drugs are rife on our streets and every town and city suffers from the consequences of drug addiction. I look back to my teenage years and although crime did take place, when something happened it was such a rare event that everyone was gobsmacked by it and it was the talk of the village! - I can never recall anything happening  in our small village or our nearby town and I can honestly say the biggest crime I remember being reported was regarding a well known, local businessman driving his car without a tax disc! Today when you pick up our local paper it is full of stories relating to local villains and the latest crimes they have committed..

The good old days might not have been perfect, but it's an indisputable fact that with the ever growing rise in political correctness and counselling instead of punishment we have ever increasing problems with all kinds of crime.

And I'm afraid the statistics don't back you up Ecclesman. Violent Crime and Gun related Crimes are running at an all time high. And if you truly believe that Chief Constables are not accountable to their political masters and restrained by budgets then in all honesty that is a little naive.

http://www.crimestatistics.org.uk/output/Page1.asp has a lot of data if anyone wants to trawl through and check figures. Long term trends are indicative as far as they are shown here and violent crime has more than doubled in the last ten years alone.

Yes I am retired (just), and yes I did serve nine years in the forces when justice was swift and at times painful. It didn't do me any harm and I spent the last thirty years both in large multi nationals and latterly running my own company.

I'm afraid I have no patience with a society that continually excuses the criminal and penalises the victim; nor do I accept that we as a society have improved by constantly pandering to the so called under priviledged, under represented and other general misfits we welcome with open arms. There are enough examples of this we see daily in the press.

I have every sympathy with young people today, who have it in some ways much harder than we ever did. However, that sympathy does NOT extend to condoning a way of life that is becoming pandemic where people feel they have a god given right to whatever takes their fancy and consider that those of us who worked for what we have are fools.

OH has a mate who works with children with very severe behavioural problems and dreadful backgrounds, often abusive homes.  He is a teacher and he tells them, in no uncertain terms, that whatever has happened to them in the past will not be accepted as an excuse for poor behaviour in class.

Too many excuses are made for the little oiks these days.  Recently a judge changed the sentence he handed down because the chap cried when he told him he was going down.................. I ask you.................... how pathetic is that?  Do the crime, and expect to do the time I am afraid.   Of course, he had a list of previous crimes as long as your arm and I bet he smirked his way to the pub that evening.

Ali

On wednesday 12 july local to us a man was watering is garden suddenly 4 youths came into his garden and pulled a knife on him and accused him of spraying them with water they also threatend his daughter. to cut a long story short the police came and arrested the youths.what are we coming to when something so trivial causes someone to pull a knife on you.