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> Crime & Disorder in Newbury, ....what's happening to our town?!
wabbit
post Mar 17 2012, 11:31 AM
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I've just read the shocking news that someone was stabbed to death in Boundary Road last night... and another man is seriously ill in hospital. It sounds like it could be some kind of vendetta (drug related?) as it seems the perpetrators knew the victims, but mindless nonetheless.

If this was a 'one off' crime, and Newbury was by and large a peaceful law-abiding town, I would not be so unnerved but I witnessed a really horrible scene yesterday in town around 11.30am in the morning in Bartholomew Street near the town hall, when a couple were having a loud and violent brawl in the street. I was not close enough (and didn't want to be) to ascertain what it was about (probably nothing) but it was a male and a female going hammer and tongs at each other... for what seemed to be a long time. We tried to look for a police officer (or a PCSO) but there wasn't one in sight... I actually felt very shaken and sad that Newbury has descended to this level.

I had, I should point out, earlier yesterday also witnessed a couple of scruffy looking men being apprehended by Tesco's security guard and a couple of police... surrounded by a few chavvy women goading the police and putting their oar in..

What on earth has happened to our (previously mostly) calm market town? Sure, we've come to expect our town(although heaven knows why we should!) to be a no-go area at night unless you are under 30 and blind drunk, but what's the point of building a shiny new shopping centre, when the moral fabric of the town is so poor!!


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Sherlock
post Mar 17 2012, 12:12 PM
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It's certainly worrying. Crime levels in Newbury seem to be considerably higher than those in comparable towns in the region.

For example, see the crime map of Newbury here http://goo.gl/yD8jQ and compare it with Wokingham, which has a similar sized population http://goo.gl/BRyP6

I've also looked at Didcot (pop about 2/3 of Newbury) and a couple of other towns and we seem to be significantly worse off in terms of crime taking account of population differences.

Newbury used to be called 'Brown Town' because of the prevalence of heroin dealing here, and that's going back some years. Given the recent police operation we still have a big problem with drugs. Maybe this is one reason crime rates are higher here than in comparable towns?

I can't help feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better. Widening inequality, savage cuts to the police and privatisation of many police services that remain and rising unemployment aren't going to reduce crime rates.
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blackdog
post Mar 17 2012, 12:46 PM
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When comparing Newbury with other towns you cannot always go by the basic population figures - Newbury is not a town of 30,000; it is the focal point of a conurbation of 65,000+. When it comes to social pressures, crime etc. Newbury and Thatcham are effectively one settlement. So Didcot is less than a third of the size, Wokingham less than half. I can't think of an equivalent sized town in the area - Reading, Basingstoke, Swindon, Oxford, Slough are considerably bigger (at the moment); Winchester, Andover, Salisbury are considerably smaller. Maidenhead (78,000+) is the closest I guess.

That's not to excuse the crime statistics, just to put them in a more realistic context.
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Guest_xjay1337_*
post Mar 17 2012, 01:05 PM
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I can never understand why someone would want to stab someone else.
It's icky. There are better ways which would leave less forensic evidence too.

I feel fairly safe in Newbury. Admitedly most times I am in my car which has Anti-Hijack enabled. Plus I can scream quite loud. Drugs does seem to be a problem, perhaps prompting thought that legalisation of substances with proper due process would eliminate the shady underworld of things..reduce crime (in terms of deals gone bad and what not..)
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Vodabury
post Mar 17 2012, 02:14 PM
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QUOTE (xjay1337 @ Mar 17 2012, 01:05 PM) *
I feel fairly safe in Newbury.


Me too. Thankfully, murders and other serious crimes remain a rare occurrence. A mugging/attempted mugging is still a story in the local paper.

But I certainly see the foul-mouthed, litter-dropping, un-toilet-trained, pissed/high idiots that town centres invariably attract.

I have also witnessed a couple having a stand-up row near the Kennet Centre - the air was "blue" - I wonder if it is the same pair?
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Sherlock
post Mar 17 2012, 03:01 PM
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QUOTE (blackdog @ Mar 17 2012, 12:46 PM) *
When comparing Newbury with other towns you cannot always go by the basic population figures - Newbury is not a town of 30,000; it is the focal point of a conurbation of 65,000+.


If you look at the maps you'll see they cover a fixed radius from the post code given.

Searches for January for both Thatcham http://goo.gl/JkE0P and Newbury give over 400 reports of crimes and ASB incidents. Comparing a crime maps centred on Newbury with one centred on Bracknell (ie the maps cover similar areas, but Bracknell has a total population of about 50,000, so is comparable if you're suggesting that the total size of the urbanised population is a factor) the figures are much higher here. 295 crimes + ASB incidents in January 2012 here and 198 in Bracknell. http://goo.gl/znqWu

Still looks to me as though we have significantly higher levels of crime than elsewhere.

Thankfully murders are still very rare - last night's is getting national news coverage - shocking though they are.
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stewiegriffin
post Mar 17 2012, 04:18 PM
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Newbury (and Thatcham) does seem to have gone downhill in the last few years. I moved back here last year after a few years elsewhere so maybe the difference was more obvious to me because of that. I lived in Amsterdam for 3 years and I witnessed less ASBO type behaviour there than I see here. And that's with a population 10x the size of the Newbury area.

Just walking through town this afternoon I saw 3 little kids, no more than 7yrs old, throwing stones and swearing to a world class standard in the Parkway centre. People were walking by shaking their heads in disbelief.

I tend to avoid town on a weekend, especially in the evenings, as it makes me want to buy a large gun and engage in my own special brand of street cleaning.
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Strafin
post Mar 17 2012, 04:34 PM
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Don't Holland have some sort of curfew thing going on? I heard that they don't have a late night culture as such.
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post Mar 17 2012, 04:45 PM
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QUOTE (Strafin @ Mar 17 2012, 04:34 PM) *
Don't Holland have some sort of curfew thing going on? I heard that they don't have a late night culture as such.


They are all too off their face on weed (which makes you sleepy and peaceful) to have a late night culture.
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stewiegriffin
post Mar 17 2012, 04:51 PM
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QUOTE (Strafin @ Mar 17 2012, 04:34 PM) *
Don't Holland have some sort of curfew thing going on? I heard that they don't have a late night culture as such.


I think some suburbs have trialed a 10pm curfew for under 12's. Not sure if that's still running or not.

Things do tend to die down a wee bit earlier there than here, but the city centre keeps going until the early hours most nights. Even then you'll still see less aggression and general misbehaviour than in Britain. Which isn't to say it doesn't happen, but even in a city renowned for its drugs trade, people still seem to behave in a more civil manner.
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Criddleback
post Mar 17 2012, 11:24 PM
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QUOTE (Strafin @ Mar 17 2012, 05:34 PM) *
Don't Holland have some sort of curfew thing going on? I heard that they don't have a late night culture as such.

Sorry to be pedantic.
I have a Dutch friend who has explained to me that his country is called The Netherlands. North and South Holland are only two of the twelve provinces in The Netherlands.
Calling The Netherlands "Holland" is a bit like calling the United Kingdom "England".

From what I have seen and heard I wouldn't for a moment attempt to say anything bad about The Netherlands or the Dutch. It's a wonderful country with marvellous people. But when you are born somewhere, have ties of friends, family, tongue, culture and history with a place, it is difficult to see oneself upping sticks just because somewhere has a Homicide rate of 0.83 per 100,000 of population (The Netherlands) rather than 1.23 (The United Kingdom).

I wouldn't for a moment deny that The Netherlands are, in many ways, much more civilised than our country. But I don't know where that sort of comparison gets us.

I hope someone phoned the Police non-emergency number (101) about those three kids. Normally they would quickly dispatch Officers to sort them out in short order.

It's worth saying that there are also vast swathes of highly polite areas and people in this country, even in Newbury and West Berkshire.
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Andy Capp
post Mar 17 2012, 11:46 PM
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QUOTE (stewiegriffin @ Mar 17 2012, 04:51 PM) *
Things do tend to die down a wee bit earlier there than here, but the city centre keeps going until the early hours most nights. Even then you'll still see less aggression and general misbehaviour than in Britain. Which isn't to say it doesn't happen, but even in a city renowned for its drugs trade, people still seem to behave in a more civil manner.

It must be the 'kraut' in us!
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Squelchy
post Mar 18 2012, 09:34 AM
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QUOTE (Criddleback @ Mar 17 2012, 11:24 PM) *
Sorry to be pedantic.
I have a Dutch friend who has explained to me that his country is called The Netherlands. North and South Holland are only two of the twelve provinces in The Netherlands.
Calling The Netherlands "Holland" is a bit like calling the United Kingdom "England".

Not quite.
It's a 'pars pro toto' See Here
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Strafin
post Mar 18 2012, 09:52 AM
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That's all well and good but, nobody mentioned the Netherlands, only you Criddleback. We mentioned Amsterdam, which is in Holland. wink.gif
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Criddleback
post Mar 18 2012, 10:12 AM
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QUOTE (Strafin @ Mar 18 2012, 09:52 AM) *
That's all well and good but, nobody mentioned the Netherlands, only you Criddleback. We mentioned Amsterdam, which is in Holland. wink.gif

Oh so, you were just talking about a province, not a country. I see. My mistake.
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Criddleback
post Mar 18 2012, 10:14 AM
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A
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Criddleback
post Mar 18 2012, 10:16 AM
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QUOTE (Squelchy @ Mar 18 2012, 09:34 AM) *
Not quite.
It's a 'pars pro toto' See Here

Many thanks indeed. I'll go back to my Dutchman friend and inform that he is wrong and Wikipedia is right.
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Strafin
post Mar 18 2012, 10:43 AM
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He's fried?
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Strafin
post Mar 18 2012, 10:44 AM
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QUOTE (Criddleback @ Mar 18 2012, 10:12 AM) *
Oh so, you were just talking about a province, not a country. I see. My mistake.

No problem.
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Criddleback
post Mar 18 2012, 12:51 PM
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QUOTE (Strafin @ Mar 18 2012, 10:43 AM) *
He's fried?

Only lightly
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