West Berkshire a Safe Place to Live? Options

[Biker1]

Is it a safe place to live?

The police say it is and yet according to this article much crime is on the increase.

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article...articleID=12148

I'd say it is relatively safe but I would like to see it safer

[Iommi]

I think it is safer than other areas I could think of, but of course, it does depends on where in West Berkshire you live.

The figures, however, do suggest that perhaps the Police Sledging Team might have to consider reappraising their priorities!

[Biker1]

The trouble is the police catch 'em - they pay their fine (sometimes) or do a week or so time and then go back to the same misdemeanours.

They accept being caught as a hazard of the job.

Answer? I don't know but zero tolerance seems to work in parts of the US.

[Iommi]

The trouble is the police catch 'em - they pay their fine (sometimes) or do a week or so time and then go back to the same misdemeanours. They accept being caught as a hazard of the job. Answer? I don't know but zero tolerance seems to work in parts of the US.

On the face of it, I tend to agree, but what I am sure about, there is no practical easy answer.

One other thing that can be done to reduce crime, is to forge greater community spirit. I have seen things that suggest communities that work together can be very powerful in this regard. The problem is of course, we all have to give up some of our time for this to happen.

I can't help but think that we are slowly losing our ability to communicate affectively. We have strove to achieve more privacy in our lives, but this seems to have come at a cost.

[lordtup]

The old adage " I blame the parents " must surely hold sway in this context . It would be churlish to blame every parent of an errant child ,( whatever their age ), who gets into trouble , but without parental guidance we can not expect the young to adopt social responsibility .

Maybe if the lumpen proletariat worked harder ( or even worked ), they may breed less .

[GMR]

I was talking to the one of the workmen on the River Lambourn (at Turnpike) and he said that they've had a lot of trouble from local kids. They've reported it to the police but 'they didn't want to know'. According to him they know exactly who it is.

When the snow was on the ground a group of kids were throwing snow balls at peoples houses but, again, they didn't want to know.

[Strafin]

The police over the last 20 years have commanded less and less respect from their communities. It has had a snowball effect so now that people who had less respect for the police are bringing their kids up in the same vein so it is a real struggle for the beat officers to do anything. If they have a go they are not backed up by the parents.

[Iommi]

Meanwhile, the Police (have you noticed that they look like kids these days?) have better things to do, like sledging.

[GMR]

The police over the last 20 years have commanded less and less respect from their communities. It has had a snowball effect so now that people who had less respect for the police are bringing their kids up in the same vein so it is a real struggle for the beat officers to do anything. If they have a go they are not backed up by the parents.

Martin Edwards who was a top police officer in Newbury (now Oxford) said that 'their job has become about containing them. Not putting them away unless it is really necessary.'

[gel]

Glad to see in Daily paper that TVP have abandoned idea of replacing headgear with baseball cap, as too many officers complained they didn't want to look like Burger King servers!

[Bloggo]

I know, I am saying it yet again.
If the deterant is not strong enough then the crimes will continue to be commited.
Our Police force is ineffective on low level crime and our justice system is totally weak and inadequate to chastise the perpetrators.
Until both of these areas are addressed then the incidence of this sort of crime will increase.

[TallDarkAndHands...]

I blame all you people for leaving your car keys by the door and the laptop in view of the window. After all its ENTIRELY your fault if you get your stuff nicked. You cannot blame the burglar. Its not their fault at all. They can't be blamed.

[Bloggo]

I blame all you people for leaving your car keys by the door and the laptop in view of the window. After all its ENTIRELY your fault if you get your stuff nicked. You cannot blame the burglar. Its not their fault at all. They can't be blamed.

What a mess eh when you have to live behind locked and bolted doors because if you don't and you get your hard earned possessions stolen then it's your fault.

[TallDarkAndHands...]

http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Dont-Adve...revention/70619

Come on guys - Don't advertise to burglars.

[Roost]

I wonder.

If the government spent less on advertising (a lot of which is downright patronising), would this assist in providing funding for other areas? Such as, I dunno, new prisons or reappraisal of the justice system or somesuch thingamajig that would actually be beneficial.

[regor]

The ability to reduce crime can be expressed mathematically by a simple formula.

Probability of arrest (scale of 1 - 10)
Times x
Fear of punishment (scale of 1 - 10)

There should therefore be an ideal or acceptable score, say 25.

So the lower the prospect of arrest the greater the fear of punishment needs to be, conversely if arrest is virtually certain then the punishment can be more liberal.

I suspect that currently the score is well below 25 probably about 2 x 2 = 4 for minor crimes.

[TallDarkAndHands...]

I wonder.

If the government spent less on advertising (a lot of which is downright patronising), would this assist in providing funding for other areas? Such as, I dunno, new prisons or reappraisal of the justice system or somesuch thingamajig that would actually be beneficial.

I find it exceptionally patronising. We are basically being told that if our house gets broken into and our goods and valuables stolen / destroyed we only have ourselves to blame. Whilst I understand that we need to be vigilent how anyone can 'stop' a commited burglar w/out breaking the law themselves is anyones guess.

[Exhausted]

I wonder.

If the government spent less on advertising (a lot of which is downright patronising), would this assist in providing funding for other areas? Such as, I dunno, new prisons or reappraisal of the justice system or somesuch thingamajig that would actually be beneficial.

It probably would but the cost of keeping an inmate in prison is astronomical. We would be better off finacially to put them up in the Hilton. But what is needed is the deterrent. The do gooders have turned the prison system into Butlin's camps and prisoners human rights must prevail. That I think is where we are going wrong. Depending on the category of crime of course but the real serial offenders and hard crime boys, bang em up, no priviledges and make them pick oakum.
http://www.ruthingaol.co.uk/English/oakum%20picking.htm
As far as Newbury and safety is concerned, I don't have too many worries about being out and about at any time but, if somone oversteps the mark and commits a crime against an individual, highest police priority to catch them, fast track through the justice system, make them sweat and then give them a long punishing sentence.