Why won't people help? Options

[gel]

Driving By

The way the law is now, encouraged on by Harriet Harperson and her ilk, ie all men are rapists mantra/all women should be seen as victims etc etc.it's even more unlikely any man would intervene

Children these days are all to well aware of their rights, but not of course responsibilties.
Common decency would dictate you would have intervened in the past, not now.

[GMR]

When I've seen people being bullied I've stepped in, however, people don't like interfering because of the repercussions if it back fires.

[Biker1]

" For evil to persist it only requires that good men do nothing "

This is not the first , and may well not be the last , time that I have quoted Edmund Burke , but surely any self respecting citizen would do something in these circumstances . The fact that only two did and in return for their endeavours were treated as pariahs only goes to show that we are getting the sort of society that we deserve .

Maybe it's about time we all stood shoulder to shoulder on this sort of behaviour , after all it is OUR country .

Who is treating them like pariahs?

If you mean me I also applaud people for stepping into situations such as this.

I was merely trying to answer the question posed at the head of this thread.

[Biker1]

When I've seen people being bullied I've stepped in, however, people don't like interfering because of the repercussions if it back fires.

That's right.

[lordtup]

Who is treating them like pariahs?

If you mean me I also applaud people for stepping into situations such as this.

I was merely trying to answer the question posed at the head of this thread.

My condemnation was directed at the other motorists who appeared to resent the temporary disruption to their travel times .
I believe that ALL contributors to this forum are united in their opinion of how the whole episode was unacceptable , the debate centres around how best to deal with it .

Maybe I am being to simplistic in my approach , but it is obvious that the present system of public order control is a dismal failure .

[TallDarkAndHands...]

There was no possibility of anyone being followed home and having their car or house vandalised! These were young girls of about 13 or 14yrs old, they were on foot and we were all in cars! If they had been able to follow any of us home then they would be possible future candidates for the 2012 Olympics!

I made a CONSIDERED decision to intervene. If my shouting had not broken up the fight and it was just down to me and the other lady to break it up I would have called the Police.

Unfortunately it is attitudes like yours that means that criminals will eventually win the crime-war unless we agree to up our taxes and pay for a substantial increase in the volume of Police Officers on the road.

I am hoping TDH that this is your answer to the "Why" rather than YOUR answer?

To address your points.

1. Their is a distinct chance that your house or car could be vandalised. If one of the 'kids 'recognised you in the street again when they are in a gang they might decide to teach that 'busybody' a lesson.

2. Attitudes like mine? I applauded you on your actions. However I do re-itterate that if the group had crossed the road and set about you then if you had defended yourself you would be the most likely to be prosecuted. I myself have witnessed vandalism and fighting by children on Public transport. Rather than intervene I took a note of what the offender looked like and paid a visit to his schools headmaster. That way the childs parents were called and he was given detention.

One other thing - If it had been 2 6 feet 15 year old lads fighting would you have been so brave?

[GMR]

That's right.

I think nowadays you are guilty until proven innocent.

[dannyboy]

I think nowadays you are guilty until proven innocent.

good job we don't have capital punishment then!

[Chesapeake]

To address your points.

1. Their is a distinct chance that your house or car could be vandalised. If one of the 'kids 'recognised you in the street again when they are in a gang they might decide to teach that 'busybody' a lesson.

2. Attitudes like mine? I applauded you on your actions. However I do re-itterate that if the group had crossed the road and set about you then if you had defended yourself you would be the most likely to be prosecuted. I myself have witnessed vandalism and fighting by children on Public transport. Rather than intervene I took a note of what the offender looked like and paid a visit to his schools headmaster. That way the childs parents were called and he was given detention.

One other thing - If it had been 2 6 feet 15 year old lads fighting would you have been so brave?

Oh dear TDH, are you trying to give yourself a reason as to why you would look the other way if you came across a similar situation?

What you did when you were on public transport was almost the right thing to do however, it should really have been reported to Police as it sounds like they were committing a crime, namely Criminal Damage and possibly Affray. However, you did at least do something. If you had tried to intervene either verbally or physically it would probably have been the wrong thing to do.

I did say in my post that "I made a CONSIDERED decision to intervene", in other words by using the powers of Common Sense I decided to intervene verbally to try to break up the fight. In this situation it worked thanks to my amazingly powerful vocal chords and also I think probably the threat of calling the Police! However, if this had not worked then I would quite simply have rung the Police as these children were committing a crime and yes I would have been prepared to go to court however, that would be an unlikely outcome. Would I have got physical? No, of course not. I do not have the training to tackle them, the strength to deal with them physicaly and last but by no means least I am disabled. As I said my voice is far stronger than my body!

If the fight had been between older children or adults then I would still have taken the first steps of stopping my car, shouting "Stop" and threatening to call the police. I would have remained in my car with the doors locked and waited for the Police to arrive making notes of what was happening. The central call centre would probably have kept me on the phone whilst I gave them a running commentary of what was happening (I have done this before, in Newbury and else where).

Would I have been scared of any possible repercussions? No, a "Risk Assessment" would suggest that it would be very unlikely to have the sort of backlash that you suggest. Good job the Police don't have your mentality!

[Chesapeake]

I think nowadays you are guilty until proven innocent.

Of course YOU are GMR. at last you have seen the light.

[GMR]

Of course YOU are GMR. at last you have seen the light.

I always see the light

[JeffG]

... using the powers of Common Sense ...

Isn't that illegal these days?

[Roost]

Common what-now???!!!

[Strafin]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...pples-wife.html

[Anon2]

Having read this thread, I get a warm feeling when I hear that there are people out there still willing to stand up to anti social behaviour. It seems that Ches picked the right options after having considered the situation and she even mentions a 'risk assessment'.

Given those impact factors the best result was attained. Given a different set of impact factors then the outcome may well have been different, but Ches mentions that she would have done things differently if this had been so - Good on her I say

[JeffG]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...pples-wife.html

You couldn't make it up, could you? Makes me want to weep. What have we become?

[Sarah]

You couldn't make it up, could you?

Well you could if you were writing a black comedy.

[GMR]

You couldn't make it up, could you? Makes me want to weep. What have we become?

I agree.... even more so when he originally called the police and the police didn't turn up (because they were too busy). In another case a woman and her daughter were harassed by yobs for years and even though the women repeatedly phoned the police she was eventually pushed to the limit and committed suicide (along with her daughter). In one instance the police even told her to ignore the abuse and harassment; she now has.

[JeffG]

Mind you, they did repeatedly call 999 when kids were throwing a few apples at their house. This is possibly a case of crying wolf "Oh yes, that nuisance caller again."

[TallDarkAndHands...]

Mind you, they did repeatedly call 999 when kids were throwing a few apples at their house. This is possibly a case of crying wolf "Oh yes, that nuisance caller again."

JeffG - If me and GMR were to turn up on a nightly basis outside your house and chuck things at your windows / doors and you called the Police but no action was taken against us what would you do? Move?