Morning all. Sunny at present and the strong wind has dropped. Mme asked if the heavy rain had woken me during the night, but she guessed correctly when I asked her what rain? I suppose that means my green lane will be underwater again. Two of my granddaughters are away on a school trip to Rome at present. Anything that broadens the mind is good in my books. Have a good day wherever you might be.
Morning Back in the Uk and meeting of our neighbourhood watch 'rapid response' group last night 4 cars stolen and I think 4/5 burglaries in our little area in the last two weeks. A group of us are starting random patrols with high vis 'neighbourhood watch' vests and looking into installing street CCTV. Three of the cars were stolen with people in their houses, the thieves just crept in a took the keys, the other was taken via a remote gizmo we think. (all BMWs and Mercs) Meanwhile one of the group got great photos of two thieves leaving a house that was burgled yesterday. All very unsettling..... Now off to my language cafe with refugees...... have a good one....
This is dreadful. How often do I go out and leave my doors unlocked? How often have I gone for the car keys only to find them where they have been for three days, in the car ignition. It is sad that what was normal in my childhood, ie leave doors unlocked in case a neighbour wanted to come in, has all changed. Children could go out to play in the fields without fear, whereas today they need to be taken to school in case something should happen. Living under clouds of fear is not much fun, My elderly mother was burgled while she was asleep in bed. For the remaining years of her life she never felt safe in her own house and lost faith in the police to protect her.
Basically we are having to take responsibility for what one would expect the Polica to be there for. One of the group dialled 101 yesterday to report seeing something suspicious and was told an officer would be in touch within 72 hours.... crazy eh..
Morning all.. The house that was burgled on Tuesday was visited last night again.. But neighbourhood watch worked well, a neighbour saw the car got a photo and within two minutes there were six of us there...Car drove off when seen and before police arrived... Must say this is a great way to get to know your neighbours! We also had our first street party last summer and have another one this June.. Have a good day folks...
Morning all. Grey but dry again, and the météo suggest that we will see the sun this afternoon. Yesterday did not go as planned. Mme set off in her car, only to find that one tyre was totally flat. Took her to her meeting, then had to go and collect the birthday present for my daughter. Meanwhile a huge delivery of wood arrived at my Dutch neighbour's house, some of which was for me. Glad he has a tractor and trailer as I wouldn't have fancied walking backwards and forwards with my wheelbarrow. There is still another load to move and stack, but ran out of time as had to deliver birthday present. So now I have to change a wheel on Mme's car and see if it can be repaired. My friendly garage man usually does a tyre repair job for me free of charge, but then he does get paid well enough to service the car. Enjoy your day
Nothing to understand except that it is an organised punch up for 5 seconds and then there is a break for the crowd to reset their brains or get another burger
Yes the police need to focus more on this type of "small" crime. If criminals realise that they cannot get away so easily with small stuff then they will think more about the big stuff. We should not have to police ourselves as this can lead to vigilantism. I really hope the Conservative Party do something about this (this is not meant to be a political statement) and ensure these criminals are caught and dealt with severely. If decent sanctions were dished out, they would think twice.
It's an American game... trust me it's quite straightforward. Comparing Grid Iron to, say, Rugby Union is a bit like comparing Nascar to Formula 1. No need to overthink it!
This is a real spate in what has been a very quiet area... mind you we were burgled three years back.... If there was CCTV in place ( civil liberties debate!) It would be a major deterrent too.
I was talking about this with my neighbour from Holland today. They have the same problem that I experienced in the UK. A reasonably affluent area close to a main road or motorway and you will be more at risk. I lived between the M1 and M40 and the police didn't have the numbers to catch people as they headed through the lanes towards the quick get away roads. We had a neighbourhood watch and when I phoned up the police to say that a house appeared to be in the process of being broken into, they said they would send someone down the next day. At one time we had a police office two miles away. It had two houses and officers, and covered most of the local villages. During the Thatcher years it was closed and the houses sold off. There was also a police station with ten officers that gave twenty four hour cover five miles away. That to was closed a couple of years later, and the service was moved to one central station twenty five miles away. I quite often sat in a police car and could listen to all of the conversations going on between the officers and the call centre. It was obvious that far too often there was no one who could respond to an ongoing event. A single police car can have equipement in it that equates to the same cost as two and a half officers for a year. That car can only be in one place, while you can have better service by employing officers. The same thing is happening here. Our police station eight miles away has been closed, and we are now covered by the one in town twenty five miles away. We are lucky that we don't have any crime, but if something did happen that required urgent attendance, we would not have it.
The eurostat crime figures give Belgium and France as the two highest reported crime areas in Europe.
What has that got to do with the break ins in Yorkshire or Northamptonshire? Are you saying that there is no problem in the UK because another country is worse? You might just as well say it is wetter in a rain forest than it is in a desert.
The figures suggest it is less likely to be affected by crime in the UK than France, Belgium, Spain etc. When we lived in Gaillac we were told you could leave your house & cars unlocked until we heard about the numerous break-ins. Our American friend lost two cars at Carcassonne airport. We once found a safe broken open up a quite track near our farmhouse. I'm afraid nowhere is truly 100% safe from criminals.
Of course nowhere is safe, but governments are supposed to be in office to try and protect the people and property from these crooks. There has been a big debate in the UK about the numbers of officers on the street, something that the present government seems to admit to, that the cuts have been ill advised. In the thirteen years I have lived here there has been just one break in to a house about a mile away that was only used as a holiday home. The previous crime was during WWII when someone helped themselves to more from the communal wine store than he should have done. Just like the UK the police numbers were cut here to save money, but that has been reversed , and people have realised that you don't get something for nothing.
There must be a lot of crime in other French areas. After many years of the UK government taking sensible decisions to reduce fiscal borrowing it is now able and willing to substantially increase the amount of police officers. Thankfully stop & search has been brought back.
I am not sure how many police officer you know SH, but I still have contact with a couple who held high rank within the service. They both tell me that reporting of crime is let us say adjusted to suit the success rate of resolved cases. What I have been saying is only about what I know from close contact with the force, and not from a general overview of what you would like to see. The individuals who have their homes broken into are not interested in stop and search, fiscal constraints etc, but why the government has cut the number of police on the streets over the past ten years.
