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December 20, 2005
Crime under control?
I came home a few nights ago to find a fire burning in one of the row of garages where I keep my car. These garages are owned by the local Housing Association and there is a long waiting list for the "privilege" of renting one, an essential on an estate where the same housing association, pleading "legal obligations" insists on dumping all the families who have been moved out of other areas that they control the renting in because of the problems they cause. Quite a number of these garages are filled with abandoned scrap, several are known locally to be used as drug dens, one has people sleeping in an abandoned car in it, and the local youff gang has made a den in another. Who pays the rent you may ask, it seems that the Housing Associations records are so poorly kept that they only know who is actually paying for the ones in "regular" use and simply ignore the rest!
Anyway, the local yobs apparently decided to get rid of a stolen motorbike by burning it - inside one of the "ownerless" garages. Add a few scrap tyres, some petrol drained from the tank, some other bits of rubbish and we have the makings of a bit of entertainment for the local delinquents as everyone else rushes about trying to ensure that their property isn't destroyed. I arrived before it had become quite such a circus and did what I consider to be the right thing - I called the fire service. Someone then rushed up to me and shouted "Better get your car away from here there are petrol tanks in there!"
Well, being what I am, and staring, at that moment into the flames, I could see that the only tank in the blaze was on the bike itself, and the flames spouting from the fuel pipe at the bottom and the open filler at the top, told me that explosions were unlikely. I thanked the lady and continued feeding information to the Fire Control. About six minutes later - pretty good for a retained crew - two pumps arrived from the local station and dealt with the fire. In the course of this they opened the adjoining garages and discovered a second one all primed to go. The derelict car in it has had all its windows smashed, it had been filled with rubbish and primed - but obviously they either hadn't got round to lighting it when the first attracted attention, or planned to do it later to spread the fun a bit.
Now you would think that the police would be interested in this, but you would be wrong. The fire service requested a police attendance, and were told the police would not be attending. Given that the fire service had found evidence of drug dealing and use in both garages, one would think that they would be interested, but apparently not. The police don't seem to be interested either in the fact that the Abbey is now regularly under attack by these young hooligans, who break into the enclosure around the scaffolding on the South Transept and climb it to steal tools, tear things off and throw them at passers-by. They are also not interested in the vandalism happening all around us in the local parks where the rubbish bins have been smashed, burned and sign torn down. Or the children's play area which has been graffittied and some of the facilities destroyed.
The local residents know exactly who the perpetrators are, we see them at it regularly yet are powerless to stop them because they are "under the legal age of responsibility". In other words, if arrested, an army of social workers and do-gooders immediately descend on the police station and start slinging accusation of "heavy handedness" or "police insensitivity" - then the kids get a "caution" and wander off in search of more opportunities for their vandalism. For these kids, being arrested or being given a behaviour order by a court is a badge of honour. There needs to be a serious look at why being destructive, being protected from the responsibility for your actions and the sense that unacceptable behaviour is somehow worthy of sympathy or respect and should be allowed to continue!
In truth, the problem with these kids seems to be twofold. First there is the fact that most of them are from completely dysfunctional families. One or more of the parents and syblings are in jail or have "form" with the police. In short, there is not role model at home they can look up to with anything like respect - respect is for anyone who can beat the living daylights out of you if you cross them! Is it therefore any wonder that the only thing these kids respect is lawlessness?
The problem is compounded by the social workers who defend the bad behaviour and insist on keeping these brutalised kids in brutalising "homes". They should be made to live in the communities afflicted with them! The same goes for the many psychiatrists and psychologists who come up with medical mumbo-jumbo which legitimises this behaviour. "Attention deficit syndrome" is always a popular one - "they do it because they are seeking attention in a deprived background" is the most common argument. Tell that to the people whose lives are made a misery by having their homes spattered with eggs, garbage emptied in their gardens, sheds set on fire, hedges destroyed, gardens trampled. Tell it to the elderly folk who no longer feel able to walk to the shops for fear of the yobs they have to walk past on the way - yobs of 11 - 14 who think nothing of snatching purses or "jostling" "old fogeys".
"Attention deficit syndrome" is a fancy name for complete lack of discipline. The real root of the problem is that no one is attemting to do anything about it. The blame is passed to the parents and they are expected to deal with it - and most of them are not sufficiently intelligent or sufficiently capable of dealing with it anyway - they have problems of their own, either alcohol or drug related! It must be stressed that it is not the same as something like Asperger's Syndrome which is a well recognised condition in which a child may simply not have the ability to connect cause and effect. Children in this group are not that common and are usually very bright as well, whereas those in the "ADS" group are usually associated with broken or "damaged" homes and fall into the mid-range group of IQ levels. There is definitely a connection, in this group, between the "nurture" they don't receive at home, and the nature they develop for themselves!
This is one of those very tricky areas where someone, somewhere, is going to have to rein in the do-gooders and put in place a sensible regime which removes these children from the environment which has created the problem, and puts them through a corective regime which will address, if not cure, it. Simply advising the parents who have caused it in the first place is not an option.
The real problem is, as usual, that this one is far to hot a potato for our politicians to tackle. It is much simpler to blame it all on "society" and the victims "lack of understanding" of the needs of the criminally inclined. I wonder how much tax income is generated by the proceeds of the crimes these yobs commit? That will probably give us an indication of the likelihood of anything ever being done to put an end to it!
Posted by The Gray Monk at December 20, 2005 09:18 AM
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