Two young girls mugged on Half Moon Lane, Herne Hill

[LizzynLondon]

Just thought I would warn you that my two girls were mugged for a phone on Half Moon Lane at 3 in the afternoon last Tuesday November 1st. She was stopped by a black girl?light skin, with wine colored hair with fringe. She was wearing a black leather hooded jacket with the hood down. Another girl was mugged as well, ten minutes later down the same road. They were laughing the whole time, and really don't think they will get caught, but a news agent on Half moon lane in Herne Hill has their faces on Their CCTV. My daughters are OK, but understandably shakin. I wanted to warn all parents of the incident, and to have a chat with your kids not to go on their phones in the street if they are alone. Keep them tucked away, and use them when in areas that are brightly lit, with plenty of adults around.

Have a safe Weekend!

Lizzy, and the kids xx

[TillieTrotter]

Hope your girls are ok it's a little bit shocking at first. Unfortunately they don't even have to be waving their phones around. My boy and his friends were lined up by a fence and frisked (even their underwear) on a sunny Sunday at 4ish!! These muggers need a taste of their own medicine and I'd love to catch one of the little bastards in the act.

[LizzynLondon]

I hear ya Tillie! Me too!

I am so eager for them to catch these two girls! Sorry to say I don,t have much hope that the police will catch them! I would love to be wrong, but after my daughter had to make their statements at the Police station yesterday, we came away feeling very depressed about the whole system. xx Thanks for your post, and your support! xx

[TillieTrotter]

I must say the police were really attentive with my son. I had a call a few days after the incident to ask how he was doing and did he remember anymore details and then a week after asking if he would like to see a councillor. xx

[LizzynLondon]

That's wonderful, maybe they will do the same with us, though in saying that it is Friday, and it happened last Tuesday? xx

[Prunella_Gatsby]

Yes its all too common a story these days, hope your girls are well.

It happened to a friends son last weekend, he was walking across Dulwich Park and got stopped by 3 boys, who demanded his phone,he did'nt have much choice but to hand it over. It was reported to the Police but theres really not much they can do about this sort of crime.

[Domme_Jay]

My son's friends were mugged a couple of days ago by an adult male.

Poor kids felt really sorry for them, they too gave statements I believe it is important that it does get reported to the police they seem to like statistics which I guess will lead to them distributing officers.

I hope your girls are back to their normal selves, I kinda think that kids see it as almost an ocupational hazard- its common, if you ask teenagers how many times they've been asked for the phones the answers can be quite shocking

J

[Otta]

I think it was always common, but back when I was a teen (90s), we never had bits of kit worth hundreds of pounds in our pockets.

Phones are so easy to sell on, and nearly everyone has them. Ironically, a lot of parents give them to their kids to help keep them safe.

[LizzynLondon]

Really??????? Oh well that makes it OK then! xx

[womanofdulwich]

If it was 3 oclock aren't most children at schhol then? I know the CHarter finishes early but I wish for once the Police would come down hard on this sort of thing either at local schools or truants elsewhere. It is all too common.Schools could help a lot more than they do if someone coordinated it.Basically you have to give your kids a ?10 phone for school etc and let them keep a better one at home for all that messaging.

[TillieTrotter]

My son didn't have a phone or anything else on him to steal. They got a phone or two from his friends and a bike. Because he didn't have anything to steal they let him go and he stopped a stranger in the street who very kindly called the police. So my point is it doesn't matter what they are carrying they still get targeted.

[Jeremy]

> doesn't matter what they are carrying they still get targeted

That's true in a way, but the number of people carrying expensive phones has increased the problem of street crime. If kids didn't carry a phone (or only had cheap basic phones), then less kids would be mugged. Simple.

It's all very well saying that innocent people shouldn't have to change their behaviour because of thugs and criminals - and you'd be right - but that doesn't help the problem. This is London, you have to be realistic about the kind of people you're going to come across.

[reggie]

Jeremy I think the 'problem' is not that kids carry expensive phones. It also isn't being 'realistic' to somehow accept a culture of bullying which is what this is.

The more that adults,parents, other kids, teachers,police take this stuff seriously the better and this is how I suggest we be 'realistic' about the 'problem'.

[Jeremy]

I am not suggesting accepting a culture of bullying (actually it sounds more like robbery to me). Of course I agree that the authorities need to take it seriously and pursue the criminals. But at the same time, the proliferation of children carrying very expensive phones has surely catalysed the problem.

Does your use of single quotes around 'problem' mean that you don't agree that violent street robbery is a 'problem'?

[reggie]

Hi Jeremy,

My use of quotes is my attempt to redefine the words we are using otherwise people tend to argue using the same words but are actually talking about different things. In this thread I want to identify that the problem is street bullying by kids on other kids (and not that they are carrying expensive phones) and that being realistic means the whole community not tolerating such behaviour ( and not accepting it as a part of London life).

Notice how my use of quotes has already led to a misunderstanding!

[LizzynLondon]

Reggie,

I couldn't agree more! I am American living here in London and have done now for over ten years, and there are Ipads, expensive phone and all sort of things that can get stolen in the States, but this attitude over here, like"what do you expect?" is really pissing me off, not to mention, that the police are hand tied with their departments not speaking very well to each other, creates an inner apathy departmentally. In the mind of the criminal Teen that would have the thought of stealing...They are not thinking..., Hey, I better not do that, because I might get caught!" They are thinking, I can do what the hell I like, and take as much time as I like doing it! That is a direct result of a policing/ parenting breakdown in my opinion. The Police are just not on it here! And those who would commit these crimes, ....Bloody know it! That is where the problem/project lies within, in my opinion. The only thing the police taught my children during this experience, is that it takes more emotion and time for the victims to report it, and try and do the right thing, than the parents of these criminals who gave up teaching their children the difference between right and wrong a long time ago!! I can only thank God they weren't hurt worse than they were, and my four year old doesn't know the value of a phone, she just doesn't want to walk home with her sister anymore, because she is still afraid!! In fact it was my four year old, after the Mugging that had more common sense than anyone, as she yelled, "Naughty girl, bad manners, bad manners, you should go into time out!" That's wrong!

[LizzynLondon]

When I asked her, my four year old, how she felt after seeing her 13 year old sister being robbed, she said, "Sad and Puzzled" Me too honey, Me too! xx

[Jeremy]

Of course, I totally agree that the problem is the criminals, not the victims. I would never use the phrase "what do you expect", or anything vaguely similar. Saying that people should take sensible precautions is completely different from suggesting the victim is the one at fault.

[breadcrum45]

Surely there must be something the mobile phone companies can do to make the phones useless following a theft. If they could frazzle a chip in the phone or something similar, there would be no value in stolen phones.

[StraferJack]

you can wipe an iphone of all content remotely (I believe similar applies to android devices) - so the "phone companies" have done something

[breadcrum45]

Clearing the data is a start but the phone is still saleable unfortunately, it needs something a little more hardcore.

[Jeremy]

Remote self-destruct. Preferably with an explosive charge large enough to take out the theiving scum with it.

[breadcrum45]

that's the ticket.

is there an app for that?

[chrism]

I so totally agree with LizzynLondon on this one. I have friends with kids who have been mugged (not just in ED but elsewhere in often affluent areas), and what they learn from this dismal experience is 1) the police don't take these crimes seriously and offenders almost always get away with it 2) they don't feel safe on the streets in their own communities. I think this is a terribly harsh lesson to learn at a young and impressionable age. I do know children who just don't go out because they are worried about gangs and muggers. It does make me angry because I think it leads to an acceptance of a level of criminality that affects everyone's life.

[Otta]

LizzynLondon Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Really??????? Oh well that makes it OK then! xx

Only just come back to this thread, and No, it certainly doesn't make it alright (but thanks for totally misrepresenting me).

The fact Tillie's son (who, for the record, I know) didn't have a phone on him to steal, doesn't change the fact that a lot of kids do, and so the muggers are probably more likely to bother trying to mug someone, in the knowledge that there is a good chance of a pay load.

To suggest that anyone on here would blame the victims, or say "what do you expect" is comparrable to the sort of morons who say a woman deserves to get raped for wearing a short skirt.

NO ONE HAS SAID ANYTHING OF THE SORT!

All I said was that muggers have always been fairly common at school age, but now, they have a much better chance of getting something more than a couple of pounds dinner money, so perhaps they are more likely to bother attempting the muggings in the first place.