School children being mugged in Dulwich

[BlueOrchid]

Hi

I just wanted to write something about the very many muggings that have been occurring around Dulwich. I am on a what?s app group that shares alerts and in the last couple of weeks alone there have been multiple muggings - all of them on children. The victims are secondary school kids - usually aged between 11 and 14, usually boys, occasionally girls.

Dulwich Park is a particular hotspot and the streets around it, especially Court Lane and Eynella Road (outside Dulwich Library). The roads around Sunray Gardens and Charter North Dulwich School have also been targeted.

The attackers are usually a small group of boys, both black and white who start by engaging the school child in conversation- then make their threat.

The reason I am writing this is several of my friends boys have been targets and they are understandable very upset by their ordeal. This evening one of them was approached and threatened and he ran to a nearby house and knocked on the door and the person inside refused to open it. The attackers thought he was going home so backed off initially, but then gave chase again when they realised their prey was still at large and vulnerable. Luckily they next house this boy went to for help did let him in, called the police and walked the boy home.

Anyway - my point is - these attackers are also children - mostly around 15-19 years old. So far they have always backed off when an adult has become involved. Please can we all be vigilant? If you see a group of teenagers approach a lone child - keep an eye on them and maybe go over and ask the child if they need help. If the lone child does NOT know the approaching group, offer to walk them home. Every time this intervention has happened the gang have backed off.

Also - if you happen to live around the streets of Dulwich and a child comes to your house asking for help - please think twice before turning them away.

Please pass this on.

[redjam]

Really timely and practical post, BlueOrchid, thank you. Great advice about keeping an eye on potential situations when out and about.

Hope the boys you know aren't too shaken up - it's such a horrible thing to happen.

[Lucyalexandra]

I am glad you have posted this. Thank you. The rate of muggings is alarmingly high and people may be unaware quite how bad it has become - I know of many incidents this year alone also. Most recently a boy of 11 was threatened with a knife for his phone. Much more vigilance is needed - both from residents and the authorities, sadly.

[hammerman]

Very alarming to hear about school children being mugged in Dulwich.

Up until around 3 years ago there was always a local police officer/community warden presence around the Charter North Dulwich Secondary School. There was sometimes (maybe once every 6 months) a presence in the local vicinity and local park (Sunray).

Maybe the local Neighbourhood Officers etc. need to make their presence more known to these predators.

[Jules-and-Boo]

Last year or so this was happening in the area; Charter (North) briefed the students and enforcement officers were out and about.

I don't know if the schools have been informed - I've not been aware of any comms.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Thanks for the post, it's good advice. Awful that kids should have to be dealing with such stuff.

[Drxyster]

If this continues or gets worse, will we see more youngsters carrying knives for protection ?

[Ann]

Very good post but nothing new from my experience.

[JohnL]

Children don't seem to understand society - if you mug someone you will be mugged and we end with chaos. if you carry a knife so will others so we as a society agree none of us will.

Maybe some lessons in civic society need to be done.

[mariababe]

My 14 year old son was mugged on his way to chef school on a sat morning on oglander rd. The cheeky git asked what type of phone he had....the kid was on a bike wearing a balaclava, pushed my son over. My son ran home. He had left his phone at home luckily.

The police turned up and were absolutely brilliant, they get at least 6-7 calls per shift across southwark they were saying.

Its not just Dulwich is my point. He and his friends had been mugged previously on goose green by shits known to them!!!

[tiddles]

Not new I?m afraid. Kingsdale (and others) picked off on dulwich park 10 years ago.

[kck]

The number of muggings is much higher than it used to be. How many adults would be happy to be mugged regularly. My son cycles to school and so far he has been mugged once (flat tyre) and nearly mugged by someone attempting to follow him into the house. His 6 foot friend has been mugged.Another boy lives a few hundred yards from school and he got mugged. Southwark is keen to increase walking and cycling to school. This increase in muggings is a real deterrent. The solution is pretty simple...more ?bobbies on the beat?. Perhaps they could have used the money wasted on making the junction in Dulwich village just as bad but in a different way on the police.

[malumbu]

Shame I had to scroll down some way before I saw the police mentioned. They were very helpful in our one, relatively minor, case and so were the school (Harris), as the blazers tend to identify where the kids are from assuming that the perpetrators are still school age.

[Earl Aelfheah]

kck Wrote:

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

> The number of muggings is much higher than it used

> to be. How many adults would be happy to be mugged

> regularly. My son cycles to school and so far he

> has been mugged once (flat tyre) and nearly mugged

> by someone attempting to follow him into the

> house. His 6 foot friend has been mugged.Another

> boy lives a few hundred yards from school and he

> got mugged. Southwark is keen to increase walking

> and cycling to school. This increase in muggings

> is a real deterrent. The solution is pretty

> simple...more ?bobbies on the beat?. Perhaps they

> could have used the money wasted on making the

> junction in Dulwich village just as bad but in a

> different way on the police.

Central government cuts have led to a significant decrease in police numbers unfortunately. With a majority Conservative government and more brexit fuelled austerity, I wouldn't hold your breath for more 'bobbies on the beat' any time soon.

[Abe_froeman]

What a pleasant topic to choose to exploit for your personal political agenda.

[Jules-and-Boo]

it's very true.

Less police on patrol. We could even do with some CSO in the neighbourhood.

Does not the fact our children are getting mugged allow anyone to point out the obvious? of course it has political roots.

[Penguin68]

Eighteen years or so ago, in East Dulwich, my daughters (teen and primary) were both mugged, one of them twice. At the time the teen boys my teen daughter knew were mugged regularly, perhaps as often as every 3 months. There was a huge spate of this, which then quietened and started up a few years later. This long before any reduction in police numbers, and when the ED police station was fully operable. Mugging and attacks seem to go in waves, and are not really actively discouraged by any normal levels of police presence - you need to swamp the area, with many more patrols than would be locally normal to have any effect.

This is mainly a societal, not a political issue, in my view.

[seenbeen]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16567959

Hasn't the Mayor some say in how the budget is actually spent now?

[Ginster]

I saw 2 police officers outside Charter (near Sunray) last week at home time so this probably explains why.

I am hearing this far too often, scary stuff. My kids are primary age and you worry what they'll face when they're older and going to school on their own. Thanks for the information - good for people to be aware and hopefully more vigilant.

[Rockets]

This issue has little to do with police numbers - the catalyst is the fact that school children now carry phones and high-worth items and are seen as easy prey by the muggers. Even in the halcyon days of booming police numbers you could still get mugged and there wasn't a police officer on every street. The difference is of course during those days the mugger would end-up with one piece of Hubba Bubba chewing gum, a Pepe keyring and an old bus ticket rather than an iphone, air pods etc....

[Jules-and-Boo]

disagree

the presence of officers around the school reduced the number of crimes against children leaving the school.

[JohnL]

Rockets Wrote:

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

> This issue has little to do with police numbers -

> the catalyst is the fact that school children now

> carry phones and high-worth items and are seen as

> easy prey by the muggers. Even in the halcyon days

> of booming police numbers you could still get

> mugged and there wasn't a police officer on every

> street. The difference is of course during those

> days the mugger would end-up with one piece of

> Hubba Bubba chewing gum, a Pepe keyring and an old

> bus ticket rather than an iphone, air pods etc....

I think those who want to go back to "community policing" may mean where the police know the local villains and where they hang out and go over to sort them out and get your stuff back. It is sort of attractive.

[vanihe]

It's terrible. Our children are defenseless

[Jules-and-Boo]

There is a reason they are targeted - and there is a reason school's do not want children to have mobile phones.

Perhaps, as parents, we need to look at why we think our children need high value phones.

Back in the day - as you say, there was no point in mugging other kids, as they didn't have anything worth stealing.

[fishbiscuits]

I was mugged a couple of times as a teenager. One time was purely for cash, the other time was probably more about bullying/power - but they still robbed us nonetheless. I knew lads who were beaten up for their bikes or jackets. Random beatings/attacks also happened, seemingly just for fun. This wasn't in London, it was in the home counties. So while I agree that smartphones have exacerbated the issue, it's not new and it's not just something that happens in big cities. Moving out to Guildford or Berkhamsted to protect your kids is probably not going to help.

My daughter is still very young, but when she's old enough to be out on her own, I'll try to prepare her to have the right mindset. If you're mugged, hand over your stuff - it is all replaceable. Don't carry valuables around, only have a basic phone, keep it locked, backed up, and insured.