Be careful everyone

[Rockets]

Two kids in balaclavas wearing one blue surgical glove each acting very suspiciously around Dovercourt Road at the moment. Looks like they are waiting to try and rob people.

[Sue]

1 hour ago, Rockets said:

Two kids in balaclavas wearing one blue surgical glove each acting very suspiciously around Dovercourt Road at the moment. Looks like they are waiting to try and rob people.

Have you reported it to the police?

[Rockets]

Yes on 101. This may have been the same group robbing people at knifepoint in Dulwich Park earlier- a friend's street What's App group had been warning people about activity in the park.

After the two we saw went down Dovercourt (one of them gave me a lovely one finger salute as i must have stared at him in the wrong way), a couple of minutes later we heard a woman's  scream and men shouting at whomever was making her scream from down Dovercourt towards Townley.

[alice]

Just wondering if there’s any evidence that crime is increased since these roads were closed off. 

[Kathleen Olander]

17 minutes ago, alice said:

Just wondering if there’s any evidence that crime is increased since these roads were closed off. 

According to Councillor Leeming, on my doorstep, only evidence is of perceived crime.

[Mrs Townley]

One of them jogged right past my 12 year old on Townley Road, dressed in all black and still wearing the balaclava and the blue glove. He then started sprinting as he was being chased by two boys on Lime bikes. They were yelling at bystanders to call the police because "that guy mugged us". The mugger turned onto Calton Ave followed by the boys. Eventually someone at the church called the police for them. 

This is out of control.

[Rockets]

It is becoming a big problem, especially around Townley, Beauval, Dovercourt, Woodwarde and Calton and the criminals are becoming more and more brazen because they know no-one can do anything and they will never be caught.

They are there on an almost daily basis  looking for, and more often than not finding, victims.

 

[alice]

It is a pity that so many incidents are not reported to the police as street robbery info for that area shows very little. 

[malumbu]

Suggest 999 rather than 101 as there is enough info that they are crimms. A threatening look would be good enough for me.

[Rockets]

3 hours ago, alice said:

It is a pity that so many incidents are not reported to the police as street robbery info for that area shows very little. 

Alice, what data are you looking at as the data published by the police for the area tells a very different story - and one Cllr Leeming may want to take a look at if he really thinks the increase in crime is just perceived....?

[alice]

I was looking at the metropolitan police crime map they’ve got monthly data but only up to January 2024 at the moment. 
(I looked at the figures for robbery as that is what most comments have been about)

Edited March 17 by alice

[Rockets]

Alice,

It's the data behind that map that tells the true story - it's worth an explore to understand what is going on: https://www.police.uk/pu/your-area/metropolitan-police-service/dulwich-village/?yourlocalpolicingteam=about-us

In the Dulwich Village ward overall reported crime is up over the last year and over the last 3 years.

Now, it's a bit of  challenge trying to understand where the type of crime that is becoming such a problem locally is logged but there are three categories where it would reside when reported: robbery (where theft, a weapon or violence is used), theft from a person or other theft (phone snatches are filed as other).

 

Now over the last three years all three categories have been growing considerably in the Dulwich Village ward:

2021 (data from Jan 21 missing due to 3 year cut-off):

Robbery: 17

Theft from person: 4

Other theft: 45

 

2022

Robbery: 28

Theft from person:  23

Other theft: 96

 

2023

Robbery: 49

Theft from person: 35

Other theft: 77

 

January 2024

Robbery: 5

Theft from person: 7

Other theft: 6

 

And you can see from the attached policing priorities document from the same police report that the police acknowledge the problems with robberies (from school children) and phone snatches in the area.

 

So crime is rising being driven by violent or threatening robbery, theft from persons and phone snatches - and car crime is increasing in the area too.

 

It makes for grim reading and most definitely not a perceived increase in crime (per Cllr Leeming's comments) but a very much actual increase in crime and crime that massively impacts those who are on the receiving end of it.

 

I wonder if it is time for the council to acknowledge there is a crime problem in the ward and try to proactively address it.

 

 

 

Edited March 18 by Rockets