Mugging In Melbourne Grove

[wallerski]

It was actually outside my bedroom window. My boyfriend heard the screams and leapt out of bed to run to the window. Saw a guy chasing him off down the road. Nasty....

[evelknievel]

Apologies Lenk, you're right.

I wonder what the Peckham Forum euphemism for ED is... something for another thread perhaps.

[Louisa]

Mikecg I am with you about the being on guard comment. As a single woman I have never felt comfortable walking the streets at night and I have to be honest here, certain parts of the area stick out like a sore thumb. Grove Vale is near the huge housing estate and it is one place I would never walk near alone after dark (i'm even dubious in daylight sometimes). Melbourne Grove may well be heading away from this area and many would expect it to be safer, dont be fooled. It is a dark side street which has few people walking down it after dark. I came very close to an incident down here many years ago, long before any apparant decrease in violent crime locally. I also have to say, and I know many of you disagree, Peckham is one of the fundamental reasons this area is so sensitive to violent crime. I would not walk north of Peckham Rye after dark even on a well lit road such as Rye Lane. It is an unsafe area and I think it is about time the police got down to the route of the problem by putting a very heavy police presence along the streets of Peckham after dark, and I mean late night foot patrols as well as marked vehicles. I guarantee that much of ED's problems can be directly attributed to the god awful state Peckham has been left in for so many years now, it sounds like scaremongering but it really is not, I find Peckham to be at times almost lawless.

I also wish to send my best regards to the poor soul involved in this incident, and I hope she has a swift recovery.

Louisa.

[lenk]

Nothing like anecdotal, subjective evidence to whip the board into a frenzy...here we go.

[Sue]

Louisa Wrote:

> Peckham is one of the fundamental reasons this

> area is so sensitive to violent crime. I would not

> walk north of Peckham Rye after dark even on a

> well lit road such as Rye Lane. It is an unsafe

> area

xxxxxx

And your criteria for an unsafe area are ...... ??

[cate]

Louisa, does that mean that you would walk on Peckham Rye though, just not north of it!

[Brendan]

lenk Wrote:

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

> Nothing like anecdotal, subjective evidence to

> whip the board into a frenzy...here we go.

What?s so anecdotal or subjective about this from the 5th post, ?Just found it was a friend of a friend. She's ok. She was mugged on her way home and she tried to fight him off. The police said she was lucky she was wearing a big coat as the wound was millimetres from her heart. Her hands are pretty cut up too. She's in hospital and very upset and shocked.?

Technically unsubstantiated at this point as any post on a message board is but in all honesty do you suspect them to be lying? If so to what ends?

But you know sorry I forgot this is your manor and people shouldn?t complain about crimes or threats to their safety. They?ve always happened so therefore it?s ok, nay good and proper it?s how we do thing ?round here. It?s London you know. These things are to be expected. Who the hell are these people showing concern for their fellow human beings?

[Louisa]

Oh Sue for christs sake come on, you must be living in cloud cuckoo land if you can honestly say that Peckham is not a blatant breeding ground for crime, even the statistics show this! My criteria for 'unsafe' in London tend to be firstly an area with huge housing estates, usually because they are unlit and contain many dark dingy alleyways.

cate, I have and would walk around Peckham Rye very ocassionally, but it isnt something I would do on a regular basis. Anywhere in inner London can be dangerous after dark, but as I stated above certain places have become breeding ground for violent crime and if you bunch of people on here find it so damn difficult to appreciate that is it any wonder the police are left with their hands tied behind their back half the time. Too much 'over analysis', how about we just stick more patrols on the streets and see what happens. Not rocket science.

And lenk, just shut up please.

Louisa.

[Mark]

I asked the Safer Neighbourhood Team this morning what they were doing in light of the "perceived" rise in local crime by some people, this is what they had to say:

"Thank you for your message, we have tried our best to raise awareness

through many different mediums but it is hard to reach everyone. The

shooting people are worrying about I assume is the one that took place in

Barry Road. I met with many residents after that incident and spoke on

the phone with many more. This attack was a targeted and isolated

incident and two people have since been charged and await

court.

Burglaries of residential properties in East Dulwich have fallen

by half in the last 9-10 months and we hope that with the introduction

of property marking to the business properties we will be able to start

dramatically tackling this as well.

Reported robberies have shown a

slight increase in the last month we are working with the council to

provide more panic alarms and other counter measures such as clipping

bells to bags. The rate of robbery in East Dulwich is a lot lower than

the surrounding area and all I can say to people is that if they are a

victim please report it so that we can channel our resources

effectively.

We are also working with the council to look at the feasibility of

improving lighting in many of the roads in East Dulwich and ensuring

trees are properly pruned to increase long distance visibility in areas

such as Barry Road and Friern Road.

Regards

Duncan Jackson

Sgt. East Dulwich SNT

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

If you need to contact them:

East Dulwich Team

173-183 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, London

SE22 8HA

http://www.met.police.uk/teams/southwark/eastdulwich/index.php

Tel: 020 8721 2447

Mob: 07920 233912

[Sue]

Nice to discuss things calmly with you too, Louisa :)

[Brendan]

Bollocks. I pay tax in order to (amongst other things) be provided with a police force that will control crime significantly. Why aren?t they doing this, across the whole country? Is the best they can do some condescending advice on how high I should have my hedge?

- Sorry off topic as this is a larger political bug bear of mine -

[jimmy two times]

I'm not sure what is the point of these types of threads? The Police are dealing with it and if they require witnesses then fair enough. Otherwise it just seems like scaremongering that is guaranteed to feed the perception that crime in the area is spiralling out of control. Isn't that the job of local newspapers?

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Louisa, you are spouting absolute bollocks.

[Louise_mckenna]

I agree with you Louisa, Sue seems to think we live in a village in Sussex. We live next door to some of the worst boroughs in London, and we need to be realistic about this. I'm not suggesting for a second we should all hide away indoors, but just to be sensible. Since moving here I haven't changed my lifestyle in any way, I still go out and still see friends, but when I'm coming home late I make sure I'm not left to walk home alone.

[sophiesofa]

Oh dear i hope this doesn't end in verbal fisticuffs

[lenk]

Brendan Wrote:

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

> lenk Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Nothing like anecdotal, subjective evidence to

> > whip the board into a frenzy...here we go.

>

>

> What?s so anecdotal or subjective about this from

> the 5th post, ?Just found it was a friend of a

> friend. She's ok. She was mugged on her way home

> and she tried to fight him off. The police said

> she was lucky she was wearing a big coat as the

> wound was millimetres from her heart. Her hands

> are pretty cut up too. She's in hospital and very

> upset and shocked.?

>

It was referring to Louisa's comment about Peckham being a lawless badlands, 'because she says it is so'.

[Moos]

Louise_mckenna, can you justify that statement about Sue's posts with some evidence?

[Brendan]

Oh, my apologies lenk.

[snorky]

More coppers, more heavily tooled up and harsher custodial sentences makes no real difference to the level of crime on the streets or more importantly, the fear of crime.Coppers are just the enforcers, the muscle for the politicians

[Sue]

Louise_mckenna Wrote:

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

> Sue seems to think we

> live in a village in Sussex.

XXXXXX

I did used to live in a village in Sussex - Ditchling.

I was born and brought up in South London and have lived in East Dulwich for nearly twenty years.

I think I'm well able to distinguish Sussex from East Dulwich :)

Edited to say: And I feel no more unsafe here than I did in Ditchling.

[Mikecg]

Except there are less wicker men around ED Sue.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Louise_mckenna, apart from the bit which says the you agree with Louisa and disagree with Sue, the gist of what you are saying sounds like Sue. ie I don't believe for a second Sue has her head in the clouds (not on this issue anyway - sorry Sue!) and all she is saying is be sensible as well

There isn't anywhere in London that is completely safe - and pointing at other areas just looks silly (even if statistically they do have higher crime rates)

basically - when you were brought up in/moved to London you learned/knew that it was a seething metropolis. It's horrible when it happens but muggings/attacks etc will happen. Even if 100% of Brendan and my tax pays for police. And even if we are absolutely not complacent about it

It is wrong to suggest we shouldn't be bothered just as it is wrong to think there was ever a time when this wasn't an issue. And it's wrong to seize every attack as some sort of chicken-licken/boy who cries wolf "The sky is falling down"

As someone says we have local papers for that sort of thing. In teh meantime as bout Lousie AND Sue said - just continue to be careful

(All that said, judging by history, we can expect crime to go up in a recession so I'm not suggesting that's not happening NOR that we should just accept it. But we shouldn't be surprised either)

[Mikecg]

I recon Brendon feels like he is living in sanctuary compared to Joburg, at least here you can stop at a red robot.

[Nero]

My boyfriend heard the screams and leapt out of bed to run to the window. Saw a guy chasing him off down the road.

Did he get a description?

(!)

[Sue]

Mikecg Wrote:

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

> Except there are less wicker men around ED Sue.

xxxxx

:))