Tonight:
8°c
We used to discuss schools and nannies.
Now the main topic of conversation among my friends is who got mugged and how.
Mostly talk dwells on the sheer chutzpah with which the crimes are committed.
It's not unusual to have teenagers go through a roster of their day's activities to which they add “Oh, and I got mugged on the way home” to the list.
The difference now is that we've got so used to it that we almost take it for granted — and I speak as someone whose car was carjacked and whose house was broken into, with us in it, listening to his every stumble.
When my husband chased the robber down the street, the dutiful police officer advised us to install even more expensive security.
He took one look at my watch and suggested I go without. What next? No clothes?
When my phone was stolen from my car last week while I tried to open my front door (the culprit later sniggered when I dialled it), I came to the conclusion that crime is so rampant that ordinary citizens like us have stopped even bothering informing the police (I certainly didn't).
Chief Superintendent Mark Heath of Kensington and Chelsea reassures me that 451 personal robberies were recorded in the borough in the past 12 months: that should calm me because that is statistically fewer than the year before. Perhaps they are in a different part of the borough from where I live.
The statistics also don't match our experience because the victims have developed immunity.
We just sit in our fortresses, hoarding our worldly goods with cameras and private security guards while assuming that every Sainsbury's unloading session could end in terror.
Even my middle-aged cleaner was mugged on her three-minute journey home — and she doesn't wear a watch.
The recession may make things even worse: personal robberies were up by 25 per cent in the UK as a whole last year.
Scotland Yard's acting second-in-command, Tim Godwin, recently said that the side-effects of our economic times were already being felt by the Met: “We will get an increase in areas of criminality such as retail crime and business crime,” he said. It trickles down to wanting your wallet.
Thus my son's 13-year-old friend was mugged by a five-year-old on a tricycle for his phone.
Just a few months before, a fellow mother at my son's school in sleepy St John's Wood was mugged for her Rolex in front of the school gates with all of the mothers watching.
“His face was completely exposed and there were security guards at the school opposite,” she said. “All he said was, If you don't take the watch off, I'll stab you.'
You could tell he really didn't care that there were dozens of witnesses.
One of the other mothers was even trying to pull him off.”
Last year I watched a large man get mugged from my upstairs window.
He swatted the teenagers off (they grabbed his wallet) then kicked his car in frustration. He gave the mugging about the same degree of response as receiving a parking ticket.
Though Chief Supt Heath tells me the crime in my borough is down overall by 12 per cent, I am not convinced.
Walking into my house backwards to make sure I won't be jumped on my doorstep is not relaxing — nor is paying to have the scratch marks (a Notting Hill custom) removed from my car every six months.
We get used to everything — but why should we? We should not be paying for more security — we should be picketing.
Reader views (16)
to Bill from Utah: the article describes a surge in crime in a London borough. This hardly compares to the US state of Utah. A comparison with another metropolis such as NYC would be more appropriate. My suggestion is that you look up the overall statistics for gun crime committed in the US vs. UK, maybe then your narrow minded perception will change. Kind regards from the beautiful city of London
- Carsten, London
How did you people ever manage to have an empire that once spanned the Globe? The British Lion has been emasculated by liberalism and pacifism. It is obvious that your thugs have nothing to fear.
- Byron Dickens, Houston, TX
Here in the state of Utah, USA, the overall level of violent crime (which includes mugging) is very low. Nobody with whom I’m personally acquainted has been attacked here in recent decades.
Roughly one out of every twenty adults in Utah has a permit to carry a concealed weapon (a permit that’s easy to obtain as long as you don’t have a criminal record), and many more keep guns in their homes. Furthermore, law-abiding citizens in Utah can legally carry a loaded handgun in their car without a permit (though if you have a felony record and you get caught anywhere with any kind of gun, you’re likely to go to federal prison for several years).
One of the benefits of legally carrying a weapon is that it helps one maintain a sense of individual responsibility and civic duty. One of the most essential civic duties is to actively resist any form of felonious assault. Another is to come to the aid of other citizens who are being assaulted. I wouldn’t have the slightest hesitation to do either, although I’ll probably never have the opportunity. But I always carry a large-caliber semiautomatic handgun anyway and practice with it regularly. It’s like having a lifejacket in your boat or a fire extinguisher in your kitchen. You’ll probably never need to use it, but if you do it’s awfully nice to have it handy
- Bill Clayton, Salt Lake City, USA
I've heard in the UK that if a victim resists or fights back, they will be charged. Hence I understand the acceptance of such criminal violence as a part of daily life. Do you folks advocating a neighborhood patrol really believe that the police will accept such a thing? I strongly suspect if it were done openly, its members would be changed with inciting violence or some such thing.
No, people need to assume they are on their own and act accordingly. Sad to say but the police are not your friend and not there to protect you. We hear a lot of such talk here in the USA about how "the police will protect you" but that belief is easily demolished by googling "Gonzales vs. Castle Rock". Time and time again, the Supreme Court here has ruled the police have no duty to protect individuals, only society-at-large.
In your case, it is 10 times worse because they treat victims as co-criminals. So you're being squeezed between a rock and a hard place.
You've been disarmed of traditional weapons and growing more controlled and spineless by the day. If you want to stop being victims, start fighting back and tell NO ONE. Deny everything.
Walk with a cane or hiking stick. Next time a yob tries to mug you, crack it across their head and calmly keep walking to get out of the area. If the police show up at your home, deny everything. Your word against that of a hoodlum. Given enough time, the criminals will learn.
Alas, this is what you've come to.
- Matt, Potomac, MD, USA
Here in Texas we deter criminals by carrying concealed handguns. A criminal is literally betting his life if he decides to assault someone. I don't worry at all about my own safety traveling about Dallas or Ft Worth....not sure Londoners can say the same.
- A C Frechtling, Waxahachie, Texas
What did we expect when we disarmed the law abiding. Did we expect the criminals not to take advantage?
- Bruce, Stansted, UK
Yeah G Mc - thanks for that.
My chin was split open in 2005 - and I was blamed. How silly of me to be born gay.
I had my eyebrow kicked off a year later. And I'm not at all camp - before you decide I deserved it.
Love James XxXx
- James White, Ealing, London
Did you REALLY say a 13-year-old boy was mugged by a FIVE-year-old? That could be the best thing I ever read. I want to know every detail, sparing none, no matter how small. Please please return to this in future columns!
Oh, and pass my condolences on to the teen in question - he's obviously a bit rubbish at life and that.
- Tom, London
A 13 year old mugged by a five year old on a tricycle? That sounds like either exaggeration or a pathetically weedy teenager.
- Iain, San Francisco, USA
Picket who exactly? The criminals? that would be an interesting social experiment. Do write an article to let us know the outcome. Don't wear a watch or take a phone while you're there though.
It says more about the the residents that they stand by while a woman is robbed, or that you watched a crime but didn't act - or at least you haven't told us your response. It is in the face of adversity that people can step up and show courage and sympathy to victims. It won't stop crime, but it will reduce its impacts, and maybe show that there are decent people in the world.
- G Mc, Kensington
Yes!1! Let's do something about this! We need to start a fund to get that 13 year-old some karate lessons.
- Mrs R_O, London
While I agree that there are problems with policing, its more that judicial system and particularly the youth justice system is not fit for purpose. There is no chance of the little scroats getting caught, there is no chance of them going to prison if they get convicted, and even if they do get sent down they are 'automatically' released after having served only half the sentance.
New York State tackled this in the 1990s by trying all those over 14 as adults, giving them adult sentances and then serving them in full. Thats whats needed here.
- Adam, E14
When the moral superstructure of a community is destroyed, we must resort to technology to protect ourselves, and in the end that will fail also.
The only long term answer is a commonly accepted code of morality: however inconsistent, however vulnerable to sneers from those with the resources to protect themselves, and that is resilient enough to survive people's fascination with the coarse and unending drivel that pollutes our computer, mobile and tv screens.
- Simon, Waltham USA
right on ! you have expressed exactly my thoughts on the state of the nation! There is barely a teenager I know that isnt subjected to this kind of thins, practicallly on a monthly occasion. the stats are just that, no-one reports it because no-one will do anything about it. I've put some serious thought to hiring security guards to patrol the streets where it happens and when it happens- the police dont seem to want to get involved in prevention (apart from advising we dont wear anything!) its all about the clean-up rate. A few quid a week week from the people around this way would give a better return than the plastic police we have around here- and at least they would be accountable - to somebody. I dont think the police even see this a serious crime- I do- its threatening with menaces( or worse..!)
- Tim G, ealing
The Police's answer for everything is to inconvenience or blame the victim rather than accept that they are not doing their jobs effectively.
Wearing a watch? Take it off to avoid getting mugged. Listening to your ipod? Don't you might get mugged. Your house doesn't have a moat or a portcullis? It's your fault if you get burgled.
How about the Police starts catching and locking up these thieves and muggers? At the very least get out of your cars and stations and prevent some crime by your presence.
- Bruce, London
May I suggest that you stop blaming other people for your lack of security and do something? Organise a neighbourhood patrol, arm yourselves if you feel the need. The Police have demonstrated time and again that they are incapable of protecting us and the public should be able to use whatever force they deem necessary to protect themselves.
- Mark, London
