This story which was reported yesterday, disturbs me deeply.
An older man is assaulted by a young white male with two other young people standing by. Here on the main road of Croftlands.
What was happening that led to such violence?
I hope this behaviour never becomes the norm in Ulverston.
It will only stop if we all step in and intervene in some way if we see anything like this happening.
If we just shrug our shoulders and turn our backs then it could be our turn next and none of us want to live in this kind of community.
We need to try to understand why people walk around with such anger; then we need to do something about it. The answer is not the police, the problem is for us to solve. We cannot leave it to 'them' to deal with.
It follows the kind of behaviour that I predict will happen more and more as people get angrier with the world at large, and react to what is happening to them from directions they believe they have no control over.
10 comments:
What does a teenager have to be angry about ? these louts don't need understanding they need a sharp shock ,I will refain from saying a good hiding. It IS the job of the police to nip this in the bud and they could start by getting off their fat arses and walking the beat.
I'm glad you printed my first comment Geoff and got it off my chest. I am tired of people making excuses for young people ,that's not to say they are all bad,far from it. I also walk my dog on Croftlands and ,although friendly ,she would definitely go for anyone who attacked me. We don't know the full story behind this attack but it is worrying just the same If they get away with it they will do it again. I hope the police are doing something and being seen to be doing something by getting onto the streets i.e.OUT OF THE CAR !!
Getting the police to sort things out, is in my view a knee jerk reaction.
It pushes the responsibility elsewhere and as the police are stretched so that its extremely unlikely for a copper to be on the beat at the right time;then it's a pointless thought.
We say it, just to stop facing up to a very difficult problem.
Yes these kids need a good hiding done by a parent who will follow it up with other contact, confined to barracks maybe.
But these louts don't have parents in our meaning of the word.
An English policeman friend of mine reports that on his patch he can round up kids that are misbehaving and take them home to their parents.
In the good old days the parents would take over and exercise some appropriate discipline. However he is told by the 'parents':
"Take them away we don't want them here."
How can these kids avoid growing up angry with anyone that comes in their way.
These kids will have neighbours. If the parents won't bring them up then it's up to the neighbours to step in and tell them how to behave.
Avoid doing this then we get the behaviour we had towards this old man.
This is why I believe disruptive kids are our reponsibility.
As a teacher I've had disruptive kids in my classes. I found that one way to change their behaviour was to encourage them to do something they were proud of!
As teachers we occasionaly had kids who came to regard us as their parents. They'd even travel long distances to come and see us just to get a bit more encouragement when going through a bad patch.
No human, I believe is all bad!
There's always a bit of humanity there, sometimes in greater quantity than we ever suspected!
We can if we try , bring this out!
But it's never going to be easy!
It's thinking like yours Geoff that has made the kids the copper bottomed morons that a good many of them are, giving them a feeling of invincibility and a blank cheque to do what they want
It's thinking like mine that got all my form with reasonable exam results in a sink school in East London. 50% with 5 A-C in a school which averaged 23%.
Some people confuse understanding with being 'soft'.
A sharp shock is part of understanding. Strictness; holding people to the promises they make; telling kids off is all part of understanding.
Telling parents of kids down the road to grow up and discipline their kids is understanding.
Do you do it?
I posted the 1st and 2nd but not the 3rd message. There is merit in both arguments but I will reiterate the Plod are key to this issue . they MUST be seen to be doing something.
Yes, you are right.
We need a more visible presence of the real police.
The community policeman is a very important role in averting crime. He could make the public feel more confident so that they did more and worked with the police. He would then act as a focus for concerns from the public.
He should perhaps walk the whole patch on foot at least once a week at random times like the good old days.
With present police staffing and methods, this is unrealistic , but a goal to aim for.
Times are going to become more problematic - we need a fresh approach.
The police need to stop telling us "Leave it to us, it's too dangerous" because they clearly aren't coping on their own.
Thanks for you comment - you got me thinking and got me less accepting of the present situation.
More comments please; this is what this blog is all about!
All this Police talk has given me a full head of steam on an issue which is always burning.There was a table published in the Mail the other night showcasing detection success rates. Barrow got 77%, Ulverston got 35%. This confirms my opinion that the local plod are next to useless!I really don't care if they can catch 100 motorists with no tax or MOT, the bloody technology does all the hard work for them anyway, and it does not affect my life one iota. What does affect my life is their complete inability to catch the Ford Park vandals, the pet duck killer, the oak tree snapper, and the behaviour of the patrons of the Palais after whenever closing time is deemed to be!There's still plenty of vowing and pledging coming from them, but, as my old Mam used to say, they're "all fur coat and no knickers!"
I disagree with you profoundly.
I don't know the details but I wouldn't expect the police to get far on the issues you describe above if they don't get some help from the public.
I suspect there is very little giving of information whereas there are plenty of gripes.
Having spent a couple of hours with someone who suffered the sudden, unexpected death of her husband, I am full of praise for the PC who could not be faulted with his handling of a very difficult situation.
This experience of police in action shows what a brilliant police force we have. I only know a few of them but those I have had dealings with are great.
It's so easy to have the public being so negative. I get many people like this, here on the blog and refuse to publish their comments - they have nothing better to do.
Clear off and pick up some dog shit or litter for a change will you!
Post a Comment