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throwaway-blaze • today at 1:53 AM • 2 replies • view on HN

Mentions the druggies in passing twice (once in a quote) and an astronomical crime level (160 per 1000 people? So I have a 16% chance of being a victim??) but zero mention of either at the end of the article in terms of fixing the issue.

Zero info on who the government hundreds of millions is going towards to help the problem (let me guess: a bunch of nonprofits who won't solve the problem).


Replies

dofm • today at 3:28 AM

> and an astronomical crime level (160 per 1000 people? So I have a 16% chance of being a victim??)

Not even close, unless you own a shop (in which case, in some areas, life can undeniably be exasperating and miserable). The vast majority of high street crimes are shoplifting or possession (or drinking in alcohol control areas) and an astonishingly large number are attributed to a tiny, tiny number of people.

There are high crime areas in most towns in the UK where you will feel pretty safe, because the crime is simply not directed at you.

When it does spill over into personal violence, it is the aforementioned handful of people with drug problems. It’s worth noting that one incident involving three people is likely to result in a dozen recorded crimes. And a British town of sixty thousand people will have so few of these prolific individuals that they themselves commute to neighbouring towns to steal.

Worth remembering also if you are an American that in the UK we have not decriminalised marijuana, so there are drug possession and small-scale dealing crimes in there too.

nekitamo • today at 8:13 AM

Not only that, this specific town was the first one where the allegations about grooming gangs and police acquiescence emerged:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotherham_child_sexual_exploit...

It sounds like a very rough place, with very incompetent police.