I kept getting updates after I signed that petition about increasing the penalties for stealing from vans. lots of hot air, but I suspect zero action on the political front.
The big problem nowadays is that communities have been broken, in that a lot of crime is incomers or even peripatetic thieves, who have no connection to the locality (apart from as a source of income), and often travel long distances to do their 'work'.
Mind you, earlier this week we had a moped-aided bag snatch outside a local supermarket. It's a leafy, usually quiet suburb, but we're experiencing a crime wave presently. I strongly suspect that shutting the local police station has been a big encouragement to the scum. The nearest one is now 10-15 mins further away (at best, on a blue-light run). We're getting quite brazen daytime robberies and burglaries, e.g. removing uPVC panels (complete) to gain access to a property, and daytime muggings. Our residential streets don't have cameras and are almost never patrolled.
Two members of my family recently retired from the police after 30+ years of service. They couldn't wait to get out. One was in Criminal Intelligence, and predicted this sort of thing. If the "Police and Crime Commissioner"* is not allowed to intervene in "operational" policing issues, such as big strategy like putting the police in fortified strongholds rather than local stations (and on the streets!), what is the point of her?
E. (fearing it's only a matter of time...)
*I love the irony of the post's title - "...Crime Commissioner"? Really???
