Robbery last night outside Venezia at 88 SGR

drewpasmith · May 2011

Hi all,

Just letting you know to be careful with your phones in the SG area.

I was standing outside Venezia last night chatting to a mate and two guys came up behind me on a scooter (yup, they rode down the footpath), punched me in the side of the head and ripped my phone out of my hand.

Apparently mine was the 2nd or 3rd such attack last night so these guys seem to think they're on to a good thing.

Cheers,

Drew

P.S If you happened to be in the area and saw anything happen, I'd be most grateful for any information.

applehead · May 2011

Jesus wept. that sounds really violent and frightening. Are you okay?

What did the cops say?

My friends son (16) was accosted for money and phone by three young guys after coming out of the tube 10 days ago but a passer by butted in to ask if everything was okay and in that moment he ran back to the tube for safety and his ma came and got him. I have scolded them for not reporting as I know the local cops always want to know what the bad people are up to.

Donna · May 2011

oh dear sounds awful. What time did it happen?

norn iron · May 2011

Please, people, report these incidents to the local police team. They more they know about, the more they can keep an eye on things... maybe put more patrols down our way? You can ring the Stroud Green 'Safer Neighbourhoods Team' on 020 87212837.

thelogicalsong · May 2011

Hi Drew

That sounds really horrible. What time did it happen?

Our car was broken into in Ennis Road last night and someone wedged our bell on at 1 in morning. There seems to be a bit of a nasty undercurrent going on in SGRd at moment.

Take care

drewpasmith · May 2011

Thanks for all the loving vibes people. It's making a shit second week in my new home a little friendlier ;)

It happened between 8:30 and 8:35 last night (May 11).

The cops were very nice but pretty sanguine about the whole thing. There's slim-no-chance of my phone being recovered but they're on the case with tracking the perps down.

@norn iron: thanks for the tip about the Safer Neighbourhoods Team. I was chatting to some fellow SGers in Venezia afterwards (shout-out to Martin the hairdresser and Donna who gave me a calming glass of wine) and, as long-time locals, they mentioned seeing a change in mood in the area for the worse. Deffo time to step up the safer neighbourhood actions I'd say.

@thelogicalsong Sorry to hear about the car. Now I won't just be looking over my shoulder, I'll be constantly peering out of my window at my car :P

Cheers one and all,

Drew

Arkady · May 2011

sorry to hear about this drew. For what it's worth I've never seen anything that I would regard as a serious crime in my five years in the area. You were *really* unlucky.

charliep · May 2011

that's terrible, I hope you're ok today? I live right by Venezia, and I did notice a lot of noise last night. Shall indeed keep my eye out. Thanks @norn iron for the phone number!

Kaz · May 2011

Hope this doesn't change your mind about SG, Drew! And hope of course that you are ok.

I second Arkady, you were really unlucky! I've been here well over five years, and have never seen or experienced anything unpleasant!

delaware · May 2011

Drew, am shocked and sorry to hear about this - hope you are ok. To echo arkady, in my 5 years here ive never seen any violent crime and so fingers crossed this is a one off for you.

Arkady · May 2011

Given his experience so far I think we should take Drew down the Stapleton and get him pissed to welcome him to the neighbourhood.

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miss annie · May 2011

Gosh, sorry to hear that Drew, I've not (touch wood) seen any crime in the area either, and I live very near the Andover estate. Go and get drunk with the knitters, you'll have a whale of a time.

Arkady · May 2011

When I say we, unfortunately I don't include me. I have a big hand-in on Monday, and then I'm off to Morocco for ten days (any tips?) so I won't be around much for a bit. But still, I'll happily purchase Drew a pint at some point in the future. No really.

Fin · May 2011

It's (one of the?) disadvantages of gentrification, which only seems to be gathering pace in Stroud Green, that as an area becomes more wealthy it attracts would be muggers, burglars and the like.

Twenty years ago they'd wouldn't have dared round here, ten years ago it wouldn't have been worth it, now however it's relatively rich pickings.

Arkady · May 2011

Curious. Fin, doesn't that contradict the crime statistics (such as the NCS) that show that wealthier areas suffer from *less* crime? The bloke in the flat below me has lived there since the 1970s. He said that when he first moved in there were squats everywhere, and he had syringes thrown in his back garden every day. He claims you couldn't walk down SGR at night for fear of being attacked. There were no late-night shops or bars, and so no 'eyes on the street'. As a result it was crime-central. SG is a far more wealthy and bustling place now, and that seems to have had a causal affect on the reduction in crime.

Arkady · May 2011

Also, one of the sociological phenonema of the last thirty years is that the fear and perception of crime has steadily risen while independent surveys (such as the NCS mentioned above) have shown crime *falling* steadily (except for gun crime amongst some ethnic minorities in a few inner-city areas). this is true of every country in the EU except Belgium. Does anyone have any statistics that show that crime has actually risen in SG, or are we victims of this odd dislocation from reality? I think I've levelled this challenge here before to no response.

ADGS · May 2011

I'm intrigued by the Belgium anomaly there. Is it a precursor to a Yugoslavia-style schism, or just a *lot* of paedophiles?

sincers · May 2011

Its a longstanding waffle-related crime wave.

Arkady · May 2011

@ADGS: Both. Soon the paedos will secede and create their own small state with Michael Jackson as their Eternal President. Their motto will be the wittily inverted "No child's behind left". This will greatly alarm the EU, but greatly reduce the crime rate of Belgium.

ADGS · May 2011

This strikes me as unnecessary duplication - doesn't Europe already have one bush-dodger statelet in the form of the Vatican?

Arkady · May 2011

Thank you for 'bush-dodger'.

ADGS · May 2011

Shrub-rocketeer, bent ref, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown...

unaesthetic · May 2011

Small Bean Regarder

Fin · May 2011

I would suggest Arkady that there's a phase in the cycle, as an area becomes wealthier, that certain types of crime increase. Makes sense if you think about, no one worth robbing here 20-30 years ago, in the last 10 however opportunities have certainly increased and so has the incidence.

Probably does also progress to a point where such crime decreases again, either because the police realise an area has a particular problem ii didn't have before and get a handle on it, or the criminals are priced out of living in/near the area.

Arkady · May 2011

You may very well be right Fin. What I’m getting at though is this: do you have any statistics to support your suggestion, or is it just a feeling based upon personal observation/hearsay? Because unless you do have evidence to support it I remain sceptical.

Papa · May 2011

Agree Arkady

Perception and fear of crime is the big one, just like fear of losing your job in recession is the economy killer not the actual job losses.

However, the problem with crime is the amount that goes unreported as people don't think the police will bother investigating and seem to tolerate more low level crime as a 'oh well, that's life' event.

I'll bet there is a fair amount of that in Stroud Green so the stats won't tell the full picture.

The big example is car crime - I've done it, after all it's not worth the hassle, sadly my experience with the police over the years has been mainly a frustrating combination of extreme bother reporting anything plus disintrest from the police and frustration getting anything followed up.

This ranges from burglary, to a man, who was identified, punching my sister when she stepped in to tell him to stop attacking his girfriend, to car break-in, to our car being written off by a drunk driver who ran away.

I broadly support the police and they do a tough job but they've really messed up in the last 10 to 15 years in the whole public support, eyes and ears essential element of their job.

Most people only report low level crime if they need to for insurance, if they know that won't pay out or the excess is too high they don't bother.

The point about the stuff open on SGR at night being eyes on the street is a good one and definitely makes it safer.

Shame the only time we really see police patrolling on foot is when Arsenal are playing though.

sincers · May 2011

I saw them patrolling SGR yesterday evening. I wish they'd walk around with their batons out so they can clothes-line the little fucktards who cycle up and down looking for people to rob. Hey waddaya know, "fucktard" isn't in the spellchecker.

Papa · May 2011

Patrolling, or on the way to get some dinner? <

Ali · May 2011

Well I have seen the police on several weekend evenings patrolling on their bikes so I guess they can give chase

Arkady · May 2011

@ Papa L – that’s why I mentioned the British Crime Survey (BCS) and not government statistics that could be a) manipulated and b) underestimate the problem. (I mistakenly called it the NCS above) The BCS is a huge and long-running survey (Home Office commissioned but independently run and reported) which asks whether you feel that you have been a victim of crime and what that crime was, regardless of whether you have reported it (or, indeed, whether it actually was a crime). It also asks whether you have reported it. Further, it asks whether you feel that crime is going up or down. As I noted, this has consistently shown crime to be falling and perception of crime rising. This, understandably, has bemused sociologists for decades. I’d suggest glancing at the tabloids gives us a partial answer to this conundrum. The media thrive off reporting the worst news in the most alarmist way. On the other hand, maybe there’s a deep-set psychological reason. Threads like this one understandably generate a lot of fear. But look how many people have posted that they have never been a victim of crime in the area. For every thread that gets posted here warning people of crime or anti-social behaviour, we might expect to see many threads extolling what a lovely, friendly and crime-free neighbourhood it is. But we don’t, for the same reason that NIMBYs and haters always get over-represented: we love to complain. Sometimes those complaints are completely legitimate (as here). But we’re rarely motivated to sing virtues in the same way.

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Robbery last night outside Venezia at 88 SGR

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