CAR-JACKING IN NOTTINGHAM --Elderly woman seriously hurt

G#Gill · Post by **G#Gill** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:55 am

At the end of February, an elderly lady had her BMW car keys snatched from her hands as she walked to her front door from her car on her drive. Apparently she ran to the rear of the car to prevent it from being reversed from her driveway, however the thief just reversed and knocked her down, then ran over her ! He made good his escape in the car. The car was later stopped by police after the driver stole petrol from a filling station. The poor lady spent several days in hospital, having had several bones broken, damaged her back, and numerous cuts and bruises. She is so traumatised by the incident that she feels she may never venture out of the house again. This kind of crime is becoming more common.

Just be aware that these thieves do not care about anybody. They are ruthless, and they are just out for what they can steal, and it does not matter that they hurt or even kill people that 'get in their way'.

Just be vigilant and do not take careless risks.

Post by **spot** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:58 am

I don't suppose anyone else but me cares in the slightest whether this is true or not.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/car-jacking-warning.html

G#Gill · Post by **G#Gill** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:44 am

Thank you Spot for drawing my attention to this. Consequently I have deleted that notice, as I had no idea that it was in fact a hoax. However, I am bound to say that it is actually worthwhile to be aware that things like this can happen, and probably have. I do know of several incidents in Nottinghamshire where people have been physically pulled from their vehicles and thrown to the ground whilst the thieves have driven off the poor victim's car !

Post by **spot** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:00 am

It's the difference between an epidemic of criminality and reports of crimes.

The crime report's at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nott ... 277001.stm

Crimes are bad. Criminals should be identified, arrested, charged, prosecuted and prevented from disturbing the community again. It's a pity we support such large numbers of incompetent and thuggish police from the public purse when what we need are skilled investigators.

G#Gill · Post by **G#Gill** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:48 am

Once upon a time, the UK police force was the envy of the world, and well respected. Their job was to PREVENT crime, and to protect people and property. You would often see a 'bobby on the beat', and consequently you felt comfortable and safe going about your business along the city's roads. In rural areas there were 'police houses' where the rural 'bobby' would live, where he had his own little office with phone, and from where he would travel out and about round the various villages within his 'area' on his pedal cycle. All the villagers knew him, usually by his christian name, and knew that he would be the one to turn to if they had a problem of any sort. There was respect for the police, and the youngsters of the day knew what respect was.

Nowadays one is lucky to get an 'answering service' when you phone 999. They just haven't got the manpower to deal with the ever-increasing incidents of crime. In our suburban area, on a Friday and Saturday night, there is just one police officer, or sometimes two, on duty, to cover about eight different suburbs, and adjacent rural areas!!! The C.I.D. (Criminal Investigation Department) have very similar manpower problems. Of course crime detection is not very successful when each CID officer has got a bookful of ongoing cases that he has to deal with. So he has to prioritise, and consequently dozens of less serious crimes are left on the files. Mr Criminal is, of course, well aware of this, and so long as he doesn't injure any victim of his crime, he will feel confident that the police haven't got the manpower to go investigating for him, and he carries on with his 'business'.

It is left, therefore, to us (ordinary people) to be careful and vigilant when we venture out into this world, and not to put ourselves in vulnerable positions. We cannot rely on seeing a 'bobby' walking along the pavement 'preventing crime' by his presence.

I just wonder how far standards will have to fall before the government wakes up and injects huge finance into our police force, to enable them to do their jobs ?

Post by **spot** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:03 am

I'm not sure I see the point of paying them at all, much less more of the same, when they're so totally incapable of performing professionally and succeeding in their appointed tasks.

I offer as at least preliminary evidence for this that detectives inflated crime clear-up rates by persuading convicted criminals to admit at least 600 offences they did not commit, that a Home Office study published in February 2005 found the percentage of reported rapes leading to convictions in England and Wales had fallen to an all-time low, that crime has been systematically under-recorded to manipulate clear up rates - none of this is a lack of political will by any party, it's nothing to do with underfunding, it's structural and systemic within the police force itself. They are so riddled with fundamentally dishonest jobsworths at all levels who will take the easiest path regardless of its effectiveness for society that they can't function in the field they've been assigned.

Hoaxes really are a blight and they're terribly easy to recognize. You might consider, for example, that the duty and VAT on a litre of petrol in England just happens to be 69p. The sum presumably goes: duty and VAT, 69p; petrol company, 0p, campaign succeeded?