I don't expect you to watch this video through to the end, but do watch the first 2 mins. Turn your sound down too.
I believe that the folk in the stopped vehicle were suspected Shoplifters. In the UK, as long as what you've taken is valued at less than £20, then it's no longer treated as a crime. Over in the USA it warrants about 15 cop cars, several motorcycle cops, loads of guns, and at least one police dog. You would certainly be taken off to jail.
Back in the UK, when some little Toad kicks-in your front door, threatens to cut essential bits off you, then runs off with your wife's diamonds; if you're lucky the police will give you a Crime Number (for your insurance Co), and that's it. They certainly wouldn't want to upset the little darling who robbed you. That would be against his 'human rights'.
I hope whatever those people in the white car stole (if indeed they did) was worth all that time, effort, and cost, of all those cops. Somehow I doubt it. I've never seen so many cops just to stop a car, and get the occupants out.
The US cops seem very heavy-handed, and the UK cops are far too lenient. How totally different life is on opposite sides of The Pond. Something in between is needed.
Three men tailed a woman from London to Norfolk and violently robbed her when she stopped a few miles from home to buy her supper. They were caught and this week receives sentences of 18 years in jail in Norwich Crown Court. I am pleased to say the police are doing their job here.
ReplyDeleteMore often than not serious crime is met with suspended sentences, which in effect is no sentence. I hear that many homeowners don't even bother to report crime, as they know no-one will do anything. My own Mother-in-law was one such case; she had some quite valuable things stolen, but knew there was no point telling the police. They seem very eager to catch speeding motorists, but not to catch burglars.
DeleteThey were very violent London robbers who had robbed and burgled many to pay off drug debts.
DeleteIt sounds like a very violent crime, so I would have expected them to do something, but so often they just give a crime number and that's the last you hear from them.
DeleteNot everything in the press you read is true. My experience of our local police is they do pursue criminals and follow up crime, often with great success.
DeleteWhen you get back to England you will find it very different to what your radio and newspaper
Delete-on-line have led you to believe.
I do hope so. Even the TV shows that involve the police give the impression that the UK is a pretty good place to commit crime.
DeleteAmerica has a massive prison population. Little effort seems to be put into rehabilitation over there. In France there are around 420 police officers per 100,000 citizens but in Britain it's just 240.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a Gendarme for years. But when people demonstrate in Paris, or elsewhere, the CRS (riot Police) are always out in force, and don't hold back. We can all remember Boris's water cannon fiasco; scrapped because the little dears didn't want to get wet.
DeleteHe should never have wasted public money on those second-hand water cannons. The guy must be covered in "Teflon".
DeleteI think the key difference is that in America, you can train for a couple months and then be sent out into society with a piece of paper that grants you authority and the right to carry a gun. This sort of thing appeals to power mongers. In Britain your police officers are required to go to college for a couple of years and they have to 'earn' the right to carry a gun or a taser after time in the field.
DeleteThere's a very good reason why US police officers, particularly in certain jurisdictions, act as they do. https://fox17.com/news/local/large-police-presence-off-brick-church-pike-nashville-crime-alert
ReplyDeleteCriminals in the UK tend to shoot each other, they very rarely shoot at the police. Another difference between the two countries.
DeleteSorry to correct you, Cro. If you are caught shoplifting (goods under £200) and the shop owner decides to prosecute you will go to court. However lightly you may get off (say, a fine) you will have a criminal record. Imagine that. It's punishment in itself as it'll hamper everything for the rest of your life.
ReplyDeleteWhen you come back to England and go shopping you will be surprised how heavily protected shops are these days; cameras on you - in all aisles, at all times; even small outlets like my local Co-op corner shop employs a security guy. Self checkouts have a screen poised on you. Goods in the "packing" area are weighed so if, absentmindedly, you put an item there before scanning it a disembodied voice will remind you "unexpected item in the bagging area". You'll love it, Cro. Big brother at your side, no escape.
I also have yet to come across a private householder who doesn't report a burglary if only for the record should an item turn up again, say, the Degas you kept in the garden shed.
U
We all know that habitual shoplifters are back at work five minutes after they were last caught. They just don't care, and they work in big gangs presumably to split the profits later. Being caught every so often is simply a part of the game.
DeleteI was watching a programme yesterday (which prompted me to write this today) about everyday crime. Only the most serious criminals are given custodial sentences; the rest get either a slap on the wrist or suspended sentences. It's a joke.
Stop watching such programmes Cro and reading Daily Mail online
DeleteThanks for correcting, Ursula- the no crime if under £20 made no sense to me.
Cro, the punishment needs to fit the crime. You will agree that, as was - possibly still is - the custom in certain countries to chop off the offender's hand for stealing a loaf of bread is over the top.
DeletePrisons in the UK have enough problems as is without locking up someone for a fairly minor misdemeanour (at tax payers' expense). Worse, don't you agree, if anything prison is the very place the novice, if so inclined, will pick up tricks of the trade from the "professionals". No bull.
U
If the 'professionals' are in prison, I wouldn't use them as teachers.
DeleteI can go back to bobbies on the beat here in uk and in Brighton they wore white hats and white shirts in the summer. No longer, they all look like s a s now.
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
I really miss the white helmets; they made Brighton seem so special.
DeleteOur bobbies still wear them here.
DeleteCan you send them back... we want them!
DeleteWe've been burgled twice. We felt the insurance company was more criminal than the burglars.
ReplyDeleteThat's another question altogether. Many years ago my people went on a long world trip. My mother owned a very expensive collection of antique, boxed, duelling pistols, and they needed to be insured before their departure. She was advised NOT to insure them as all the insurance Co's had people inside who informed criminals about who owned what! Eventually I took her whole collection to Sotheby's, and they were sold.
DeleteAgree - a happy medium.
ReplyDeleteThe UK certainly seems under-policed, and if that video is anything to go by, the USA is way over-policed!
DeleteOn the cars: Redondo Beach, California. That's why, Cro. Southern California isn't representative of all other states. Or even all of California. The number of cops in the video could be a full police force in small town America.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if the words "suspect armed" went out on the police airways, especially in densely populated So Cal, with millions at risk, there'd be a very serious response. As depicted. Not so in the U.K.?
DeleteIn the UK, they'd probably ask the driver 'if he would mind stepping out of his car'. No guns, and probably only one or two cops. You'd never see anything like the above. I'm pleased to hear it's only a Californian thing!
DeleteI am glad that the rapist Rachel spoke of was given a moderate sentence but afraid that when let out will do it again- unless too old and decrepit by then. It seems as if our police / laws are sometimes too lenient.
ReplyDeleteI have heard horror stories regarding the US penal system- that people can be incarcerated for merely non payment of fines, that if sick they are temporarily "released" so that the jail is not responsible for paying medical bills, and then presumably many of them do not have health insurance so big trouble for them / families and re arrested once released from medical facility. Also if owe large sums ( is it bail equivalent) and cannot pay it back then cannot vote even if sentence is over- the prisons I believe are all in the business of making profit rather than reforming and enabling criminals to function crime free once released..
Not sure if you are referring to my comment Abi, but I was writing about a violent robbery of a woman to get her Rolex watch, not a rape. I will leave your comment from there on to Cro.
DeleteThe Americans certainly do have a strange system. All non-payment of fines etc results in 'warrants', and if stopped for a burned out headlight, and they discover that you have an outstanding 'warrant', you are handcuffed and taken to jail.
DeleteI don't wish to say that one system is better than the other, but it's interesting to note the difference.
In the USA, a man who is behind on his child-maintenance payments will often have his driving licence taken away, probably meaning that he is even less likely to be able to earn his living. All very odd.
oops Rachel. I remember actually reading your comment the first time and something must have switched my mind over to think it was rape when I had finished reading the other commends and about to write mine- any rate at least the offender was caught and sentenced..
DeleteInstinctively I say ours are too lenient but I don't think to the degree the UK is.
ReplyDeleteThe UK has become ridiculous; other, of course, than for speeding or other car related misdemeanours.
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