Muggings - street crime...

[EDfor]

to my knowledge there have been at least two incidents of muggings in the Woodwarde/ Dovercourt/ Court Lane area in recent days

people need to stay safe and be alert out there...

[thebestnameshavegone]

What do you suggest I do?

[EDfor]

keep your wits about you, make a noise & use the local police - it's all our neighbourhood....

[thebestnameshavegone]

Use the police? As opposed to vigilantism / whipping my neighbours up into a frenzy of fear by posting news of anecdotal muggings?

What a good idea.

[njc97]

bestnames, you could take some of this advice:

* Think ahead and plan your journey, avoiding deserted areas.

* Try to avoid walking alone at night, and keep to well-lit main roads where possible. You should try to avoid short cuts like alleyways, waste ground and wooded, bushy areas.

* Stay alert: be aware of what's going on around you.

* It is always worth letting someone know where you are going, the route you intend to take and when you expect to return.

* Consider investing in a mobile phone. There are various services available for light users. (see also Mobile Phone safety)

* Try to avoid wearing headphones - your ability to hear traffic, strangers or potential trouble is severly restricted.

Or you could just post sarcastic posts on an internet forum. That might not help you avoid being mugged but will make you feel terribly clever.

[Jeremy]

Carrying a mobile phone around... will somehow decrease your chances of getting mugged??

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[DJKillaQueen]

Street crime always rises in the summer and on warm evenings so if this thread just makes one person avoid being a victim because they thought about it and applied common sense then it's a good thing.

'Bestnames' are you on a mission to troll at the moment? lol......

[philiphenslowe]

I got mugged in my parents' front garden in East Dulwich at 10.30pm a few years ago. It really can happen anywhere, not just down dark alleyways or deserted areas

[waynetta]

Avoid being mugged in the street by walking behind a Policeman, moving your lips and gesturing as if you are engaged in a friendly conversation with him. If he turns round, simply look confused and ask him for directions to a nearby street.

Works for me every time ;-)

[TillieTrotter]

I don't know if Waynetta is annoying people but she really makes me chuckle.

On a serious note, don't have a pop at people trying to be community spirited. We all know you can get mugged anytime, anyplace anywhere but come on the guy/girl is trying to be helpful.

[sophiesofa]

I find it helpful because it's natural for people to get complacent so a reminder every now and then is good, for me at least. So thank you EDfor

[louisiana]

And another in Overhill Road a little while ago... Not a million miles from Court Lane bottom end.

As someone who's been mugged several times, I do appreciate these little reminders (given that I live between one and the other, and that there were also muggings in Fireman's Alley not so long ago).

[PeckhamRose]

But whatever you think or do, REPORT IT!

Report it to the safer neighbourhood team for the relevent area (look it up), take responsibility, be proactive, and do NOT ever let fear rule how you choose to live your life.

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[Applespider]

And having had it happen to me before too, I do agree not to let the fear of it rule your life but it is sensible to be sensible wherever possible...

And if you are suspicious of someone, scream blue murder - with any luck, the mugger will run off and/or someone will come to your aid. Only thing I regret after the fact, that I started off telling the mugger to f off rather than just starting to scream.

[ruffers]

Bit of both sides, don't start panicking people but a little reminder to be a little bit smart can't be a bad thing.

For balance though - I haven't been mugged round here recently :))

[missus]

.

[Ridgley]

Hi All

Just have your witts, about you and be street wise;-)

[eater81]

How much do houses cost around that area? ?1 million and you still get mugged on the street!

[Earl Aelfheah]

According to police stats, violent crime is up 26% in East Dulwich (compared to the same 3 month period last year). Stats here:

http://maps.police.uk/view/?ll=51.45245390930866,-0.07083982229234037&z=12

This seems like a huge jump to me, although I'm no expert when it comes to these things? What's going wrong?

[SeanMacGabhann]

The link you posted shows only a 2.5% increase compared to this time last year, and of teh 3 months shown, 2 of them are down on the same 2 months last year

Mar 2010 shows a pretty major DIP in crime compared to the previous year - why not ask why that was?

EDIT - sorry I was looking at the overall figures

[Earl Aelfheah]

I think the 2.5% increase is for all crime. if you click on the tab for 'Crime Types' and look at violence, it shows a 26% increase (unless I've misread it). The reason I ask about this in particular type of crime, is because frankly levels of violence concern me more than most others crimes. I honestly have no agenda here by the way, in case that is what you are getting at- it just seems like a startling increase in violence.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Althought that 26% violent crime figure is actually 17 incidents up to 21 ? not quite as alarming really

And looking at the 12 month trend there doesn?t seem to be anything major changing

[SeanMacGabhann]

And I?m not suggesting you have an agenda ? violent crime IS worrying. But worrying about violent crime is more likely to cause unhappiness that any actual assault

And looking at the violent criime figures tab bears this out ? it?s not showing Jan ? May from 2009 so we can?t compare the whoel of that period but one or two months of peaks and a couple of months of troughs and although 26% sounds alarming the numbers themselves are pretty small (which is no consolation to anyone involved but if the figures plummeted to just 2 incidents the argument would still be the same)