Scratched cars on CP Road and North Cross Road

[WrightC]

Please be vigilant if you park your car on either of the roads above, as I got home to find a victim care card posted through my door informing me that my car has been damaged. Apparently a teenage boy was going around scratching cars!? my car and ten others on CP Road was damaged. North Cross Rd was also targeted.

Btw this incident happened yesterday 12th November.

[Sue]

Is it known who the boy was? Was he caught?

ETA: Are the police aware? Not sure who would post the "victim" card, would that be the police, having traced your address via the reg number?

[EDherb]

Yes the police caught him (aged 15) - someone spotted him at it and called them.

What a waste of time and money - we were badly scratched and facing a chunky insurance claim and unwelcome excess...!

[Sue]

EDherb Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yes the police caught him (aged 15) - someone

> spotted him at it and called them.

>

> What a waste of time and money - we were badly

> scratched and facing a chunky insurance claim and

> unwelcome excess...!

xxxxxxx

Very sorry to hear that.

What on earth is wrong with some people?

[ED - NAGAIUTB]

EDherb Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yes the police caught him (aged 15) - someone

> spotted him at it and called them.

>

> What a waste of time and money - we were badly

> scratched and facing a chunky insurance claim and

> unwelcome excess...!

Surely if the Police caught him, you have a case for his parents to pay up for the damage? At 15 he is still a minor and their responsibility.

Wishful thinking perhaps, but better than seeing your insurance premium go up next renewal!

[DulwichFox]

ED - NAGAIUTB Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> EDherb Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Yes the police caught him (aged 15) - someone

> > spotted him at it and called them.

> >

> > What a waste of time and money - we were badly

> > scratched and facing a chunky insurance claim

> and

> > unwelcome excess...!

>

> Surely if the Police caught him, you have a case

> for his parents to pay up for the damage? At 15 he

> is still a minor and their responsibility.

>

> Wishful thinking perhaps, but better than seeing

> your insurance premium go up next renewal!

Problem is that such incidents reflects likely behaviour in the area.

Insurance companies base their rates on an area to area basis.

This is Not an isolated incident.

A while back one night several cars had their wing mirrors kicked off on Whateley Road.

There have been several incidents of cars being broken into here on EDF.

I would imagine only a fraction of incidents are reported here.

Late night opening of bars would seem to be responsible for more late night revelry.

Although in this instance at 15 I suppose he will get a slap on the wrist.. (No. Cannot do that any more)

Unlikely to go any further and we all get to pay higher premiums on our insurance.

Hopefully it will stay on his record so that when he is old enough to have his own car he will not

be able to find anyone to insure him.

DulwichFox

[Lowlander]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> ED - NAGAIUTB Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > EDherb Wrote:

> >

> --------------------------------------------------

>

> > -----

> > > Yes the police caught him (aged 15) - someone

> > > spotted him at it and called them.

> > >

> > > What a waste of time and money - we were

> badly

> > > scratched and facing a chunky insurance claim

> > and

> > > unwelcome excess...!

> >

> > Surely if the Police caught him, you have a

> case

> > for his parents to pay up for the damage? At 15

> he

> > is still a minor and their responsibility.

> >

> > Wishful thinking perhaps, but better than

> seeing

> > your insurance premium go up next renewal!

>

> Problem is that such incidents reflects likely

> behaviour in the area.

> Insurance companies base their rates on an area to

> area basis.

>

> This is Not an isolated incident.

> A while back one night several cars had their wing

> mirrors kicked off on Whateley Road.

>

> There have been several incidents of cars being

> broken into here on EDF.

> I would imagine only a fraction of incidents are

> reported here.

>

> Late night opening of bars would seem to be

> responsible for more late night revelry.

>

> Although in this instance at 15 I suppose he will

> get a slap on the wrist.. (No. Cannot do that any

> more)

>

> Unlikely to go any further and we all get to pay

> higher premiums on our insurance.

>

> Hopefully it will stay on his record so that when

> he is old enough to have his own car he will not

> be able to find anyone to insure him.

>

> DulwichFox

Insurance Companies don't ask what's on your criminal record. In any case, if it precludes him from getting a job, that's only going to further marginalise him. What he needs is a good length of community service and some life coaching, or the death sentence, depending on your point of view.

[Sue]

Lowlander Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

In any case, if it precludes him

> from getting a job, that's only going to further

> marginalise him. What he needs is a good length

> of community service and some life coaching

xxxxxxx

I completely agree. Well said.

[DulwichFox]

Lowlander Wrote:>

Insurance Companies don't ask what's on your criminal record.

Yes. That would seem to correct as of April 2013..

DulwichFox

[pommie]

Police should get him (or his parents) to pay for all the damage on the cars

[uncleglen]

At 15 although he is a minor he should know right from wrong. Don't 15 year olds get up to no good in groups usually as a way of showing off? What is his school record like? Where are approved schools when you need them?

[Sue]

uncleglen Wrote:

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> At 15 although he is a minor he should know right

> from wrong.

xxxxxxx

Yes he should, but we have no idea of his background and clearly he either didn't, or chose not to use that knowledge.

Harsh or inappropriate "punishment" or whatever is just going to make things worse - isn't it?

Maybe he should meet with the people whose cars he scratched, and explain to them why he did it - if he can.

[uncleglen]

What- you mean if he can, before they throttle him? The 'loner' aspect of this bothers me.

[KidKruger]

Kids like this get away with scratching cars up because our society is too paralysed to do anything about it. It's fucked-up that there will be no charges, no punishment, no learning, no deterrent, no relief for the people whose property has been damaged. No excuse for the action yet we'll run around in circles concentrating on the person who does fuck all, yet destroys what others have worked for. Seriously, you couldn't invent this shit.

[Sue]

KidKruger Wrote:

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> Kids like this ......

> we'll run around in circles concentrating on the

> person who does @#$%& all, yet destroys what

> others have worked for ......

xxxxxxx

KK, to be fair, we (and I'm making assumptions here) know absolutely nothing at all about this kid, or his background.

I don't think it's right to leap to conclusions.

Yes he might just be a nasty little shit, but he might also be abused, mentally ill, whatever.

And even if he is just a nasty little shit, there are surely ways of trying to make sure he doesn't continue scratching cars, or carying on to worse things, which don't have the reverse effect (ie piss him off so much that he does go on to worse things).

If you see what I mean.

[ruffers]

pommie Wrote:

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> Police should get him (or his parents) to pay for

> all the damage on the cars

So the easy scenario is his parents are wrong 'uns who teach him to break the law, saying it's OK, so fine them.

What if they are 'normal' 'decent' people who are at their wits end trying to control a teenager who has gone off at a tangent? What if they are trying everything they know how? Are they responsible? I defy most of us to physically stop a 15 year old from going out if he really wants to.

[Loz]

But isn't that the problem, ruffers? Who is responsible?

The kid? Seems not.

His parents? Nope.

The poor sods who had their cars vandalised? Well, it seems they are responsible for paying for the damage (if even via their insurance companies). So, yep - they're the ones.

[ED - NAGAIUTB]

^^^ this.

Ruffers, at some point, the little Herbert that did this needs to see that there is a consequence. Even if he is the tear away child of 'normal decent' people. Especially so if this is the case.

If they have to fork out ?1500 on repairing the damage he caused, then there will be a visible consequence in most households. SKY turned off? Well son, the ?1500 I paid out to repair those cars? That means we can't afford SKY anymore. Ipad sold on ebay? Every penny counts.

One of the great ills of our time is the lack of consequence, unless you can afford to pay out. Look at the way motorists get treated as cash cows. It's now infinitely cheaper to run the risk of no insurance, no tax, no licence than it is to be law abiding. You get caught? Soft slap on the wrist and then drive home from court.

If it were my car that was damaged in this way and they caught the kid that did it, I'd expect their parents to pony up for the repairs regardless of the background story. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Was always the way until the rot set in, in or about 1997........

[Sue]

ED - NAGAIUTB Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> If they have to fork out ?1500 on repairing the

> damage he caused,

xxxxxx

?1500?

I could buy two of my car for that!

[DulwichFox]

If kids want to damage other peoples property the solution is simple.

Confiscate their Mobiles, X-boxes, Consoles etc.. and crush them..

..Shred their designer trainers..

Just see how they like it. Would soon get the message across.

DulwichFox

[polla2256]

If it were me (as the child back in the day) my parents would have asked the police to be hard on me, they would stump up for repairs (very much to my detriment), drag me by the scruff of the neck to offer an apology to everyone affected, grounded me, taken my playstation, stereo, football season ticket and all manner of other actions.

The problem starts when we allow the state to assume total responsibility (or view this as their role), in doing this we lose accountability. Its about making conscious decisions.

[Sue]

Yes but unfortunately not all parents are able or willing to take responsibility for their children.

Or, as somebody said above, they may have tried their best but without success.

[uncleglen]

The US sociologist Charles Murray said about 40 years ago that the UK was breeding an underclass because of our benefits system encouraging the feckless; and that the underclass would have 3x as many children as the educated classes- it's difficult to tell living in Dulwich.

[adonirum]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If kids want to damage other peoples property the

> solution is simple.

>

> Confiscate their Mobiles, X-boxes, Consoles etc..

> and crush them..

>

> ..Shred their designer trainers..

>

> Just see how they like it. Would soon get the

> message across.

>

> DulwichFox

Well said DulwichFox . After all, we already have the confiscation of assests accrued through criminal means in the worst of cases. I agree, this would be a somewhat similar scheme. HOWEVER, @Sue on Nov 15th makes a very very good and valid point, to paraphrase, "have the reverese effect - piss him off he does worse things". There is considerable evidence that this is precisely what happens in a lot of cases, the perpetrator feels so aggrieved that they continue to "hit out at society" in whatever way they can as a form of, in their perverse way of thinking, getting even with the rulers that have so wronged them ie: punishment after being caught.

[KidKruger]

So... no-one gets punished because it may piss them off..

I wondered why this aspect of our society is fucked-up. You just nailed-it.