To feel depressed about street crime increasing?

[Belindabobtail]

In many areas it seems to be, especially since the pandemic. It has even crept into the rather quiet area where I live, albeit much rarer and in the town centre.

I grew up in Lancashire, and still have family/friends there and around Greater Manchester. I'm obviously saddened by the death of a 16 year old girl in Warrington this Saturday (knife attack) and there are many that don't reach the national press. It brought to mind how much of this I'm hearing of late, how a few people I know have even witnessed knife crime or threats in their town centres in the afternoon - and I mean places where you hardly ever heard of that kind of stuff a few years ago.

I know there are complex issues surrounding the rise in knife crime, which I won't get into here, but on a recent visit to see friends I witnessed someone being attacked in broad daylight in a busy town centre, which shook me up a bit. This is reported to be quite common in a few places I used to know, that never used to have such issues.

I usually might think it seems to be increasing because it is reported more frequently, but not so sure. It is something I did used to associate with large cities or very troubled spots, but apparently not now. Is anyone else thinking this? To be honest I would love to hear I am mistaken.

There are certain places now that when I visit, the atmosphere is bizarrely different, sort of charged with a weird violence, with much more trouble on the streets and in stores. This includes seeing off road bikes being driven through a shopping arcade, kids smashing public property, a ton of addiction issues very visible and a massive amount of litter, glass and smashed phoneboxes, etc.
There is definitely a sense that you might walk past or experience something kicking off and unwittingly get stuck in it.
I can only stress that this feels somewhat sudden, that in the few places I am thinking of it definitely wasn't like that a few years back.

Does anyone know if this is a thing, an actual increase in smaller towns, or could it just be the areas I am hearing about? And if it is increasing, what do you think is the reason? Can anything help?

Lack of visible police I’d say.
Lowering of standards, people know they can get away with stuff.

Tbh, police haven't been visible in these places for many years. It just seems to have gone mad.

Yes I agree. There has been a lack of police on the streets for over 20 years now.

Is it increasing? Or do we just read about it more because of the Internet? When we relied on daily newspapers and maybe the 6 o'clock news, street crime could have been totally rife but you would have no clue about it.

The theory of less visibility of police is a complete myth. We have never had more eyes in the streets these days than we have now - cctv, ring door bells, dashcams - there's video everywhere 24/7. Far more useful than a bobby wandering down the street once a week.

Well in this case, knife crime was not occurring in the town centres I mention until recently. It might not have reached the tabloids back then, but locals would have known about it.

Where I live you could easily think it isn't happening, but it isn't too far away from any area in the UK.

Increased cctv etc doesn't stop people committing crimes. The lenient sentences don't help either.

A quick look at stats shows how much knife crime has increased since 2012

benkinsella.org.uk/knife-crime-statistics/

This type of thing would have been shocking a decade ago. Now you cant read the news without seeing another attack. Its bloody disgusting and until something changes I can only see it getting worse.

It felt like this in the early 1990s too. The end of a long period of Conservative rule.

I too am worried like you OP. Not sure what can be done about it though 🤔

Try Liverpool and now Wirral, especially Birkenhead. It's keep your eyes down and hope for the best.

All those kids that have fallen through the net from years of underfunding, are showing up. All the early interventions for speech and language, mental health, social care, family support have been cut to the bone. They are easy to make cuts to because the effect of them aren't seen for years (or can be masked more until they can't be any more).

Something like 60% of young male offenders have s+l problems and the general population has 3-10%. That's one statistic. Imagine all the funding cuts and support not given and the percentages of children, now teens and young adults that would affect. On top of the cost of living crisis and living through coronavirus.

I think it's not surprising that violent crime is on the rise but I do think it's very scary.

I'm usually optimistic with these things, like 'this too shall pass', but recently I don't know.
It's ok where I live, but there's a sense of it creeping in around the edges. I'm not in a particularly wealthy area at all, but the overall balance feels safer and the diversity of tourism helps.

I've witnessed some worrying changes in areas like Preston, Wigan, Bolton - all places we used to love getting the train to as teens, some great alternative venues and stuff. Sad to see them as they are now.

Those figures are sobering, some stuff I hadn't considered there, too. Thanks for sharing the links.

People I know in the areas mentioned seem to think that there's a sort of lawless attitude taking over with nothing to challenge or help it.

This is what you get after 12 years of a tory government. They have cut public services to the bone, so not only are the police overstretched, but there isn't support for families in crisis, kids with behavioural problems, families in poverty... I could go on.

Exactly.

Unfortunately, regardless of party politics many of the local councils in these areas are not helping matters.
A lot of private interests over ride the interests of communities and residents. This includes the frankly bizarre allocation of Wigan's levelling up fund (around £20 million) towards the purchase or building of private venues.

i believe it's tied to lack of mental health services.

And the closure of youth services.

CCTV will help solve a crime, visible Police will hopefully prevent it. That’s a big difference.

Yes, it's far worse now. I live in a very prosperous area and the amount of low level antisocial behaviour is off the scale. Knife attacks are a regular occurrence in the near by market town, and the nearby major town is pretty much lawless at night. The nearest 24hr manned police station is 45mins away but its not just crap policing/low police numbers. There needs to be systemic reform - much tougher sentencing, much quicker sentencing, zero tolerance policies and also giving these young men hope and a future which means a better funded and more diverse education system. Crime is just going to get worse and worse unless something radically changes.

Lots of things are getting me down at the moment. Increase in street drug dealing in my neighbourhood; increase in flytipping and the litter along major roads; I think the climate is fucked beyond repair to be honest; effects ofBrexit and Tory policy of austerity; Putin’s war…

Blatant drug dealing around here too - drugs available absolutely everywhere from weed all the up to heroin.

I live in Preston, Preston born and bred and yes the changes are apparent. It's a different town to the one I grew up in. The sense of community is gone, my kids havent experienced it like i did growing up where everyone knew everyone.

Kids these days are gobby little shits with no understanding of consequence as they are untouchable. I grew up half fearing, half respecting authority. Kids these days (the mouthy ones) definitely dont have the same respect and the parents of them are just disgraceful. Almost kids breeding kids.

Totally agree. When services get cut to the bone and things like Sure Start centres and youth clubs and libraries close, kids have nothing to do as their parents let them roam the streets causing havoc.