Are you worried about your childrens and your safety in this country at the moment?

[Helenemjay]

Have just been listening to the news about all those criminals that were set free instead of being deported, there are hundreds of them! it scares me to think that they could be anywhere! This country is fast becoming a scary place to live i fear for my kids greatly sometimes

Going back to the OP, I just never got the thing about criminals from other countries being released and not then deported - why are people more worried about them than home-grown ones who also get let out of prison every day? Is it just xenophobia?

No, I don't think it has anything to do with xenophobia, I think it has to do with justifiable outrage at the fact that when a judge sentences someone and says 'at the end of your term you should be considered for deportation' the home office hears 'blah blah blah blah blah'.

actually edam the scale of the hoo-ha over that case has everything to do with xenophobia imo. The scandal was that 1000 (I think) prisoners were not considered for deportation when they should have been - of those the vast majority wouldn't have been deported anyway. Now that should be fixed, but I really don't see why it merits the acres of newsprint and TV news time it has.

so - I refer you back to those stats, which compare interviews from thousands of people over 24 years. Perhaps the population has increased in your area or something. I maintain that the UK is no more dangerous than it's ever been.

As a serving police officer for over 27 years, my DH's opinion would differ from yours.

mrsbang - are you sowoffended?

your husband's opinion is based on personal experience and that could easily be affected by things like the population in your local area, the attitude of kids re the police, his duties and the number who get caught. It is not really evidence.

I'm quite interested in this subject. I think it does depend a lot on where you live and where you go to socialise and how old your children are.

I live in the town centre and find levels of drunken behaviour, incidents, vandalism, fighting etc common

like yesterday for example but in reality i know that in many respects things are not much different

the British Crime Survey is interesting because it doesn't rely on crime reported to the police

British Crime Survey Statistics

I'm not sure how many times I've called the police from home in the last 6 years but I think it's about 10 times

It is based on personal experience, of course it is.

Doesn't alter the fact that these days he and his colleagues deal with considerably more violence generally than they did when he joined the job, and specifically in the local area he was worked for the past 12 years.

Greensleeves - yes it was fine. No frills - but just was it claims to be. We had a family toom on the top floor - our booking had said that it would a shower room only, which for a night was fine, but in fact we did have a proper bathroom.

There was a double bed, a sfo which converted in to tow seaparete bed (matteress underneath and the top bit was like a day bed), TV, tea making facilites. It was £66 - which we thought was good cvalue.

There was a great wee cafe across the road called (I think) Cafe Plaka - pale purple frontage. Got a great vlaye "full English" break fast there . Unfortunately, it wasn't open on Sunday

Nope no more than usual. There are scarier people in this world and country and what's scary is that they don't look at all dangerous etc. The media has a lot to answer for.

The other handy place in central London is the Holiday Inn Express at Old St, which is about the same price for a double + sofabed and includes breakfast.

RE deported criminals, no. I do worry though that- well you just don't know. But I am a bit edgy as that Paedo who kidnapped the little girl then got 5 years only was housed in a hostel just down from us, so I am now aware that the hostel is there. I knew they were out there, but i'm ultra careful anyway (have to be with Sam), so didnt need the additional stress- I can't try any harder.

You should try living in the US! WAY more crime.

Oh, and our neighbours and friends from S. Africa tell us it's no picnic there, either. A lot like the US - guns, guns and more guns.

Our neighbour has been robbed at gunpoint in Johannesburg no less than FOUR times.

I think it's good to be aware of crime and not go round with a "it'll never happen to me" attitude, but I think that as long as you're aware and don't do silly things like walk home alone at 3 AM or flash your expensive jewellery in areas where you know crime is rife, generally, you'll be alright. I think in terms of paedofiles the media has a lot to answer for, and something really ought to be done about the constant stranger danger fear we put upon our kids. In terms of ds I do worry that he might experiment with drugs when he's older, that he might end up getting some girl pregnant, drugs weren't nearly so readily available when I was a teenager, whereas now they're almost common place.

I grew up in South Africa and there crime is a far bigger concern. The hostel at my school was broken into and a man walked up and went into the room of a friend of mine and put a 6-inch knife on the table beside her. She screamed and he ran but it later turned out that he was a convicted rapist, and that was 15 years ago. Last year a friend of mine's husband was shot and killed on their farm. If you go out in your car you lock all doors because carjackings are common in johannesburg, all houses have burgler bars on the windows and most have gates on the doors, and most people own a gun.

Compared to that I think we live in paradice.

I know there are a lot of "no go" areas in SA, but I never felt particulary threatened there.

I admit we took take sensible precautions: didn't hire flash cars ("ordinary" Japanese, like a Toyota Carina - not a target for hijackers); kept cameras out of site; was careful with the jewellery I wore....

I suppose too, we were going "safer" places: Stellenbosch, and then my granny/aunt's in Norther Porvince (altough there have been quite a few incidences in the area). Although I have been into Jo'burg on foot, that was over 15 years ago and now wouldn't go in to the centre.

I still have a belief that if you are sensible, and don't go around looking like you are in fear of being mugged or worse, then the odds of "the worst" happening are diminished.

prettybird but if you stick to the tourist type areas then you're more likely to be safe than if you went, say, to johannesburg or out into the bushveld on deserted roads where no-one goes. The western cape is much safer than the rest of the country because it is rich tourist area and they look after their tourists and so have tackled crime big time there. I wouldn't feel particularly unsafe in the cape either but wouldn't go out alone in Johannesburg.

You're right Wannabe1974. The Cape is where I feel the safest, and I usppose that even though I have gone to some reomote areas in the north, the fact that they are familiar to me means that I don't feel too threatened.

I do think it is said that dh hasn't experienced the vibrancy of the Market Place in Jo-burg that I remember from 1990 when I was there.