XD PAGE 6 FEATURES/ STREET FEEATURES/ STREET andering the roads of London can, at times, be quite unnerving. We’ve all heard stories of Wstreet crime, from people being murdered to people having their mobiles or iPods stolen. Some of us may have actually been a victim of street crime. But how bad is it really? And what can we do to protect ourselves? To find out more about street crime I spoke to Malcolm Spoor, a policeman who works in the Safer Schools department in <strong>Ealing</strong>. ‘Street crime’ he told me ‘is very varied. People don’t realise that it is actually a criminal offence to push someone; that is what we call Common Assault. You then move up to things like ABH, which is Actual Bodily Harm, where someone punches you and you get a little cut on your face or a swollen eye. Grievous Bodily Harm is next, where you may end up with broken limbs or maybe even stabbed.’ Malcolm explained that the most common aspect of street crime is robbery. He said, ‘There’s lots of different terms that people use for robbery, like jacked or mugged. A lot of people think “Oh I’ve just had something stolen from me”, but there is a subtle difference. If somebody walked behind you and took something out of your hand and walked off with it, then that’s theft from a person. If on the other hand someone said “give me that” and you said “no”, and then tried to use force to take it, that would be a robbery.’ Clearly there are a wide variety of criminal offences that fall under the title of street crime; in fact there are many more than I thought. Our discussion made me wonder what exactly happens, for example, after a robbery has taken place and how quickly the police can respond to it. ‘When we get a call, within 10-15 minutes we want that person in the car to write a statement and try and find the person that did the crime. It does tend to be the same people doing these things.’ The fact that the police can respond this quickly surprised me and I’m sure it surprises most people. He told me that the police use a system called Intelligence Led Policing, where he said, ‘Instead of just reacting to things (i.e. if somebody has just been burgled let’s go and put a report out), what we do is find out if any other houses have been burgled in the area and check for similarities. Scene Of Crime Officers will get footprints, fingerprints, DNA and all that type of stuff. What we do then is look at intelligence records, because what tends to happen is that these groups who commit these robberies and street crime tend to wear the same stuff. It sounds really strange, but a lot of them will wear, the same style of jacket or clothes that are fashionable at the time, and it stands out like a sore thumb.’ Although street crime is prevalent in our society, it’s not as bad as you may think. Malcolm said: ‘The media is better than it ever was and because the information is hitting you all the time, it seems like crime is out of control, but it’s not. I mean the last statistics showed that reported street crime had actually fallen. It’s great that we’ve got the media, not because it frightens people, but it helps to make them aware.’ To help find out how to protect ourselves and avoid being a victim of street crime I asked Malcolm for a few tips on staying safe on the streets. Here is a five tip guide: 1 2 3 4 5 Be more conscious of what you advertise to other people in terms of your belongings. Don’t go flashing about your MP3 player or mobile phone, e.g. if you have an iPod, don’t use the trademark white earphones, as they instantly make you a target. Be aware of your surroundings. If you’re walking down a dark street using your mobile, the glow from it will attract attention so keep it in your pocket and put your mobile phone on silent. Don’t be over cautious, just have common sense. If someone tries to take your mobile or MP3 player and they have a weapon, let them take it. It’s not worth getting injured or even killed over, something that you can replace. If someone does attack you or steal your property, try to remember as much as you can about what they are wearing and call 999 immediately. If you don’t have a mobile on you or it’s been taken, find the nearest accessible telephone and don’t be afraid to call 999. That’s what it’s there for. Even if you don’t know where you are, their systems will be able to track your whereabouts and they’ll come and find you as soon as they can. Visit the Crime Stoppers website (www. crimestoppers-uk.org) and to protect your phone from being used if stolen, visit Immobilise (www.immobilise.com) and put in your mobile’s IMEI number (type *#06# into your phone to get it) and register your phone. If you do this the phone, if stolen, can be immobilised, so rendered useless, and there is a high chance of a conviction for the criminal. WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPH RIKKI UDAGAWA XD PAGE 7