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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   1138 thread views

Transnational Thursday for December 12, 2024

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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If this is to be believed, Britain is basically Ancapistan where you have to pay for private police if you don't want to be robbed. But it's actually worse - you still have to pay taxes for a useless state. The police are too busy stealing lethal weapons like bike wheels and kitchen knives from law-abiding citizens. Or locking you up for harmful tweets.

https://unherd.com/2024/12/the-private-police-patrolling-london/

In 2018, the area suffered 65 break-ins, a criminal romp that nonetheless failed to stir the short arm of the law. Such an experience now marks suburban life in the capital, with the Met failing to solve a single crime in 160 residential areas of London over the last three years. “The police gave up on this area years ago,” one shrugging resident explains.

British businesses and residents will soon spend £10 billion on private security

Between low morale, a defunding of specialist units, and a generational loss of talent, to say nothing of a “Spanish Inquisition” culture that leaves officers now “afraid to arrest suspects”. A worrying focus on “low hanging fruit” around communication offences hardly helps either, bemoaned one serving officer, even as they lament leadership that wanted to “solve societal ills” instead of busting criminals.

Yet if these private efforts are successful on their own terms — My Local Bobby helped cut vehicle crime in Hadley Wood by 38% — communally financing can be tough, even humiliating, for those who can’t afford it. One man in Fulham describes how a neighbour, who chose not to pay for the road’s private security team, discovered that they were contractually obliged to stand by as his house was robbed.

Need a British version of the Ancap song but it's the grimdark anarcho-tyranny British version where nobody's having fun: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tBH05IowMCE

The cited article should clearly not be believed. It's cherry picking statistics and painting an unrepresentative picture of the realities of crime in London.

There are many legitimate problems with the Metropolitan Police. In recent years they've suffered from poor leadership and a number of incidents that have undermined public trust. Furthermore, many middle class residents have real frustration with a lack of progress combatting crimes such as bike thefts and burglaries.

My understanding is that political decisions have been made to focus policing on more severe crimes - especially counter terrorism operations and sexual offences. Despite this lack of focus from the Met, the article isn't representative of the IRL vibe I've experienced - my partner continues to feel safe walking around our relatively deprived borough alone at night.

My understanding is that political decisions have been made to focus policing on more severe crimes

Like locking people up for tweets?

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