Archived on 6/5/2022

Car window smashed

onlineguy
5 Mar '22

A neighbour’s driver-side window was smashed last night in Kemble Road. All of about £2.50 in change taken. I’ve seen a number of smashed car windows along the road in the last couple of months, so keep an eye out. Sadly, I’m not sure there’s much you can do to deter it, but it’s a big nuisance.

Beige
5 Mar '22

The advice I received from police (after my car was entered) was to leave all the compartments open and visibly empty

Sherwood
5 Mar '22

I was always amused by the following notice displayed on a strongroom:-

“This strongroom is empty. Anything that has not already been stolen is now in the bank’s vaults.”

Tesco lorries often have the notice “No baguettes are left in this van overnight.” (A parody of vans that proclaim “No tools left here overnight.”)

John_Wilson
6 Mar '22

Sounds like victim blaming to me

Sherwood
6 Mar '22

It certainly was not meant to be victim blaming.

Beige
6 Mar '22

From me? Or from the police? Or both?

I didn’t feel like I was blamed - it’s crime prevention advice. Likewise I passed it on here in the hope it might prevent a few broken windows. This kind of car crime seems to be rife at the moment.

John_Wilson
6 Mar '22

Victim blaming is suggesting if the victim had acted in another way they wouldn’t be a victim.
Instead of solving the issue, the police told you how you can solve it yourself

Beige
6 Mar '22

From that definition crime prevention advice given after the fact is also ‘victim blaming’ then.

oakr
6 Mar '22

Those were my thoughts. It’s a fine line between providing advice and blaming, not all all advice can be just labelled victim blaming.

I think it’s common post a burglary for some advice to be given to the residents, you could call it victim blaming as well but really I personally see that as prevention and I think most people do to.

The person, or people committing the crime is/are always the sole and only person/people responsible, but that doesn’t mean we can’t all give and receive advice on steps we can take to minimise the risk of that crime occuring, or reoccuring.

John_Wilson
6 Mar '22

I know. Bit weird - and doesn’t really matter in the scheme of things - just a label.

Route cause implies that more new to be done in proactive policing

onlineguy
6 Mar '22

Well, the problem with this kind of crime is knowing what kind of policing would prevent it. On the beat on every street all night? If some kid wants to break a car window, scrabble around for change for 30 seconds and then head off, there’s not much can be done, I fear. The problem is the kid’s attitude and behaviour in the first place, not the police’s.

bovril_road
10 Mar '22

This happened on Whatman Rd two weeks ago to my mother-in-law’s car too. Again, £2 taken.

DevonishForester
10 Mar '22

A kind that has a better clear-up rate than our current service.

I keep hearing about lack of resources and there is truth in that. It is also true that hundreds of police were deployed to break up a harmless vigil for Sarah Everard. Those police could have been deployed investigating actual crimes.

AndyS
10 Mar '22