Police warn against walking alone
Tuesday 22nd June 2010, 11:30AM BST.
Scene of the crime – a young man was mugged here as he walked home early on Sunday morning. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0987490)
RESIDENTS around Candie Road have been left shocked after a 20-year-old local man was mugged over the weekend.
The man was walking up the road alone at about 4.20am on Sunday.
When he was halfway between the Upland Road junction and Upper Candie Gardens gateway he was threatened by two hooded male youths, who ran off with the man’s money and mobile phone. He was unhurt.
Police are now warning islanders to be alert to the dangers of walking home alone at night.
Yesterday the police – who at the weekend described the incident as a ‘priority’ – confirmed that their investigations were continuing.
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Welcome to broken Britain as long as the poor have a second class education this will only get worse.
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Andy – It’s Guernsey not Britain.
The poor have pretty much that same access to education as the vast majority of the rest of us. Some grasp it but let’s be honest, a huge number don’t give a damn and neither do their parents.
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Why this assumption that the assailants were poor? For all we know they could be middle class kids studying at Elizabeth College. Statistically less likely perhaps, but still possible.
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You may be onto something there Paul. After all, Elizabeth College is not a million miles away from Candie Road!
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Andy, do you just regurgitate things you read in the Sun? What is your actual opinion on this?
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Paul.
Very unlikely I think.College boys would surely have brandished a bag of flour as a weapon
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It was 4.20am on a Sunday morning…it is irrelevant that it happened to be close to the College. It’s also quite close to a few junior schools and nurseries. Perhaps we should be going door to door questioning the toddlers and looking for Fisherprice My First Knife kits.
:)
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The state schooling system is failing and if they adopted the private methods with more sport and smaller classes things would improve dramatically.
Is the Sun still available ?
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Why does it have to be anything to do with College Boys, I just wonder apart from perhaps going to work or leaving a party, why do people walk alone at that time in the morning, as far as the assailants are concerned, out at that time whoever it is, must be up to no good. No one ever learns times have changed no matter where you live, nothing is 100% safe anymore, not even broad daylight.
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I don’t suppose anybody wants to be out walking at that hour of the morning but if they are its because they don’t want to drink/drive, can’t get a bus or don’t have £20 for a taxi. Rather than make silly announcements about us all walking home together why don’t the Police tell us how many officers were on duty at that time and exactly what they were doing. My guess is quite a few and not much. Our streets should be safe at all hours, I wouldn’t think it unreasonable to be stopped and questioned if I’m out at 04.30. Of course to do so the police would have to actually get out and patrol our streets or isn’t that part of their remit any more?
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@Paul
Just an observation, but if the assailants were middle class rather than poor, then surely they would have no need to steal someone’s money and phone. They could simply go out an buy one with their own money.
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@Bogart – people don’t necessarily steal because they can’t afford the item. Sometimes people steal because they simply don’t want to pay.
Rich people who evade tax are thieves too – they didn’t steal because they couldn’t afford it, they stole because they were greedy.
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What was he doing up at that time of the morning!
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Beanjar
Perhaps the Police were patrolling the Grange.That’s why no robberies took place in the Grange.Perhaps they were patrolling the beach kiosks.That’s why no beach kiosks were broken into.Perhaps they were patrolling St Sampsons marina.That’s why nothing was stolen from the boats.Perhaps they were ………..
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Andy
I wondered when the states were going to get the blame for this attack – it must be their fault, we cannot find anyone else to blame, so lets blame the good old states. Unbelievable.
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Beanjar,
I think we might be very concerned if we actaully knew the answer to your point. My understanding is that very, very few is more like it. I think the indoor jobs have increased by a lot and that is at the expense of the street patrols. The domestic abuse squad is believed to consist of 5 officers but of course we are told 2 out of every three women are abused daily so they must be busy. The cout proceedings now appear to be handled by a bunch of highly paid crown officers with fancy titles (cue extra wages for that) so how many work in that area.
One can only hope that a new chief can sort it out.
Before Truthmaan comes on to defend the police , I am not critizing the bobbys its the management that need to look at it. One of them seems to be a permanent interviewee for the TV companies.
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This incident is just another example of the way society is going, downhill. Guernsey once was place that people would never dream of hearing the police warning of walking alone at night, how things have changed.
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Paul…”stole because they were greedy”…quite a nimble little summing up of capitalism, methinks!
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@Caroline – why must everyone out walking at 0430 in the morning be “up to no good”? I agree that statement obviously applies to the assailants in this case but there are other perfectly legitimate reasons to be out at that time apart from looking for someone to assault. The most obvious two I can think of are:
- someone walking home from a party because they’d rather not drink and drive.
- shift workers walking to/from work.
Far from being up to no good, I would say both of these are examples of responsible citizens.
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A Few years ago.. I was due to go on the red eye to London for the weekend.. the night before I was unable to sleep for fear of oversleeping !! at 04:30 I decided that it was such a lovely morning the sun was rising so decided to go for a scenic drive.. to the airport..
I was stopped and questioned twice on the way to the airport.. I had tickets etc for the flight so all was ok..
I was well impressed by the Police doing this.. I hope they still do..
But the Police cannot be everywhere.. the criminals are always one step ahead, with mates texting the whereabouts of the police.
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As half of all crime is drug-related, it a fair bet that the two muggers were supporting their habit.
I suppose the advice from police may be rational, but the situation demands some action from our deputies. Preferably not the knee-jerk reaction so common in the so-called Drugs War. If I remember correctly, the Drugs War was started by President Richard Nixon in the USA and rapidly established the ongoing truth that the faster you clear the street of drug personnel and put them in prison, the faster they are replaced.
It’s abundantly clear that there are numerous people who regard that as a successful policy. And a lot of them are Guernsey States deputies.
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Mac,
People wouldn’t be “concerned”if they knew the answer they would be stunned and horrified at how few officers are on duty at 04.30 on a Sunday morning. Now, ask how many are on duty at 10.00 on Monday morning and you would be stunned at the opposite extreme. However, of that Monday morning total the number on patrol would probably be closer to the 04.30 figure.
Following on from that I saw two Police motorcyclists on the road during the recent summit at Fermain, couldn’t tell you when I last saw one. Our roads get more and more traffic and them and we have fewer and fewer traffic police. For a long time the Traffic department consisted of eight Police motorcyclists who shared six Police ‘bikes. I understand that there is now only one full time motorcyclist (still probably six ‘bikes though!).
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Mac – you know me too well! I totally agree with you by the way.
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Beanjar:
See Ray and Mac’s posts for a fairer assessment of policing on this island.
If you think the police are doing a bad job (and being lazy), ask them formally if you can spend a Saturday night shift with them. I think the police would welcome the opportunity to educate a naysayer.
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Yaaay for the smack heads, they’ve finally resorted to mugging in real life now instead of mugging us all off and robbing us of our taxes sat at the social for hours on end!
Wake up Guernsey, time to find out what life is really like.
Try living down Piette Road, was over the moon to find a dirty, used needle the other day. I picked up my 2 year old and walked with her until I thought it was safe to put her down, phoned the police and told them where the needle was and was there any kind of service, street cleaning that could come and pick it up, his response was “can’t you pick it up and put it in a bin”….So, I pay hundreds out of my hard earned cash each month and you want ME to pick up a dirty needle?
Looks like our pretty, unspoilt little island is no longer, sooner people wake up and realise that the better!
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What has happend to our island, there was a time that you could walk all hours and be safe. Not anymore! I am proud of our island and only the other day I was bragging how safe our island was (to some Uk ppl) how rong was I.
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CJG. How disgusting, why should you have to pick that up? Good job you spotted it before your daughter did, we all know how curious toddlers are. If she had got to that filth before you did it doesn’t bear thinking about.
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Paul Le Page – If you read my comments you will see I was referring to the assailants being up to no good, if not why could they not have just walked past the victim with a cheery good morning, like I said the other point is no matter what time of day or night it is, the streets are not safe, unfortunately Guernsey becoming a big part of that, even 10 years ago has seen so many changes it is frightening to think what the next 10 will bring.
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This is something that you dont here about everyday so i do not think we should worry
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Katie – just because it doesn’t happen every day does not mean that it should be ignored. People are very naive over here sometimes. Naivety breads stupidity.
I would hope that a full scale investigation takes place, the perpetrators are apprehended, it is then reported in the press. More public service announcements need to take place to drum into people that walking home at that time of night you are running a risk. Ensure you lock your doors before going to bed. Etc etc all common sense really. Although I hear common sense isn’t all that common…
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