Gang attack in Basingstoke (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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Victim robbed by large gang in Popley, Basingstoke
3:52pm Thursday 7th March 2013 in Local
A GANG attacked a man in Basingstoke and robbed him of his mobile phone.
The attack took place between 9.30pm and 9.45pm on Monday, March 4, when the 32-year-old victim was walking along the alleyway between Madeira Close and Maldive Road in Popley.
A group of ten or a dozen young men approached from the direction of Carpenters Down. The victim was pushed to the ground and kicked before having his phone stolen. The men then ran off in various directions.
The victim did not sustain any injuries.
PC Gemma Dunn, said: “The group are described as white, aged in their teens to early 20s and wearing dark clothing.
“The victim was carrying his mobile phone in his hand at the time of the robbery. As always, I would advise residents to keep valuable property hidden when it’s not being used.”
Anyone with information should contact PC Dunn at Basingstoke police station on 101 or call Crimestoppers, the charity, anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Comments(18)
Upontheroof
says...
8:23am Fri 8 Mar 13
Really, how about advising robbers that they will get dealt with severely when the get caught?
ProudPopley
says...
9:25am Fri 8 Mar 13
popleyrebel2
says...
1:25pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Jonone has always and will always have an unhealthy vendetta against Popley, furthermore, I don’t know what Popley/people of Popley have done to deserve Jonone abuse, that said, people like Jonone don’t need a reason just a platform to attract attention.
Furthermore, Jonone knowledge of Popley is very limited, when debating the Kiln farm development he didn’t even know the location of the field.
I have lived in Popley since 1972 and wouldn’t move, however, if you are thinking of moving because of crime then the moon would be the answer.
jonone
says...
5:31pm Fri 8 Mar 13
popleyrebel2
says...
6:52pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Most of your comments are negative and some very abusive, however, you comment at every opportunity therefore, hobby would and should be addressed to you.
I quote from my last post,
people like Jonone don’t need a reason just a platform to attract attention. un-quote.
I noticed you didn’t challenge me on the above, therefore, should I take that red?
Try stamp collecting or train spotting.
ELLIS17
says...
4:15pm Sat 9 Mar 13
popleyrebel2
says...
5:48pm Sat 9 Mar 13
I agree 100% that said, I strongly believe we lost our streets way back in the 80s and unfortunately have never gained control.
It was in the late 80s we started locking our churches and having security guards in our hospitals, muggers roaming our streets, ambulances (emergency calls) being ransacked for drugs.
This is a deep rooted problem, however, in my day it would have been a long term in borstal if convicted
People are too quick to condemn a specific area when the problem is nation wide.
robertspet8
says...
4:45pm Tue 12 Mar 13
It says, "Overall numbers of violent crimes have fallen back to similar levels to 25 years ago". It uses the phrase 'fallen back' because there was a sharp increase in 1991 which was not properly addressed until 1999. So if we did lose control of the streets it was in the 90's not 80's, but we regained control in the 00's. The BCS also says, "Despite the reduction in the total number of crimes since 1995, comparatively high proportion of people continue to believe crime has risen across the country as a whole and in their local area." Another point they make is, "Readers of national tabloids were about twice as likely as those who read national broadsheets to think the national crime rate had increased a lot in the previous two years (39% and 19% respectively)."
You make it clear that you do not think that crime in your area is worse than anywhere else. But you believe that street crime is well up on the 80's, but the BCS figures show this is not true. Am I right in assuming that you believe everything you read in The Sun?
Regarding how effective Borstal was as a deterrent, the jury is still. It is true that only about 30% of those leaving Borstal went on to re-offend compared to about 70% of those leaving our current youth institutions. However many of those entering Borstal had only committed one minor offence for which today's offenders would get little more than a slap on the wrist - many of those given custodial sentences today have committed several crimes and are already well on the way to becoming hardened, career criminals. Borstal's were abolished in about 1983 but the BCS report does not show a resultant jump in the crime figures.
popleyrebel2
says...
7:19pm Tue 12 Mar 13
(1) I don’t believe what I read the papers, in fact all papers have their own agenda that’s why I support Leveson’s recommendations
(2) Trust me, borstal was as a deterrent, however, did it put all on the straight and narrow NO, I don’t believe any system would achieve that.
(3) I don’t think or even stated that crime is well up on the 80s, however, what I believe is that we have not gained control of our streets.
(4) I don’t believe or trust in statistics, furthermore, I certainly wouldn’t base any debate on statistics.
People’s perception of crime (up or down) is down to experience, some consider a crime has been committed while others consider it to be kids letting off steam, that depends on whether your life has been affected. My own personal opinion, if your life has been affected then action must be taken, i.e. gangs outside shops and walking the streets at night abusing those who get in their way.
I forget to mention, the drug barons in 80s/90s taking control of our streets/ estates. that has led to many serious crimes, and the police recycling confiscated drugs didn’t help the situation ( at that time)
popleyrebel2
says...
8:41pm Tue 12 Mar 13
“But you believe that street crime is well up on the 80's” Un-quote.
Out of interest robertspet8' where did come from?
robertspet8
says...
4:05pm Wed 13 Mar 13
(1) A very healthy attitude. But where did you get your information about the deterrent effect of Borstal, the loss of control of the streets in the 80's, drugs barons and alleged police corruption?
(2) There is no proof that Borstal acted as any more of a deterrent than the current systems. Those on the right say it was a great deterrent and those on the left say it was training camp for criminals. Both views have a bit of truth but both are also wrong.
(3) Sorry I misunderstood what you said. You stated that we lost control of our streets in the 80's and had not regained control. I assumed this meant that you thought the 80's saw an increase in street crime which has not yet been controlled.
(4)It is sensible to question statistics but the country would grind to a halt without them. Most of our lives are planned around statistics. For example, we do not know how many crimes will be committed next year so how do we know how many policemen we will need. Statistics shows us what has been experienced before and if the trend is up or down. I would hardly ever believe a statistic uttered by a politician or the media but the BCS (now called the Crime Survey) is a reliable source of crime statistics because it is based on evidence from us, the victims of crime, and not just the police. It gives a much truer picture of crime than the police figures because it includes all those small incidents ignored by the police but important to the victims.
popleyrebel2
says...
12:45pm Thu 14 Mar 13
However, it wasn’t until 1982 it became a serious political issue when Derek Hatton (Liverpool City Council) publicly stated Liverpool as a ‘smack city’ in order to highlight the problem. Needless to say, there was media frenzy and it became apparent that cities throughout the UK were in the grip of drugs and drug barons. However, despite media headlines (heroin in Britain) the Government was still in denial until the mid 80s, the emergence of HIV/AIDS changed all thinking when it was proven that using dirty needles was the main spread d of HIV/AIDS, thus making it a serious health problem and forced the Government to address the drug problem, sadly however, the drug barons had already established routes and dealers throughout the UK.
Furthermore, in the mid 80s the drug culture had added another wave of drug-taking which centred on the use of ecstasy in dance venues or ‘raves’ it was reported that 1.5 million ecstasy tablets were being used every weekend.
There were allegations that bent cops were working with drug barons, in light of recent events (Savile, Hillsborough, and phone hacking) it was possible to cover your tracks, however the Stephen Lawrence inquiry concluded that police officers were colluding with drug barons and evidence was tamper with.
These are facts and not Statistics. Our streets and Cities were lost in 80s. The consequence of drugs is crime to feed their habit that also applied in the 80s.
robertspet8
says...
5:23pm Thu 14 Mar 13
It was 1960 not 1979 (which happens to be the year large quantities of middle eastern heroin started to reach the UK - but heroin from other sources had been used for a long time) when people other than the rich, famous and those on drug prescriptions started to use drugs in quantity. Before 1960 most drug dependency was as a result of doctors' prescriptions of addictive drugs. Then around 1960 there was the start of a rapid growth in recreational drug taking among mostly young, well educated and left wing people who saw it as a protest against the establishment. By the time I arrived at the 1969 IoW festival drugs were passed around like cigarettes. Many of my friends in the 60s and early 70s became addicts.
You are correct that Derek Hatton did a lot to change the governments approach to drugs. It is not that they did not take think drugs were a serious problem or that they were not taking action to combat it, it is just that they were taking the wrong advice and therefore wrong actions. Every government since 1950 had a policy but it was always based on the wrong input. Derek Hatton made them sit up and take notice of the organisations which really knew what was going on and how to deal with it.
'..it was reported that 1.5 million ecstasy tablets were being used every weekend.' Now if that is not the use of a statistic to help make your point I don't know what is.
Do you know how many statistics go into compiling the reports you like to quote - Saville, Lawrence, Hillsborough, etc?
'Our streets and Cities were lost in 80s.' Just you stating it is does not make it a fact. Without supporting evidence it is just your theory. You need to show such things as what crimes increased as a result of addicts needing to feed their habits. But that will rely on statistics!
popleyrebel2
says...
9:34pm Thu 14 Mar 13
Is it true that the crime survey (BCS) omits rape, assault, and drug offences,?
popleyrebel2
says...
12:21pm Fri 15 Mar 13
If that is the case then you are obsessed with “statistics” and they play a very important part in your life.
Is it also the case that the BCS excludes hostels, nursing and care homes and university halls of residence, and the possession and trafficking of drugs?
robertspet8
says...
3:52pm Mon 18 Mar 13
popleyrebel2 wrote:No it is not true that the BCS omits any crimes. The Crime Survey, as it is now called, interviews something like 50,000 victims a year and as a consequence captures details of crimes which are not reported by the police or even reported to the police. So it gives a more accurate picture of crime and trends in crime. It is not subject to changes in reporting structures as often happens with the police so it gives a much better long term picture of crime in Engalnd and Wales.
robertspet8. Is it true that the crime survey (BCS) omits rape, assault, and drug offences,?
If you really want to know more it is all available online.
I do not believe and never even hinted that statistics uncovered the crimes - I was pointing out that the subsequent inquiries, which you quoted, are full of statistics. However statistics do have a valuable place in crime detection as in virtually every other walk of life.
People generally do not like statistics because they do not understand them, because they are misused by the media and politicians and because they are often counterintuitive and show results contrary to what our 'commonsense' tells us. So the majority of people believe crime has risen since the 80s but statistical analysis of the figures shows us this is not true.
The trouble is the way statistics are often used. The newspapers and politicians will quote statistics which are accurate and true but they are not giving the full picture. Also they can alter our perception of a statistical figure by the way they present it - for instance, 'only just over half of the people turned up' vs, 'the majority of the people turned up'. Both are true but both are leading us down different paths of thinking by trying to influence our opinion of whether 'just over half' is a good or bad turn out.
I am not obsessed by statistics but I do recognise their value when used properly. You are right though that they do play a very important part in my life and the lives of everybody in this country, you included, because virtually every government decision about all the things which affect our lives are decided with the help of statistics. You may argue that is what is wrong with our country, but try running a company, let alone a country, without using statistics and you would soon be in trouble.
popleyrebel2
says...
10:06pm Wed 20 Mar 13
There are those who agree with your take on statistics and those who agree with me, all experts (allegedly) therefore it’s time to agree to disagree. That said, it’s been very interesting and proves that you can have a debate without abuse.
However, I do have one criticism (only joking)
Good luck
jonone says...
8:20am Fri 8 Mar 13