[Lady Lottie]

All great ideas Noah'strolly (what a great name.... )  If I ever get around to erecting a shed my hubby has already suggested building some kind of false floor or wall inside it so I can store things out of site completely.  Terrible we have to think like this really. 

[dizzylizzie]

hi, i dont really know what to say to you, but i am so sorry for you,i really dont know what is wrong with people. who in thier right minds would want to smash up something tht other people have worked hard at and have a pride in. i would go to your local paper. someone somewhere must have seen/ heard something.....like i say, im sorry x

[NigelB]

No disrespect but that's just your opinion. I am sure if we tried hard enough there are just as many reports and validations for CCTV.

Actually, it's not just my opinion, it is the opinion of those that study cctv systems. The report I linked to is a meta-analysis of 41 other studies and is funded by the Home Office themselves. My opinion just happens to be in line with those studies.

I think we are about to go off topic on rants about personal freedoms and such like.

Nothing wrong with that Brian. We are losing our civil liberties faster now than at any time in this country. There is now one cctv camera for every 14 people in the country and one would think, if they really did prevent crime, that we would have the lowest crime-rate in the world. What is blindingly obvious is that we do not have a correspondingly low crime-rate.

I do agree on one aspect though. All the best security is based on a variety of aspects and not just one hope.

Indeed.

Better lighting.. You can get solar powered lights that are infra red operated. Security fencing,  maybe those battery operated remote noisy alarms . (I got one that cost less than a tenner for my shed), and a great police awareness presence. Plus the old detectives might offer a reward. Snitch your gang leader for a daytrip to Alton towers, sort of thing. A mixing pot of remedies would probabl;y the best way forward.

Agreed again.
Further studies, again financed by the Home Office, show that simply improving lighting can reduce crime by up to 20%, while cctv, at best, has a small but non-significant effect on crime.

Better community reduces crime, technology does not.

[Ice]

Please read the site policy on starting or turning a topic into something hotly debated or controversial.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=19481.0

[bailey]

the one thing I always try to highlight with ref to cctv and security with the police press!

many times in the local press especially at Christmas headlines are something like "20 people arrested for shoplifting thanks to a police operation"

just proves to me that more police are needed and they need to be on the street not attached to desks or sat in vehicles. these shoplifters are out on a daily basis so if officers were also out?

shoplifting goes on as a daily practise, but majority of stores have cctv some have security staff and majority will have a police link,, shoplifters know this but it still goes on on a large scale because they know unless police are about there is nothing anyone can really do. 

[Lardman]

There are two type of problem here :-

Theft and Vandalism. To a large extent the two are committed by different groups / types and I think you police response with change depending on which one it is.

I very much doubt that your local old bill will do ANYTHING about vandalism. Its normally kids / teen hoodies. Theres no 'value' in catching them and even if they do nothing will happen to them.

Missing rotovators & strimmers and indeed sheds are more likely to be 'mature' criminals, and possession of the goods makes it easier to get a conviction.  I expect they'll be far more interested in these types of crime.

The sad thing is - if they stopped the former there'd be far less of the latter.

[BrianK]

Please read the site policy on starting or turning a topic into something hotly debated or controversial.

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[hamstergbert]

When they do get caught the chances of them being actually punished are very small.  The CPS - Criminal Protection Service, oops, I mean of course the Crown Prosecution Service seem very reluctant to take action in a lot of cases, and when they do the legal system appears to be slanted in favour of the tuaregs.   Handful of hours community service for them if you are lucky and it appears that failing to do the awarded hours is far from uncommon.   

The perception of many of us seems to be that the minor criminal will get a slap on the wrist and a fiver out of the poor box due to having a 'deprived upbringing', whereas the victim is more likely to be picked on by the woodentops. 

"Contempt of court"?  Not so much an offence, more an increasing inevitability....

[peapod]

How are you bearing up Fatbelly?