Crime and criminals

[Fester]

Steady on, B2R !!

[Kowalski]

The idea that our society is overflowing with scumbags is obviously right, I mean why would everybody say that if it wasn't true?

On the other hand...

ONS reveals the gap between perception and reality on crime statistics

http://fullfact.org/blog/crime_British_Crime_Survey_ONS_public_perception-2871

[DaveR]

Haha, yeh right, do you get out much? Go for a walk around Colwyn Bay or Rhyl..and take the ONS with you.

[Kowalski]

I had a walk around Colwyn Bay yesterday, and Rhyl the other week as well, and survived to tell the tell.

Should I call the Weekly News?

[DaveR]

Were you with the ONS Goon Squad?

[Kowalski]

No, I'm in the PC Brigade (Gay Loony Left Scottish Mafia Company)

I actually don't like the ONS and the like, coming here with their "statistical knowledge" this,  their "compiling empirical data" that, and their "showing social trends via verifiable methods" the other. I really hate the way they have the absolute gall to think they can prove things with facts. I mean you can prove anything with facts.

Why can't they just use intuition?

[born2run]

I'm with the Bangor boy on this.

Every little incident in this area gets blown up to ridiculous proportions.

Just look at the stabbing in Llandudno - from looking at the facebook gossip in the afternoon I had found out that a teenage crack addict had gone on a shooting spree!!

Been out in Colwyn Bay & Bangor hundreds of times and have seen very little trouble - Stop blindly judging people and try actually meeting people.  ££$

[DaveR]

Who mentioned Bangor? 

Kowlaski's original comment was about scumbags, not actual incidents. With respect, as you can see from my photographs, I spend more time out and about/travelling in the local area than most people...and I've seen plenty of scumbags. Ask Fester how many he has to deal with in an average week. Perhaps it's born2run that should get out a little bit more?

Statistics, as we know, can be made to show any desired result. Make your own mind up, don't just swallow blindly what the Government tells you.

[Hugo]

I think the Bangor connection is Bangor City FC  who play at Farrar Road.


The scumbags are out there doing nothing positive or constructive apart from keeping Social workers and do gooders busy.

[Kowalski]

I was referring to both "scumbags" and incidents. I assumed that there was an implicit connection between them, how would you notice a "scumbag" if they remained indoors?

There are obviously nasty people around but I don't think they're as widespread as people claim, which is an idea backed up by official statistics.

There may be a few so-called "scumbags" in Rhyl and Colwyn Bay but there are plenty of people living in "respectable" areas. If one walks over the Millbank bridge in Rhyl you are surrounded road after road of well-kept detached / semi-detached properties, the area just after Rhyl FC looks a lot like the St. Seriol's Road area (albeit with smaller houses).

Anti-social, or criminal, behaviour is obviously bad for society but then ask yourself what is more damaging for society...

(i) An individual "scumbag" vandalising the front of a shop.
(ii) A government minister authorising cuts to public services because they're pursuing an ideological crusade.
(iii) A Media Mogul using their media to create an atmosphere that leads to a government creating policies for the benefit of the mogul.

[Merddin Emrys]

The first option is illegal and without a doubt the worst!

[Ian]

Well put - and I suspect it's no. 3:

(iii) A Media Mogul using their media to create an atmosphere that leads to a government creating policies for the benefit of the mogul.

although (2) runs a close second...

[DaveR]

I was referring to both "scumbags" and incidents. I assumed that there was an implicit connection between them, how would you notice a "scumbag" if they remained indoors?

There are obviously nasty people around but I don't think they're as widespread as people claim, which is an idea backed up by official statistics.

Scumbags don't have to cause incidents to make life unpleasant for other people. I gave the example on the forum a few weeks ago of a man on the bus that was behaving in an extremely unpleasant way, causing offence to other passengers without actually doing anything that warranted the Police being called. Sadly, these are not particularly isolated occurrences any more - can I ask you how often you travel on public transport, particularly in the evenings, Kowalski?

[Kowalski]

I travel on public transport all the time as it happens, more often than not my journey doesn't feature "scumbags".

I have encountered inconsiderate behaviour and anti-social habits quite often though, like yesterday when I had to stand for most of the train journey from Bangor to Rhyl because some people wanted a seat for their baggage, or like that Saturday in January Saturday when I went up to Glasgow by train  and had to listen to a smug middle class couple talk about their lives in nauseating detail for two and a half hours, or like that journey to Cardiff last year when students go on at Chester and I could hear what they were talking about at the other end of the carriage for 3 frigging hours, then there's the vast number of people that like to talk too loudly on public transport. I could go on.....

Hardly any of the examples I've given would involve what you would call "scumbags".

[born2run]

This is what Dave R is talking about Kowalski from his post a couple of weeks back

"In my experience, the sort of people committing these offences on public transport are always the same. Always a male in their 20s or 30s, always a Manchester or Liverpool accent, always swigging from cans of lager, always swearing at the top of their voice."

As sweeping generalizations go this one takes some beating.  ££$