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In this issue

How safe are our streets
Nimby roadblock
Whose land is it anyway?
News in brief
Group therapy
The bells of St Mary's
Festival news
Ladies who lunch
Straight to the Point
The Ermine Road
Local talent
Music Listings
Arts Stuff
Daniel Defoe
Vortex at the Ocean
Surfing N16
Cheep frills
How does your garden grow?
Man in the North Bank
Crossword

p5

Parents are increasingly concerned that their children ­ often aged between 10 and 14 ­ are being robbed and beaten up by other kids. It is also true that the amount of crime in Hackney is understated as the figures are based on police statistics and many crimes are unreported. Burglary and car theft tend to be reported due to insurance requirements. Mobile phone thefts are the single most important item in the rise in street crime. This is hardly surprising as these expensive and fashionable gizmos are often on full public display.

There are no CCTV cameras in the High Street, with its clusters of cashpoints, or Church Street, something that should be remedied by the Council as soon as it sets up its new CCTV monitoring centre in Stoke Newington Town Hall. Without CCTV, the narrow alley alongside Lloyds Bank in the High Street is an open invitation to robbers. Studio 88, the clothing and jewellery store on Church Street, was raided recently by armed robbers. They didn't bother to wear hoods or masks. There was no CCTV.

The Council should not plead poverty. Why not ask businesses such as the banks and building societies ­ which make large profits out of handling money ­ to make substantial donations towards the running costs? Improved street lighting would be a deterrent to crime, again a Council responsibility. Unfortunately, they are having problems maintaining the existing lights.

The question of race should not be a major factor in the consideration of local crime.

This a distraction. A far greater problem is inner-city deprivation, poor housing and lack of employment opportunities. However, there is also a parallel debate taking place about whether young Afro-Caribbean men are more attracted than other groups to a lifestyle in which education has a low priority. The acquisition of the right kind of mobiles, music, trainers and other personal consumer goods costs money. Does peer pressure on the street induce a minority of Afro-Caribbean males, mainly from low-income groups in inner cities, to turn to crime to fund their perceived needs? Diane Abbott and others have argued that the education system has let them down. The editor of the leading black paper, the Voice, has said that the police should exercise 'stop and search' powers if this would reduce crime.

That would make good sense if these powers were exercised fairly and without any specific ethnic group being targeted.

Police training and intelligence-gathering to anticipate crime are key issues. Training should also include dealing positively with reports of crime by victims. We hear far too often that the police 'didn't seem interested' when they were contacted. More bobbies on the beat? If they are strolling in pairs down your street, could they be doing something more useful and would they be merely spotting small offences that would take up more form-filling time? There's no doubt they have too much paperwork and spend far too long in the station. The clear-up rate of less than ten cases per officer per year is too low. No police time should be wasted chasing soft drugs.

The subject of street crime is extremely complex, even for this brief review, and it raises as many questions as it provides answers. However, while Stoke Newington is not a particularly dangerous area, the official odds of 63 to 1 (last year) against a resident experiencing a street crime are far too short for complacency.

Local crime is a controversial issue. We invite readers to contact us on www.n16mag.com  or at 26 Shacklewell Lane, E8 2EZ with their opinions and experiences.

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