...I have now become one. A crime statistic, that is.
Last night, I decided, coming out of my local Tube, as a bus was just pulling in, to take the short ride one stop closer to my house. Why not? It was raining, and it wouldn't cost me anything.
And in the heaving queue, I felt something bump my bag. I reflexively checked it - all OK, and got on the bug. In the instant between getting my pass out to flash at the driver and putting it back, another bump. This time when I went to put my pass away, I thought something felt wrong. Stupidly, I saw 'Where's my phone!?' And a man standing by the bus door said 'That Romanian kid took it' and pointed (to what? I could see nothing..) and before I could do or say anything else, the bus driver - who would have heard all this, and said and did nothing, shut the doors and drove off.
So, passwords all changed, crime report made (Oooh, I have a crime number!), service provider aware, new SIM on the way, new phone to buy and set up, and that's that. Just another story of London crime. No biggie, right? Just move on. It's not like it had sentimental value, right?
But now I'll never feel quite the same about crowds and bus queues again. I'll regard anyone standing too close with suspicion.
And I thought I loathed and despised crime and criminals before this. Now, there's nothing so violent, so abhorrent, that I'd consider it too extreme a punishment. Sharia law? BRING...IT....ON!
Blogging and Tweeting will be light for a few days.
What you actually experienced, Julia, are several things you may not have realised until you sit and think deeply. One of them is why many of us prefer to travel in cars rather than public transport.
ReplyDeleteAnother is the disproof of the adage that poverty causes crime, or rather the truth of its antithesis, i.e. that crime causes poverty. The resale value of your phone on the criminal market is a fraction of its value to you, the value of the replacement and the loss of the value of your time, police time (maybe), the value of time at the phone provider.
If as a society we are ever to get on top of immigrant crime, we need to be prepared to re-institute painful punishments and to eject not simply the perpetrator, but every single relation they have. That would include the born here children of immigrants.
Hope you get over the shock quickly and get yr tech stuff sorted
ReplyDeleteSympathies JuliaM. if I understand you correctly, the "man standing by the bus door" did nothing although he saw the "Romanian" (how did he know?) dip into your handbag and snaffle the phone. Also the bus driver: he's (I assume it's a "he") another sterling citizen who believes that a lone woman victim of a crime should be left to deal with its consequences. After all it's nothing to do with him is it! He's just driving the bus. Nice! Welcome to the world brought to us by the last 2 generations of politicians and their woke friends.
ReplyDeleteOTOH maybe you were luckier than you knew. Had you noticed the theft while the perp's hand was in your bag and reacted accordingly, you might have been up on some charge manufactured by the Police to protect the crim's sensitivities. Whatever, were the crim ever found you can bet that his interests would be paramount: your interests? Pah - you're white, middle-class, law-abiding, tax-paying - all markers of the "real" criminals in Britain 2019.
Sorry to hear that, Julia. I guess child pickpockets aren't such Jack Wild loveable scamps after all.
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel better, i had my gold watch lifted from my coat pocket on the Tube about 20 years ago, so it's nothing new.
Arseholes...
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about this Julia. It's horrible to be a victim of crime. Hope you can get everything sorted. I also hope that the police catch the foreign scroat who nicked your stuff but I have little faith that they will as the police are too interested in going after hurty feelings stuff on Twitter
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I had a motorcycle stolen. It was nothing special, just a nineties Daytona, but I was quite attached to it. It was just joyriders who played with it for a bit and then dumped it. I got it back with about a thousand pounds worth of damage done to it. I would have been happy to have seen it written off if the perps had offed themselves when they crashed it.
ReplyDeleteYes. Ditto.
ReplyDeleteGenuinely sorry to hear it and hope you get everything sorted. I used to be a liberal on crime but the random murder of my cousin's husband by a piece of shit who served a whole six years undermined my views on that.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your troubles Julia. At least you can have a good rest.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to read this, Julia. Let's hope karma is real and the little shit meets a grisly end. I'm generally of the 'Pull yourself together' persuasion (and I practise what I preach) but it is genuinely discombobulating for decent people to be victimised by criminal scum. I've got away relatively lightly, especially considering I lived in Birmingham for all but the last five years. I was caught off-guard once and mugged by a baboon wielding a screwdriver, and also had my house burgled three times within one year. I still seethe to think of these incidents, even now after thirty-plus years.
ReplyDeleteProbability Pb that the bystander was involved
ReplyDeleteProbability Pd that the driver was involved
Probability Pr that there actually was a Romanian kid
Pb is close to 1
Pd is close to 1
Pr is close to 0
Hence probability that bystander actually had the phone Ph is likely to be close to 1
Probability Pac that Ann Sacoolas was on her mobile phone when she drove 400 yards on the wrong side of the road is close to 1 as well
Not a word posted from the blog's resident plod...but listen carefully to hear their inane sniggering.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't resist could you Melvin? I meet victims of crime every day and I understand their frustration and loss more than you will ever know.
ReplyDeleteYou are a complete idiot.
Jaded
Sorry to hear about this Julia. I hope you get everything sorted
ReplyDeleteand that somewhere down the line the thieving sod gets "sorted" too.
Totally agree with the need for real punishment for criminals, but first the bleeding heart brigade would need to be put in their place.
Keep your chin up
You were lucky to get on the tube. Weren't there any XR protestors on it or glued to it?
ReplyDeleteWhere are you, we're all worried about you?
ReplyDeleteThanks all! I'm back up with a new phone and a sim card (once I get O2 to authorise it). A bit wiser and a lot more paranoid about crowds.
ReplyDelete"Also the bus driver: he's (I assume it's a "he") another sterling citizen who believes that a lone woman victim of a crime should be left to deal with its consequences. "
Sadly, it was a woman driver. Who said not one word.
"...but I have little faith that they will as the police are too interested in going after hurty feelings stuff on Twitter"
So far, all I've had is an email from a civilian worker tasked with checking the bus CCTV, asking me for details (what bus, what time, what did I look like, etc) to aid the search. Nothing more.
"I would have been happy to have seen it written off if the perps had offed themselves when they crashed it."
Oh, if the little shit had run into the road and been crushed under a tipper truck, I wouldn't have minded at all even if the phone went under the wheels as well!
" I still seethe to think of these incidents..."
I will think of this every day. When I get on and off the local Tube!
"Hence probability that bystander actually had the phone Ph is likely to be close to 1
"
Some colleagues raised the same doubt. If so, he's sunk - assuming the police do secure CCTV. He'll be immediately identifiable as he was facing into the cameras the whole time.
Not wishing to rain on your parade Julia...there will be CCTV on the bus and it's usually excellent quality. But someone will have to name him. He didn't have his name on his t shirt did he? I hear this all the time ' it's on CCTV'...that's why the police took your oyster card details to identify the actual bus you were on.
ReplyDeleteJaded
I think that I should add that, although I have a pretty low opinion of our police force generally, their response to my problem was very good. They did everything that I could have expected of them and were very professional. The perpetrators were never caught, but given the circumstances, that was very unlikely anyway.
ReplyDeletehaving been burgled several times , I would happily see the death penalty brought in for this sort of scumbag!!
ReplyDeleteSorry to say this but welcome to the real world. Almost everyone I know has been a victim of one crime or another and none have ever been resolved by the Police. In UK today crime is just an insurance matter and pity help you if you seek to defend yourself, the police will have you in a heartbeat.
ReplyDelete