“Police chiefs put most of the blame on the attraction of new mobile
telephones and the iPod.”

Let’s see gun ban didn’t stop violent crime………oh I know let’s ban drugs, oh that’s right… drugs are banned already too……… Hey I know! Let’s ban mobile phones and Ipods —after all they’ve become the choice tools of criminals………. If it only saves one life!

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STREET crime and violent robbery continues to rise in England and Wales
Date: Oct 20, 2006 8:41 AM
PUBLICATION: The Daily Telegraph
DATE: 2006.10.20
PAGE: 004
SECTION: News
BYLINE: Philip Johnson
WORD COUNT: 755

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Muggers and robbers defy the fall in crime Police blame the rise in
street attacks on drug use along with the attractions of mobile phones
and iPods, writes Philip Johnston

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——–

STREET crime and violent robbery continues to rise in England and Wales,
according to the latest official figures published yesterday.

But the number of overall offences, especially burglaries and car
thefts, has fallen to its lowest level for 15 years, Home Office
statistics showed.

In the three months from April to June, the police recorded 25,300
robberies, about 1,000 more than in the same period last year.

The trend to higher levels of street crime has been apparent for some
time, even if the latest figures suggest the upward trend may be
slowing. The latest set of official figures showed a 12 per cent
increase in muggings over the quarter following seven and 11 per cent
rises before that.

The level of street robbery is now almost back to where it was before
Tony Blair ordered a crackdown in 2002.

His “street crime initiative” helped to drive down muggings
significantly by pouring police into 10 inner city crime hotspots. But
since the money for the pounds 80 million scheme dried up last year, the
problem has returned.

Police chiefs put most of the blame on the attraction of new mobile
telephones and the iPod.

Drugs offences also rose sharply last year, with a 16 per cent increase
attributed by the Home Office to a greater number of official warnings
for carrying cannabis.

There were 48,000 drug crimes recorded by police in the three-month
period, compared with 41,500 in the same period last year.

The Home Office prefers to rely on the findings of the British Crime
Survey – interviews conducted with thousands of householders about their
experience of crime. However, a spokesman said that, in general, crime
remained “stable”.

But even the BCS, which excludes interviews with children younger than
16, many of whom are the targets for muggers, showed a 12 per cent jump
in theft from the person and a five per cent rise in vandalism over the
12 months to the end of June.

The number of firearms offences fell by eight per cent to 10,267,
including a drop in gun killings from 64 to 51. Tony McNulty, the Home
Office minister, said: “We have made significant progress on violent
crime in recent years and I am encouraged that overall violent crime is
stable and police recorded crime has fallen. Although recorded robbery
has increased, the rate is much slower than in recent quarters. But I am
not complacent and recognise that more work needs to be done to reverse
this trend. Acquisitive crime is largely drug-related and we are making
great strides in reducing the harm caused by illegal drugs.

“We are diverting record numbers of drug-misusing offenders out of crime
and into treatment every week, taking more drugs off our streets,
putting dealers behind bars and making sure young people are informed
about the harms drugs cause.”

However, David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the figures were
shocking. “They show the towns and communities of Britain continue to be
blighted by increasing violent crime and robbery as a result of Labour’s
failing policies on law and order,” he said.

“Instead of being on the streets fighting crime, our police are stuck
behind their desks under an ever increasing burden of Labour red tape.
In the event an offender is apprehended for violence or theft they are
likely to be punished with the equivalent of a parking ticket. This is
hardly a deterrent.

“The fact robbery has only recently started to rise since Tony Blair’s
street crime initiative proves what we have been saying for some time
now: that more police on the street can make a difference.

“Now the Government’s constantly shifting central targets have reversed
that effect.”

A spokesman for Crime Concern, a crime prevention organisation, said:
”Over the last 10 years or so the amount of crime in the UK has
gradually fallen. This point will be missed by cherry picking critics
who will seek out an attention grabbing headline figure.”

Ian Johnston, a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers,
said: “While violent crime and vehicle crime levels remain stable,
robbery continues to be an anxiety, although the rate of increase has
now fallen.

“Police forces continue to treat robbery as a priority in the areas it
occurs, targeting high crime areas and tackling the issues that drive
this crime, such as mobile phone ownership, the behaviour of young
people and the vulnerability of key locations.”

Bob Jones, the chairman of the Association of Police Authorities, said:
“It is encouraging that crime in general continues to remain relatively
stable, although the continuing increase in robbery presents a worrying
trend and is significantly up on the same period last year.

“Police authorities will want to monitor local robbery figures carefully
and will no doubt want to work with Chief Constables and local people to
improve the police response in areas where there is increased local
concern.”

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !