Hopefully some good will come out of this craziness. Maybe this will
wake the British subjects up, make them realize that to be CITIZENS they
need to regain their right to keep and bear arms…

Original at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000111676745840&rtmo=Q0LLmQHR&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/4/20/nmar420.html

> Anger, not sympathy, as rural communities cope with rising crime
>
> THERE never has been much doubt about what the bulk of country people
> think about the shooting.
>
> Fed up with escalating rural crime – burglary, particularly, but also vandalism
> and car theft – their support for Martin was immediate and loud. “Let us never
> describe the death of a criminal as a tragedy,” boomed one farmer at a
> packed meeting at Emneth Village Hall shortly after the shooting. He was
> cheered to the rafters by the 300 present.
>
> Against a background of a seven-fold increase in the cost of rural crime in a
> decade, it is little wonder that there is anger. Stewart Mayfield, a neighbour of
> Martin’s, said: “I have every sympathy with Tony. The talk in the villages is
> that something like this was bound to happen.
>
> “You can go to virtually every house down this road and people will tell you
> they have had something stolen. If the police can’t protect your property, what
> are you supposed to do – just let people take it?” The shooting has had police
> on the defensive over rural crime. The Government has squirmed over
> accusations it has concentrated on urban policing to the cost of rural
> communities.
>
> Not coincidentally, this week’s Farmers’ Weekly opinion column is devoted to
> the rise of rural crime. It says: “Lack of police resources increasingly frustrates
> attempts to turn the tide.” In the same issue a lawyer writes on how far
> farmers may legally go to claim self defence if they injure or kill an intruder.
>
> Norfolk police admitted that in its western division, which includes Emneth, it
> had only 130 officers to cover 550 square miles in any 24-hour period. The
> police also concede that recorded crime in Emneth Hungate – and Martin and
> many of his neighbours say they have stopped recording crime with the police
> because it is a waste of time – is surprisingly high, and the clear-up rate
> disappointingly low.
>
> Last year the number of recorded crimes in the parish was 199, producing a
> crime rate of 93.87 per thousand of population. The rate was almost double
> that of nearby Downham Market. Anxious to improve their presence in the
> Emneth area, police opened a sub-station in Terrington St John, about two
> miles away, a few months before the Bleak House shooting.
>
> Tim Price, of NFU Mutual, the insurance company covering farmers, said:
> “Thieves in the countryside know the police are likely to be several miles
> away and they take advantage of it.” Criminologists believe that many crooks
> have turned to rural crime simply because they are more likely to get away
> with it in an era of increased urban policing. While few around Emneth say
> they wanted the teenage burglar dead, few are mourning his passing, either.