The mayor of London could and should be tackling this and other problems that are turning London into a hazardous and threatening place to be. Pity the poor tourists who have their phones snatched by hooligans cycling on the pavement. And not a Police officer in sight. Instead he is focussed on making life hell for drivers and raking in fines which is in itself another form of theft.
Ah yes, those thieving coppers, stealing from speeding drivers, disqualified drivers, drunk drivers. If only they’d leave those poor innocents alone, and leave them free to risk the lives of others on our streets.
On the face of it dealing with the symptom let alone the causes seems just as problematic due to the difficulty of predicting where the thieves will strike next and the costs involved in protecting especially to small shop owners one’s stock and the inevitable cost being passed onto customers .
Whether organised gangs or desperate individuals the effect is still the same on hard working staff in multi chains or family owned businesses . It’s crippling , deflating and those seeking retribution for their livelihoods being put at risk will be a natural response .
The same thing happens in my local Co-op all the time. I feel badly for the staff, but I also wonder what drives people to shoplift in the first place?
I think it's one of those things where everyone is partially right. Desperation is one driver, so is impunity, and so are character defects at the individual level. (But we can't really do anything about the third one, whereas we can do something about the first two.)
Is this only an urban problem? I have no evidence one way or another- do places with strong community support systems suffer as much? If there are to be laws drafted what punishments make sense with today’s issues?
The mayor of London could and should be tackling this and other problems that are turning London into a hazardous and threatening place to be. Pity the poor tourists who have their phones snatched by hooligans cycling on the pavement. And not a Police officer in sight. Instead he is focussed on making life hell for drivers and raking in fines which is in itself another form of theft.
Ah yes, those thieving coppers, stealing from speeding drivers, disqualified drivers, drunk drivers. If only they’d leave those poor innocents alone, and leave them free to risk the lives of others on our streets.
On the face of it dealing with the symptom let alone the causes seems just as problematic due to the difficulty of predicting where the thieves will strike next and the costs involved in protecting especially to small shop owners one’s stock and the inevitable cost being passed onto customers .
Whether organised gangs or desperate individuals the effect is still the same on hard working staff in multi chains or family owned businesses . It’s crippling , deflating and those seeking retribution for their livelihoods being put at risk will be a natural response .
The same thing happens in my local Co-op all the time. I feel badly for the staff, but I also wonder what drives people to shoplift in the first place?
I think it's one of those things where everyone is partially right. Desperation is one driver, so is impunity, and so are character defects at the individual level. (But we can't really do anything about the third one, whereas we can do something about the first two.)
Is this only an urban problem? I have no evidence one way or another- do places with strong community support systems suffer as much? If there are to be laws drafted what punishments make sense with today’s issues?