16 Aug 07
Originally posted by wormwoodYep, that's my experience also. I was searched weekly by police, sometimes more than once in a day! Old ladies wouldn't sit next to me on the bus, you are automatically a suspect if something has gone down in the area, simply by fitting into an age bracket.
I agree.
when I was 18 or so, me and a lot of my friends had a long dyed hair, dark clothing, some piercings, steel cap doc martens etc... most of us were good kids, from nice homes, graduated top of the class and so on. but whenever we went to a store, there was a store detective or a guard following us around in seconds. on streets, old ladies tightene ...[text shortened]... tional media coverage, "400 000 smokers dead last year" is a short article on page 28.
I'm 29 now, i don't fit the bill any more so hey presto, i'm no longer a suspect! I have always lived in less affluent areas, i can't afford to live in the nice places. I don't lock my door, more often than not i leave it wide open! I will happily ask a group of kids for directions, as that is empowering for them. If you stop treating people with suspicion, they have no reason to treat you with it either. If you send out negative vibes, that's all you'll get back, the same goes for the reverse.
Class dismissed 😛
16 Aug 07
Originally posted by znshoI don't know where you live, but in my town you can't walk 2 minutes without seeing a police officer. Far from making me feel safer, i feel it is oppressive. I cannot move anywhere without being on camera! My entire life is monitored already, we don't need more control!! All the places i have lived in the last 4 or 5 years have been majority Asian communities. After the London bombings these areas are literally swimming with police. How this helps, i do not know. It's not like a suicide bomber is going to just walk down the street with a freaking bomb strapped to his chest on his way to central London. These 'Special' Police we have now are just a draconian/orwellian fear tactic to keep general citizens looking over their shoulders and sending troops to third World countries to expand the power of our elites. It stinks to high heaven! When we finally wake up and realise we've sleep walked into 1984 it'll be too freaking late cos the 'Law' will be so big and so all powerful there will be no change left short of complete revolution.
Well said. Keep police off the streets then we'll all be safer.
16 Aug 07
The post that was quoted here has been removedI cannot fault anything you wrote, although I fully agree I don't think that I could have expressed myeslf as well as you. Can't wait to see a reply to you, I think your arguement is too valid and too well put to dispute
16 Aug 07
1 edit
Originally posted by SquelchbelchThis is a bit old (1981-98), but still:
Fortunately gun crime is still incredibly rare in the UK.
Compares crime in the United States and England with respect to crime rates (as measured both by victimization surveys and police statistics), conviction rates, incarceration rates, and length of sentences. Crime rates as measured in victim surveys are all higher in England than the United States. Crime rates as measured in police statistics are higher in England for half of the measured crime types. A person committing serious crime in the United States is generally more likely than one in England to be caught, convicted, and incarcerated. Incarceration sentences are also generally longer in the United States than England
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cjusew96.htm
16 Aug 07
In Switzerland most males over the age of 18 own a rifle, since the entire male population between certain age ranges is actually a member of the Swiss Army, and are called up every so often for military service. Since people know that every house has a gun in it, and the people in those houses are trained to kill, I believe armed crime is virtually unheard of.
http://www.holysmoke.org/c000/014.htm
16 Aug 07
3 edits
Just looking at figures I quickly found:
In 1998/1999 there were apparently 28,874 gun-realted deaths in the US.
http://www.gun-control-network.org/GF01.htm
In the same period in the UK there were 49.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3737662.stm
The populations of both countries are roughly
UK = 60m
US = 250m
So you might expect roughly 4x the amount of deaths in the US as opposed to the UK, all other things being equal.
Not 589x
😉