Spate of Car Breakins on Kangley Bridge Road

[burtival]

Our car was broken into on Kangley Bridge Road last Thursday, just along from the leisure centre. There was nothing on display but they went straight to the glove box and nicked the GPS (which we never normally leave in car). Since then I have noticed smashed glass in at least 3 different places on that road.

Anyone know how we go about getting better lighting / police patrols down there? Has anyone else had a similar incident?

[maestro]

Four cars were broken into on private property on Southend Lane during daylight just a few days ago. I often walk down Kangley Bridge Road to the station and have numerous times spotted cars with glass smashed (presumably their owners have commuted into town by train) and appeared to have been broken into, so the street lighting won't help as these toe rags are brazen enough to carry out their crime in broad daylight.

[burtival]

I drive to the station as I hate the dark walk home. If there was better lighting I would opt to walk rather than drive, but as it stands I would rather risk my car being broken into than be mugged! Not a great trade off when all I want to do is go to work and come back safely.

I reported it to the police - I hope everyone else does too so they can build a profile up of the area and hopefully do something about it.

[Bazman76]

Slightly tangential I once saw a car being broken into.

Didn't really know what to do, if I so much layed a finger on them I would be liable for assault, not sure shouting would have helped either as they seemed completely nonchalant about the whole thing.

I called the police but needless to say the thieves were long gone before the police arrived.

[bensonby]

if I so much layed a finger on them I would be liable for assault.

That's not true in the slightest. A person has th. power to use reasonable force to prevent crime or effect a, or assist in, a lawful arrest under s.3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 and s.24A of The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.

In an event such as this the best advice would probably be to use your phone to call police and stay on the line keeping the suspect in sight updating a decent description/location of the suspect. If you felt condifdent enough and/or were with other people to help you, then there is nothing stopping you from detaining someone and calling the police (after all, how do you think security guards operate in supermarkets etc?).

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[Bazman76]

Wow, did not know that.

Still though you are open to the interpretation of what contitutes reasonable force?

I am not advocating vigilanteism, but it just seems wrong that the criminals can operate in broad daylight with relative impuinity.

I did pretty much as you said, the police did not seem to want to stay on the line just said they'd send someone round immediately. To be fair they were there within 5mins but by then the theives were long gone.

[CaptainCarCrash]

With the upserge in knife crime I wouldn't want to become a statistic so I would call the police and let the professionals deal with it.

[chrisj1948]

Wow, did not know that.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/aug/ ... ens-arrest

Regards
Chris

[DesignByBen]

Its bad, during the summer I noticed a regular appearance of glass from car windows being smashed on Willow Way - Yep - the road where Sydenham Police station is located.

[bensonby]

Evidence that shows that the physical location of a police station has little impact on crime in a particular locality?

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[Susie1791]

I also live near Kangley Bridge Road and use Lower Sydenham station, I noticed alot of cars with broken windows in the past few months and thought crime had increased but then noticed there is a new MOT garage opposite the walk down to LS station (Beckenham Motors) and they seem to be using Kangley Bridge road for additional parking so I think alot of these cars belong to them.

[Eagle]

It is one of those crimes with seems completely senseless as no one gain's a thing.

Zero Tolerance would assist. Stocks at Bell Green.

[furners78]

Just saw a couple of replies to this thread, and the cars that are being broken into don't seem to be anything to do with the Garage on the road (you can tell the cars that are as they are mainly missing bumpers!)

Since our car was broken into nearly 2 weeks ago, I have noticed at least 3 other cars that have have also been smashed into....

Has anyone on here talked to local MP's about improving the police patrols/lighting? Not really sure what is the best way forward to raise a bit of awareness of this problem!

The only thing I would do is urge people whose cars get broken into is to report it as it will build up a crime profile for the area.

[Eagle]

Building a crime profile might have unexpected results.
The insurance companies may refuse cover or increase premiums for that postcode.

Beware.

Need to catch the thugs and put them in stocks.

[furners78]

I get what you are saying about the insurance side of things - however it was actually the police themselves that said unless this crime is reported, they won't know of any issues, and won't pay attention to the area, therefore not catching the little thugs! So we really do need people to report any damage - our insurance was not affected at all by the break in to the car, we didn't even loose our no claims bonus.

[bensonby]

I called the police on my mobile standing right in front of them and hurried on my way. I was late for an appointment and a few minutes later I heard sirens. Haven't heard anything since.

I hate to pick on you and I don't blame you but this is part of the problem. Because we have been fed various media horror stories for years and the police have said "leave it to us" for years we have ended up in a situation whereby the law-abiding don't feel able to challenge the law-breakers and, even if one did, the prospect of support from other law-abiding passers-by is far from guaranteed. What should happen is that the passer-by stops the law-breaker, with the help of passers by if needed, and call the police who will take him into custody post haste. In this case the boy was about 12 for goodness sakes! What sort of world is it where an adult can't stop a child from committing a crime?!

I remember when a youth of about 12 pulled a knife out on me on the train coming into Lower Sydenham Station about 3 years ago: I took the knife off him, dragged him off the train and held him against the railings until police arrived. It was sickening that of the dozen or so other people who got off at the station walked past without so much as a second glance. (either seeing a man pulling a kid off a train and holding him up against the railings or realising that the boy was being detained for having a knife).

Calls for "more police patrols" etc are a bit of a red herring too - by all means the police can be aware and stop any dodgy sorts they see in the area. However, there simply aren'y legions of police all hidden away somewhere who can flood an area: your "extra patrols" will consist of your one or two safer neighbourhood PCs (as that is how big the "team" is) will take an extra stroll down there a couple of times a week. Police simply can't be security guards with a permanent or semi-permanent area in areas vulnerable to crime - to intensively foot patrol an area the size of, say, Sydenham 24/7 so that you were always within a few streets of a policeman would take hundreds of police officers.

Intelligence-led patrols do have a part to play - but they are only a small part of the solution: the other part is the cultural shift that is needed that I highlighted above and more robust, and quicker, sentencing by the courts as well as drugs intervention etc. The truly depressing fact is that it is very rare for someone caught for stealing a bike/breaking into a car is not known to the police and the courts. Most of them have many many many previous convictions - often running into the dozens. Something is clearly not working when they reoffend so much and when they get a slap on the wrist for their tenth offence. The police are doing their job: they are putting the right people in front of the courts - it seems the courts, probation service and other arms of the criminal "justice" system aren't doing theirs very well!

[bensonby]

I didn't mean it to be a specific stinging criticism of yourself. It's a cultural issue that has many causes.

I think it should be a question of degrees: I am not for one instant suggesting that we should be grabbing a hold of everyone who drops a fag-end. (However, even with this the "tut tut" of disapproval seems to have gone out of the window).

[Annie.]

My brother in law got stabbed and died for objecting to a youth slashing a van tyre about 10 years ago,
My hubby picks up rubbish if he sees someone deliberately drop it and stops the offender and says " I think you dropped something" the offender 9 /10 doesn't know how to respond and just takes the rubbish from him!
We stopped a car thief a couple of yrs ago and got a brick through our window a few days later, cost us £80 for doing our duty.
I have a long ,long, list.but suffice to say, I try to steer clear of any trouble, hence only shopping in "nice" places! 0;)))

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[JRobinson]

apparently, in terms of the amount of attraction obtained from passers by, shouting 'STOP THIEF!' or something similar doesn't work as well as shouting 'FIRE!' - even when there is obviously no fire, more people are likely to respond, as it's seen as more dangerous and a more immediate problem.

[Annie.]

I don't recommend shouting "Fire" if the thief is holding a gun! ;0))

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