UK: Do you feel safer where you live than you did ten years ago?

The guy from Esher wasn't actually in Esher at the time. It was a very surreal crime scene, my friend who witnessed it had already told me what happened. I went for a walk with my dad, step-mum and my daughter the day after, and we walked past the road and the house (which a few years earlier I had been in, as the guy who actually did the main stabbing was my boyfriend at the time!), the police had forensics teams there, and the entire road cut off. My dad asked what happened and they told us that there was a collision..

 

Yeah I noticed in the clubs, say in Kingston/ Richmond etc, which to me seemed the nearest night out town, all the security had stab vests. Which isn't that common, even in the big cities up North.

But I assumed that was because of people outside of the area coming in with knives.
The only bit of Surrey I'd associated with violence I'd say might be Woking.

On drug dealers, I've found a lot of em are actually nice, friendly people. Albeit with a different side when they are at work, sometimes. I think heroin and crack dealers should be locked up and have the key thrown away. But coke and weed are used by all sorts of people including the cops and judges. So to me, its a bit hypocritical to give coke/weed dealers big sentences for dealing.

 

What are you talking about?

 

I thought ud like that one hehehe....

 

Kingston recently had a stabbing resulting in the death of a 20 year old. It was inside a nightckub, that I have been to. There was some major stigma to the bouncers for not doing their jobs right, they usually slack on security, search men but not women, and that resulted in them missing a knife which later killed someone.. http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/pictured-clubber-stabbed-to-death-in-kingston-nightclub-8225701.html

Surrey isn't all sunshine and butterflies. We have a big drug scene here and knife crime is fairly common, especially amongst my generation. It is a beautiful place, but just not all of it. Just look at the riots in Croyden, I watched buildings burn from my bedroom window and was made to leave my home with my 2 month old baby. It was reckless, people were just destroying things because they could, furniture shops and childrens clothing shops. I have no doubt that should the oppurtunity arise again, it would be a similar senario. I suppose living here, you learn the ins and outs, plus I have always been in the London part of Surrey (Epsom isn't but is the London cut off point). I sometimes wonder how I actually made it to adulthood, I've been in some extremely dangerous situations, witnessed somebody get put into a coma through violence its easy to get sucked into the wrong crowd when you are young, some - like myself, make it out and others don't. I know for a fact that I put myself into these situations and that most teenagers would have had more common sense and wouldn't have witnessed or been involved in as much as me and my little group of friends were.

Epsom is known for its 'chavs', and I managed to land myseld in that category for many years, I couldn't be any more opposite to that than I am now.

 

Yeah I dont know about Oceana there. But I've heard about it. I was told it was "full of 18 yr old pillheads..", which seemed a bit of a generalisation. Its staggering that this sort of thing would happen on a student night.. But nowadays I think people are forced into being a student.

I think I can detect a violent vibe to places. Altho I dont ever alter where I go because of it. I was in the East End for a short while, and it always felt ok, chilled out. Even when it was me and another white person in a virtual all black place. Then another time, a good few years later, I saw a load of hassle on the tube there, in broad daylight.

It seems that in big cities, people think they can get away with stuff more, the anonymity aspect. But then in really dangerous places, I find people tend to be quite polite... its strange.

Some parts of Ldon, I really, really dont like these days, it almost makes me feel ill. But Surrey has been on my list of possible future places to live for a while..

 

Considering the fact that this was the first time in ten years that I didn’t attend the Boston Marathon and would have been standing in approximately the same location bomb number # 1 detonated





NO

Hotwater

 

Hell no.

Firstly, terrorism is on the rise. It's not so much about how it happens, but that it can happen anywhere. I mean, a marathon? A movie theater? An elementary school?

Secondly, I'm still draftable, and my country loves to start and join wars; and create more enemies, terrorists, jihads.

Thirdly, we are losing control of capitalism, and they are nearing some very exciting but scary technological territories. It's not so much a problem that we are advancing, but how little oversight there is.

Back to the government: drones.

And finally, with desegregation and the class system the way it is; crime happens anywhere now. There are still bad neighborhoods, but I doubt there are many good ones.

 

I live in an area with almost no non drug related crime so I have always felt safe and continue to feel safe.

And yes, I realize that I do not live in the UK, but this is not a UK specific forum so you'll just have to deal with it.

 

There are also crimes the government commits everyday, which you probably never hear about.

 

I don't think the government realizes that Oregon exists...

 

I thought England was the safest place in the world, and no citizen feels the need to have a means of self defense? Odon was wrong?

 

lol

 

Where did you get the idea England is the safest place in the world?

I wouldn't say no citizen - but hardly any.

We just do things differently here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2sBFpeRfbA"]Home alarm system installation - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xjr2hnOHiM"]Dirty Harry Do You Feel Lucky Punk? ( HD ) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhV0uqLaToI"]Oldest rugby player in the world? 72-year-old grandfather plays every Saturday with London team - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuTtvlIUIxg"]American Football (Music Video / Lil Jon The EastSide Boyz - Throw it Up (Kings Of Crunk) - YouTube

 

Yeah we do things differently, like attack eachother with kitchen knifes, baseball bats and screwdrivers.... (all three of which have happened to/by people I know :/)

 

I know. I know. It was only meant to be light-hearted.

 

Aren't those the weapons of choice of that English martial art of olden times 'mayham' along with broadswords & rocks?

 

Is it true that when you cros the northern California border there is a large green sign saying Oregon with an arrow pointing west?

 

To address the question, I reside in a ghost town in the mountains a move up from my old urban environment.

 

i've always felt safer out in the woods then around populated areas.
even though the place where i live now is relatively economically depressed, i feel well, as safe as anyplace i've lived in the u.s.

personal assaults have been rare in my life. my personal lifestyle tends to reduce their likelihood. of course its a statistical thing, and nothing can prevent someone from wanting to try it.

i am concerned, certianly, by the increasing tollerance for aggressiveness culturally, and the rise in violent activity that goes with it.

less for my personal safety, though of course that too, but primarily for how that affects the kind of world we all have to live in.

ps i didn't see the uk part, i live in the western us.