Crime

[whatmeworry]

I'm guessing some people here are far more affected by crime than others (and indeed than me), but my wife just mailed me to say that our local convenient store was the victim of an armed robbery a few days ago.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-31898355
This is somewhere that's about 2 minutes walk from my house and no more than 10 from Geoff's, and I'll admit the whole thing has shaken me up a little (only a little, but I'd be lying if I claimed to be totally blasé about it). This is somewhere I visit daily (I hold the honour of being mayor of it on Foursquare) and have certainly visited many, many times around the time the crime took place (7:30 on a Saturday night) as could my wife. What's more, over the 5 or so years that I've been using the shop I've come to know and like many of the staff.

Don't really know where I was going with this.....

[ljb187]

The gun thing threw me...I checked the article expecting "armed" to mean screwdrivers or something.

We've had a surprising number of unpleasant episodes in / around our neighborhood - and this is a nice place in sunny San Diego. It's weird, I lived in NYC boroughs for ten years with barely an issue. For now I pacify myself by dreaming of taking refuge on a rocky Oregon coast and hoping I die before all hell finally breaks lose. I liked my world better when I was 10 years old.

[whatmeworry]

I liked my world better when I was 10 years old.

Amen to that. I just popped into the shop and got served by one of the girls there I know well. They're all pretty shaken up by it.

[93EXCivic]

The gun thing threw me...I checked the article expecting "armed" to mean screwdrivers or something.

We've had a surprising number of unpleasant episodes in / around our neighborhood - and this is a nice place in sunny San Diego. It's weird, I lived in NYC boroughs for ten years with barely an issue. For now I pacify myself by dreaming of taking refuge on a rocky Oregon coast and hoping I die before all finally hell breaks lose. I liked my world better when I was 10 years old.

To be fair crime rates (both violent and non-violent) have been trending downwards in the US since the early '90s.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

[Seriously]

(I hold the honour of being mayor of it on Foursquare)

WTF does that actually mean ?

and have certainly visited many, many times around the time the crime took place (7:30 on a Saturday night) as could my wife.

Robbers usually pick a time when there are few (if any) bystanding witnesses, so I think you'd have been safe.

Reminds me of a customer I once knew (long long long long time ago) , I knew he used to deliver cash to banks... you know in those security boxes and wearing the hard hats etc.

I happened to visit my bank once with a mate of mine, and saw this dude doing his job just waiting to be attended to by the bank staff, As I walked past him , I said not too loudly "Right ... NOW" and gestured towards him....

The money dude knew I was joking (and had seen me coming) , my mate didn't have any idea I knew the money dude, he nearly pissed himself laughing.

[Der Amf]

Sounded like the robbers knew what they were doing, which means there's less to worry about. They will have been sure to go in when the shop was empty. Being happy with £300 and a load of fags also shows they knew what they were doing - it's the standard amount for a couple of tills' floats. They didn't up the stakes by trying to get access to the safes, but got in and out nice and fast.

Their only getting £300 shows that the shop staff follow the cash handling guidelines (constantly putting cash into the safe) This is also good for the future - if someone does well robbing a shop then it attracts copycat attacks.

Having been in an armed robbery, I found that while it was very unfun while it was happening, once it was over it was over. I had the next day off and pretty much filed the experience away. Around the same time I got mugged and that, by contrast is *horrible*, as it's very personal. An armed robbery like this though feels very brisk and businesslike, more like a customer service issue than anything else.

Except for the moment when you can physically *feel* that the gun is pointing at you

[whatmeworry]

WTF does that actually mean ?

Robbers usually pick a time when there are few (if any) bystanding witnesses, so I think you'd have been safe.

So on foursquare when you go to a location you "check in" there to show you've been and the person with the. Let check ins for a location becomes the mayor. (this is part of my misspent Internet past)

In terms of the timing Saturday evening seems odd to me, certainly not the quietest time there.

[Seriously]

In terms of the timing Saturday evening seems odd to me, certainly not the quietest time there.

The guns give them a bit of licence to override looking for a completely quiet time, desperate times make for desperate men.
They must have been desperate.

this is part of my misspent Internet past

[ljb187]

Amen to that. I just popped into the shop and got served by one of the girls there I know well. They're all pretty shaken up by it.

My wife got to experience multiple police with guns drawn on a car just outside here place of work a few weeks ago...it's a garden center she swapped a life on Wall Street for after we moved. A sweet little garden center for crying out loud!

To be fair crime rates (both violent and non-violent) have been trending downwards in the US since the early '90s.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

I agree...for the most part our dream-type home has been mostly spoiled by rotten luck. The conceptual fair-play American in me says to fight it. The newly found meditative Californian says to move on...we'll see.

whatmeworry: Any idea how you'll ultimately react? Not saying you should move Texas, but is there anything that'll help?

[geoffbot]