The idea of decriminalization of parking tickets in the UK was so the police didn’t have to do this dirty task, and non sworn personnel could write the citations. It seems that crime is so rampant in the UK that they are now assigning police to protect the enforcement officers. Read all about it here.
The Brits have always been so proud of their gun laws and low crime rate. Guess again. The rate in the UK is higher than it is in the US. Things have gotten so bad in Hollywood that the LAPD is thinking of disbanding the homicide squad as there is nothing for them to do.
Meanwhile, across the pond, violent crime is up 37% through last March (2004) and up another 6% through last September. Assault and gun violence was leading the list, in a country where guns are outlawed.
So what’s the deal — The cops are back protecting the folks who are writing the tickets. Why not just have to cops write them, seems more efficient to me. Or maybe they should arm the ticket writers and let them take care of themselves.
There have been a number of incidents in the UK where a person was protecting their home from home invasion, shot an intruder, and the homeowner was sent to jail. The message that sends is simple — the criminal doesn’t have to worry that there might be a mean sumbitch on the other side of the door. He knows that there is nothing there that can hurt him, so he just goes and does what he will.
If, as in the US, the criminal doesn’t know what he is up against, he does think twice before breaking in to that dark house.
As legal gun ownership goes up, crime goes down. In Switzerland each household is REQUIRED to have a gun. Crime in the Alps is now restricted to the banks.
JVH