Taking a bus to Brixton from Streatham this afternoon, I saw the Big Brother posters which assured me I was safe. Considering I was in one of London’s three murder hotspots, the posters seemed appropriate. In Coldharbour Lane the new multimedia telephone kiosks were empty yet there were queues outside them. These were the drugs hustlers who called out “Grass”, “Charlie” and “Horse” as I walked past.
Directly beneath a bus lane camera a car blocked the bus lane. I was reminded that when the security cameras were installed in Coldharbour Lane one of them didn’t work. Any guesses where a murder was committed? Yup, directly beneath the faulty camera.
In Kingston-upon-Thames a few years ago a jeweller’s shop was discovered to be the only shop in the street which couldn’t be seen from the array of cameras. A nice dark alleyway running alongside was also unaccountably off-screen. Any guesses how this was discovered? Yup, when a gang burgled the shop.
At least there is no suggestion that inside information could possibly have contributed to these crimes.
I used to live in Coldharbour Lane (the Denmark Hill end). It was relatively safe there (at least I was never mugged, nor were either of my flatmates) during the time we lived there. It certainly sounds as if it has gone downhill sonce 1991.
Interestingly enough, when we lived there it was pre-Dunblane, and we were all pistol shooters, so if someone had bust in, they would quite likely have been shot (or cut in half with Tim the Hairy Psycho’s kitana).