Ok I get that…but you say she would have known something was wrong…how would she have possibly been able to do anything about it?
This is my point…why is it always the innocent victims who have to change their behaviour because of the evil intent of others? Its always the public who have be afraid, who have to stay safe, always be looking over their shoulder. It really hacks me off…
Just recalled …We came out of the Youth Centre in South Norwood…the early 60’s around 6/8 of us went towards a Public House just off of our route home…guess we made some extra noise just larking about really…within minutes the Police arrived and honestly we were all scared…
.We felt we were all doing wrongun’s.
.A lecture from the Police Officers about hanging about in unsuitable places, and get straight home before I visit your homes personally.
A similar incident happened to one of our young teenagers…He got found with a can of beer…drinking it in the street with friends…guessing he was 14ish. the policeman arrived with him at our front door…he got the point over to all of us, and just really showing how the Police were always around…Always
I had never felt uncomfortable out at night, including the West End of London I was just 15 years old and not what they call street wise either.
All this new up to date techno…Cannot see how that is going to help people.in trouble…Quite obvious Police are needed back on the Beat…We need their presents for improving the safety on the streets…Mobile alerts, are just going to be too late in any real help that might be needed…
If a potential rapist or murderer now approaches a girl with a phone in her hand, the first thing they will do is take the phone & destroy it.
That’s what I thought, too.
He’s hardly going to stand there and wait for her to finish her call, is he!
Part of the problem was that Sarah gave the officer more respect than he deserved. Had she refused to cooperate, shouted, made a scene, then things MAY have been different. They may not have been, but they possibly could have been. Sarah would not have been the easy target she was had she not complied.
So do we now educate females to not automatically respect or comply with police officers? Do we expect the Police to play a major role in giving more protection from what Police Officer wayne Couzens was able to do using his warrant card? What ever we do, we need to do something that will improve the current poor attitudes within the Police, as well as make lone females feel safer when approached by the police.
Nothing is perfect, but we need more than an app, that tracks women.
I think you will find it is what the Police do. So that needs to change too. The Police need to now encourage the public to record them & check who they are.
Had she refused to cooperate, shouted, made a scene, then things MAY have been different. They may not have been, but they possibly could have been. Sarah would not have been the easy target she was had she not complied
Then you can guess what would happen there Gee, he would have threatened her with ’ Resisting arrest.!
If that man has got his crime planned and fixed in his head, even if that poor girl had escaped, he would have found another.
Perhaps it will be listed as an ‘emergency’ number and therefore a free call just like 999 and credit is not needed.
I agree Mups ! If a policemen has a warrant card how could she know that he was going to attack her.
If she was in a car she could have driven off & reported to the police station the next day but she wasn’t in a car and nobody should blame her for doing what a policemen asked her to!
Couzens had planned this attack and I suspect that any lone woman could have been the victim! He was evil and I seriously hope that every day in prison will be a torture for what he did.
Yes & yes. But she would have had an option that she did not under our current system. The reality of this world is, we can never really protect ourselves against those who are intent upon doing something. But we can make it harder for them who want to harm others, harder for the police to abuse their powers & slightly safer for us.
As an after thought.
It is worth noting we can never stop people intent upon killing, raping or assaulting someone. So that gives us three options.
We simply say nothing will stop this & accept the bad guys are always going to win.
We do the best we can to make the world a better & safer place.
We pay lip service to the problem & in effect do nothing. Other than apply a cheap placebo.
It’s good to know they are trying to find something to make us all feel safer on our streets and I don’t know what the answer is, how we protect ourselves, but it’s not only women who need protecting, there are also vulnerable men out there
Personally I would prefer more CCTV everywhere. I unlike most could care less if there was a camera every 10 feet. I know no one is actually watching live, but if something happens then there is evidence. Back in the 60s 70s it was a lot easier to commit a crime undetected and get away with it. Now you have cams everywhere:
A new study found there are so many security cameras now, the average American is caught on camera 238 times a week . That’s 34 times each day. And if you travel a lot, or work certain jobs, it’s over a THOUSAND times a week.
The thing is, it’s something you need immediately that is more important at the time to save yourself.
We aren’t allowed to carry anything to protect ourselves, not even some sort of spray as we then become the perpetrator!
It’s all well and good ringing 888 but will there be someone there immediately when you need them the most?
Yes Art, I agree.
I suppose you could carry a miniature perfume spray or similar, that would surely be passed off as acceptable, but unless you walked about with it in your hand, you wouldn’t have time to rummage in your bag to find it, if someone grabbed you.
I still think the best thing to carry is a very loud rape alarm.
Something to make a lot of noise and draw attention, which a perfume spray wouldn’t.
Mups, Does anyone take any notice of alarms anymore?
Car and house alarms go off all the time, does anyone take any notice?
Maybe if the personal alarm had a specific, distinguishable, unique sound, it might be of some good.
Up here you would get people flinging open their windows yelling
“Gonnae shut that *&%!!”&&^% alarm aff, afore ah come and shut it fer ye!!"
