Shop security -

[observer]

- believe a local Co-Op was burgled recently and the shop assistants held at knife point. The management were very considerate, and bought the girls a bunch of flowers - wow! Perhaps it would have been better if they provided an automatic, drop down safety screen, automated door locking systems, operated by the silent alarm button under the counter - thus trapping the perpetrators inside the shop?!

[Peter T]

Co-op don't do things like that. And would you really want these idiots shut in the shop with you?

[Legion]

I must agree, the best policy is to let them take the money and let the cameras deal with it later.

plus I don't want to live in one of those areas that is locked down, I see it a lot in the smaller shops in manchester, and was shocked when I went into bargain booze on (lovely lane is it ??? opposite the Hatter) all tuffened glass, I like to pick up the bottles of wine, and read the label. I felt like a criminal just walking in, it brings down the whole area.

[observer]

It's not new technology; banks have had it for years and it works.

[trojan]

I felt like a criminal just walking in, it brings down the whole area.

 

A case of chicken and egg here, what brings down the area - the shutters and toughened glass or the low life that live there?

 

I would suggest that in most cases the shutters, alarms, toughened glass etc are a direct response to the threat brought about by the people who live and shop in those areas.

 

My wife was a teacher in Kirkby in the 70's and was gobsmacked to see all the shops with shutters. It was unheard of in Warrington, but is now common practice.

[Chrissy]

I would prefer more police and cctv that is actually on and monitored.

[McBain]

You can put some people in the nicest areas in the country but because of their mentality, within a few weeks they will start to have a negative effect on the area. What ought to happen is that the authority gathers together all of the malcontents and problem-tenants, stick 'em in the same place, and then wall them in! Pretty soon the idiots who think it is funny to throw stones at other people's windows will find that someone else thinks it's a good jape to play music at ear-shattering volumes until 0400, and yet another person will enjoy getting plastered every day and puking up outside their front door. I'd love to see them all "getting along"...

 

After four weeks the police could move in and arrest any survivors on the grounds that they were wrong 'uns before they went in, and they won't have got any better in the meantime

[Chrissy]

Think that's already been tried! They were called sink estates! Trouble is folk will never pick up appropriate behaviour if all they see is the reverse. Police, cctv and real, supervised community service. I would rather see people who have done wrong doing something useful for the community and learning about the work ethic, not sitting around in jail then coming out having learned all sorts of new crimes to perpetrate.

[observer]

Think the getto approach was tried by the NAZIs during the War; perhaps a more futuristic approach would be an IQ test at say, age 11, to decide whether your terminated or not!