Silent Crime: What have been people's experiences in the Black Country?

Express & Star

As part of National World's Silent Crime campaign, Express & Star senior reporter James Vukmirovic spoke to shoppers in Bilston about their experiences of crime, how it affected them and their thoughts on current policing.

Transcript

00:00Hello, I'm Joe Spirovich and I'm here in Bilston. We've been speaking to people about the National

00:05World Silence Crime Campaign, speaking about how they've been affected by crime, whether

00:09it's affected them, anything like that. We've gone through instances that they've had, the

00:14police response, how they feel about it, and as well as that, we're going to think about

00:17modern policing. Here's what they had to say.

00:20What have been your experiences of crime?

00:24Only being out burgled.

00:27How many times do you think your house has been burgled?

00:29Three times. I don't live there, no.

00:32In the time when it happened, how did it affect you back then? How did you feel when it happened?

00:35Oh, terrible. Terrible.

00:38Did you not feel safe in your house?

00:39No, I didn't. It was awful. I think somebody had been in my house, messing with my things.

00:46You know, it was terrible. Took me a little while to get out of it.

00:51In terms of the response from the police, did they do anything to help, do you think?

00:56No, not really.

00:59No, they didn't, really. No, I can't remember them coming, actually.

01:04Oh, OK. So, do you feel that they sort of... Because there's obviously an idea between

01:09major crime and minor crime. Do you think they treated it as a minor thing?

01:12I think so. I think that was the case, yeah. And the last time they broke, you know, in

01:18the hospital.

01:19Oh, wow, OK.

01:20Yeah. I just had a bit of trauma.

01:23And, as far as looking at it, do you think that more can be done within this country

01:27to improve the level of policing, particularly police response to burglaries?

01:30Oh, yes, definitely. We need more police. We don't see any now, do we?

01:35We're not seeing them around the town. You know, it would be nice.

01:40We wouldn't know where to go if we had a policeman now.

01:43Not the same as it was years ago.

01:48So, you don't feel safe, really.

01:53OK, so tell me about your experience. Have you ever been a victim of crime in the past?

01:56In the past, yeah. It was a car, car damage outside the house, and, you know, we didn't

02:03trace anyone at all.

02:05How did it affect you at the time? I mean, what were your feelings when it happened?

02:09It didn't affect me at all. But, you know, just go with the flow sometimes, because,

02:16you know, I can't dwell on things.

02:19Did you feel at the time that... Did you speak to the police first of all about it?

02:24Yes, the police did attend and give me a crime number. Whereas, I think now, like, this has

02:30been a few years ago, but now, they've just given me a crime number. They won't come out

02:36unless it's a really serious crime, like...

02:39Do you think these days there's more of a police focus more on major crimes than minor

02:43crimes, or they just don't focus enough? What's your thoughts on current policing?

02:46Sorry to say...

02:47What's your thoughts on current policing? Do you think that it might have been done?

02:51I'd like to see more police on the streets, to be quite honest, like they did years ago.

02:54I think that's... That is a problem now, because you've got house interrogations. You don't

02:58see a lot of police on the streets. People sort of being pinching your bag or whatever

03:03they want to do.

03:05Do you think if a similar thing happened these days, like you said, do you think that you

03:08would just get a crime reference number and that would be the end of it?

03:11They'd just give you the crime number, don't they? And really, I mean, if you have a burglar

03:18in your house now, they won't come out to you. They'll just give you a crime number

03:21unless somebody's been stabbed or murdered or a really serious crime like that, they

03:26won't say anything, you know, so I think that's basically... More police on the beat, but

03:33whether this government will do that, I don't know, you know, so...

03:38So tell me what your experiences have been of crime in the past. Have you been a victim

03:42of crime in the past?

03:44Not on the street, no.

03:46But within your home?

03:47Within my home, I was burgled, yeah.

03:49Oh, right. Without going too deep into the details, what happened?

03:54I was on holiday and when I was travelling on holiday, somebody jumped in the window

04:01and practically took everything.

04:06It's an obvious question, but how were you feeling after that?

04:09I don't want to go on holiday, do I? But I've got to, because I was in the middle of nowhere,

04:13really, because I was on my way to Spain. Fortunately, I was insured and one of my neighbours

04:20seen it. He found the place for me, told me which direction, and I did get some of my

04:28stuff back off the paper.

04:30I mean, that's something.

04:32Yes, something. And I did have a payout off the insurance. Obviously, my insurance went

04:39But the hardest part was, the window they got into, the chap who done it, I had to have

04:47my window all boarded up. I couldn't use that bedroom because he was apparently polite,

04:53poor blood still showing on my window. So, obviously, we couldn't go in that bedroom

05:00until everybody had done everything.

05:03I've asked about police response. Obviously, you were very pleased with the police response

05:07Yeah, yeah. But I'm coming back. It's been a few years, yeah.

05:13If it happened these days, it might be a different story, do you think?

05:17Definitely, definitely. I've got every respect for the place, but I don't think they'd do

05:28all that coke do. Well, they'd let the criminals go down then. Them tubies would be parking

05:35tickets and I'd not tell them anymore because an old woman could be blooming being mugged

05:42or something in the street, and I'm buggering about with parking tickets.

05:48Do you think there's a bit of a disconnect these days between minor and major crime?

05:54Well, yeah. Yeah, and they're doing the drugs off of them, don't they? That's my opinion.

06:02I don't know, but my opinion is the drug money, especially in Galston. I mean, it's happening

06:10a lot. We've had two, obviously, we've had two die there being murdered, then they're

06:18setting prices at Goyer and what's happening to them.

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