Violent attacks from UK females is on the increase. Figures have jumped to 13% for 2007/08 compared to 11% of the previous year which works out at 281,320 assaults, robberies and muggings carried out by violent women and girls. Half of all violent attacks involve alcohol fuelling fears that binge-drinking among young women is out-of-control.
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This week in Scotland saw the third anniversary of the 3,500 cyclist Etape Caledonia race which runs through Perthshire in aid of the MacMillan Cancer Support. This 81 mile race is now one of the biggest in Britain, but despite this, it was subjected to an audacious act of sabotage. The race which raises money for a good cause, is unpopular with a minority of the locals as the main road is closed for a few hours.
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Everyone can take steps to protect their property, from neighbourhood watch schemes, CCTV cameras, hi-tech wireless alarms these all work and have helped in the fight against crime. New crime figures released state that Burglary has been on the decrease, in-fact it has more than halved in the last 10 years (source) although these figures are for England and Wales only and also only include reported incidents. In a recent summit Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that she is giving £20million to help keep this figure down and keep it down. Most of the money will be spent on giving free advice to persons that are concerned about becoming victims, helping the police in areas that are most at risk, and advice packages which will include discount cards to national DIY chains. £6 million of the money will be spent on local ‘handy-people’ to visit the elderly and those in low incomes and install home security devices.

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Concerned Lancashire Police are giving away hundreds of rape alarms to female students at a Lancashire University. Edge Hill University has been targetted for the iniative to help cut-down on alchohol related crime including rape. The female students will be given a personal rape alarm and guidance leaflets about proper drinking limits and how to cut down on excessive drinking.

Government figures have revealed that a third of all sexual assaults will take place when the victim is under the influence of alcohol. It has also been noted that sexual assaults under alchohol far outnumber ‘date-rape-drugs’. Alcohol is the preffered drug of choice for rapists claim The University of Surrey.

By issuing female students with personal protection i.e. the rape alarms and also engaging with them in learning about alchohol abuse it is hoped that the students will become more aware of the real dangers that alchohol abuse leads too. Rapists don’t need to spike a girls drink when they are already the worse-for-wear with alchohol.

A disturbing trend appears to be the fore, where victims have been robbed in their own house while asleep in their beds. This alarming rise of night time burglars, has seen the Police once more issue statements regarding people undertaking simple home security measures. Inspector Ewan Strachan, of the Elgin Police Force, said, “Preventing such crime happening in the first place is what is important … it is imperative that householders secure all windows and doors, including patio doors, before going out for the day/evening or before retiring to bed. These simple security measures will act as an effective deterrent to the would-be thief.”

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Latest research poll released by Virgin Home Insurance has highlighted where the safest houses are in England and Wales alongside pointing the houses that are at most risk. Virgin Home Insurance ranked all the major towns and cities in England and Wales to find where the safest and riskiest homes were located. They scored each area by criminal damage, burglary and flooding and levels of protection from Neighbourhood Watch schemes, as well as numbers of police officers. After the assessment was ran it emerged that householders in Kensington & Chelsea had the most safest houses, while homes in Doncaster were at most risk from criminal damage, burglary and increasing flood levels.

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The BBC has once again found itself in some hot water, except this time none of its big name tv or radio personalities are to blame. No! This time it is the turn of the technology show : Click. Spencer Kelly, Click’s presenter, wanted to show viewers just how simple it was to gain access and take control of thousands of home computers. Almost 22,000 computers made up Click’s network of hijacked machines, which the BBC claims has now been disabled. After the excercise, the BBC contacted the owners of the hijacked computers and alerted them that their machines were infected and how to make their computers more secure.

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Cash machines are being targetted by UK criminals, latest figures released by cash machine operator, Link, shows that in 2007 an estimated £37 million was lost to cash machine fraud. 2008 saw an 17% increase in the number of reported cash machines being tampered with by the use of criminal scanning software. It is thought that there are 2 cash machines fitted with the fraudulent scanning equipment, (which can copy a customers card details) everyday in the UK.

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In what can only be described as ‘astonishing news’, the UK Police Force are cutting thousands of Police jobs across many departments despite many claims that we are admidst of a recession-led crimewave. The job cuts are a result of a funding shortfall and have senior policemen and police groups worried and anxious over the news.

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The British Government this week launched a new £1.6 million national ad campaign to help the public protect their homes from burglars. The government hasn’t physicaly said that as the current recession deepens, crime rates are expected to soar, but you just have to read between the lines to see how nervous they are becoming about home security. UK Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, who helped launch the crime ad campaign said, “Most burglars are opportunistic …This campaign is about making sure that people are aware and doing everything they can to protect their homes”.

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