"Scared locals prepare for the worst"

 

That's part of the headline of an article about a crime-ridden dead-end road in Birmingham, UK.

Though just a small cul-de-sac, the Druids Heath close was struck by nine violent or sexual offences in a single month, according to latest police stats for November. As BirminghamLive visited to speak to locals in one of the area's worst streets for crime, only the sound of squawking seagulls disrupted the eerie silence.

"There is a lot of violent people around here, a lot of anti-social, bad behaviour," says Mr Wyatt, a resident for 14 years.

"My son - he's only 16 - was assaulted not long ago, he got attacked just for changing his tyre outside a garage. He assaulted him, he got him on top of the van and was punching him and fighting him. My poor son, he's still in school.

"He attacked me also. He pushed me, I had all the bruises up my arms." It's not the first time the man has assaulted locals living there, he says.

"A few of the neighbours have been assaulted by the same person and had abuse," he explains. "The guy on the corner reckons he came at him as well. He has had a go at about five different neighbours."

But the locals also have trouble from 'gangs' to contend with. The dad says: "I won't even take my dog for a walk because I'm frightened.

"There's quite a lot of youths and gangs walking up and down. I have a problem because there is no fence round my garden. They were all congregating round my garden, sometimes up to 15 of them.

"The young lads are threatening when they're all together. You ask them to move and they give you verbal abuse. They finally moved but then caused damage to garden ornaments, plants - they push them over.

He tried to get a fence to protect his home, but as it's a council property it's proven difficult. Instead, he's filled his garden with plants to try to stop the youths loitering - along with erected cameras, signs and warnings for would-be criminals.

"There's been a lot of break-ins over the last few weeks or two," he says. "A lot of people have got cameras because there has been a lot of damage to cars, key scratching...

"I have been broken into myself a couple of times. They stole quite a bit of stuff, TVs, jewellery." As soon as I step out of the door, I hear keys jangle and door lock immediately behind me.

Other neighbours display warnings not to approach as a 'cold caller', while one homeowner hopes to deter criminals with a 'beware of the German Shepherd' sign on their back gate.

Darren, a dad-of-five who wouldn't give his last name, shouts to check who is knocking his bungalow before peering around the ajar front door. He speaks of troublesome youths and warns against coming down to Drews Meadow Close at night.

"If you come down here after dark, around 7pm, that's when they come out...I can see why the older folk don't want to walk around here," he says. He keeps a hammer axe in his doorway in case anyone breaks in and takes a metal 'fire brigade drop key' out with him for protection.

"It's the youths, they have got no brain in them. All of them have got no manners, no respect." He adds that they will walk around in masks, but admits he too has balaclavas - explaining that if you "look like a victim", you will be victimised here.

There's more at the link.

Both of my parents were born in that city, and grew up there prior to World War II.  Both endured the privations and poverty of the Great Depression, my father and his brother having to be abandoned by their mother at a local workhouse because she couldn't afford to feed them any more.  I remember Mom and Dad talking about their home town.  Both insisted that while there was a lot of poverty, there was no major street crime (as described above) at all.  Youths who behaved like that would be disciplined by their parents, and if they wouldn't (or weren't there to do so), the community would take it on itself.  There were any number of what one might term "come-to-Jesus meetings" or "educational beatdowns" where wayward youth and local criminals were "persuaded" of the error of their ways.  As a result, streets and neighborhoods were generally safe places to live.

Sadly, of course, the same situation exists in many US inner cities today.  Crime and gang violence are endemic, and the authorities can do little to stop it thanks to "politically correct" administrators, prosecutors and city bureaucrats.  Those who are arrested are frequently released by political activist District Attorneys within hours of their detention - and, of course, this only encourages them to go out and do the same thing again.

Contrast that to the attitude in a great many smaller communities in America (such as the small town in which I currently live).  Around here, circumstances like this could not arise, because almost everyone is determined to keep this a safe, pleasant place to live, and is well equipped to do so by hook or by crook if necessary.  More than half the families on my street contain a current or former military or law enforcement veteran, and we're all prepared to do whatever it takes to keep our area clean, safe and orderly.  Any gang-banger wishing to try his antics around here will very quickly learn that for himself.

Why can't people do the same in the big cities?  Because they've allowed themselves to be "ground down" by local politics and liberal moonbattery.  Self-reliance is actively discouraged.  One's supposed to surrender control of one's personal security and right to self-defense to officials appointed to take care of that.  If one proceeds to do so oneself, one is regarded as part of the problem - even, in some jurisdictions, the cause of the problem - rather than the solution.  Essentially, the local authorities have made it a crime to protect oneself and one's neighborhood.

I'm glad I don't live in places like that any more.  Please God, I never will again!

As for Birmingham, UK, I can only imagine my parents spinning in their graves to see how their once-mighty city has fallen.  I'm glad they died before they had to see that article for themselves.  They'd have been apoplectic, incandescent with rage, at the prospect of citizens so timid, so cowardly, that they won't band together, police their own streets, and take care of business - if necessary, the hard way.  I can almost hear my father's voice in my mind.  "What do you mean, 'How do you stop them'?  You have rope and lampposts.  What more do you need, dammit?"

His generation, and my mother's, won World War II.  Would their modern successors be as successful in time of war?  One wonders...

Peter