The Fear of Crime

We hear a lot about the fear of crime across the media. But what does that actually mean for you and I on a daily basis? Are you afraid of crime?

The small road that ran by my one of my old houses when I lived in North Devon is in poor repair. It is used by the postal service, the odd delivery van and maybe a lost tourist. Certainly no more that five vehicles a day. So why at 1am had I been woken by the sound of a slowly driven van that seemed to pause near my isolated house. Why did it drive past twice more in the next 20 minutes?

Although exhausted when I went to bed at 10.30 or so, I was now wide awake and unsure quite what to do. I felt nervous, helpless and a little silly for feeling this way. So I just lay in bed doing that thing we all do, reassuring myself that this was just a local farmer or similar and not the axe wielding violent burglar, who is the stuff of all our nightmares. And then I saw the lights of the van again. I jumped out of bed, turned on some lights and for some bizarre reason flushed the toilet. Why? To break the silence I guess. The next thing I recall was my alarm so I did eventually drift off to sleep and woke up safe, but does this, or something like this, sound familiar to you?

How would you react to a burglary?

And what if it had been a burglar. If, like me, you are fortunate enough not to have faced this situation, you must have pondered how you would react. Would you freeze? Hide? Beat the living daylights out of whoever had invaded you home and to hell with the consequences? Or somewhere in the middle, maybe calling the police and taking reasonable defensive action. Hopefully most of us will never have to discover our reaction.

What do you fear?

Let me ask you again: do you fear crime? I mean, are you genuinely scared that you are going to become a victim? If so, what sort of crime? I guess a lot depends on where you live. If you are in a built-up urban area where gangs are active you may be particularly wary about being mugged. Or fearful that your children could be a victim of knife crime. Or in areas of lower crime, burglary is probably the number one fear. But not mine. I am certainly fearful of crime and very clear about what scares me most.

The Random Stranger

My absolute fear, despite all the stats telling us this is the most unlikely to happen to us, is fear of the random stranger(s). There was an awful case in Devon a few years ago where 39 year old Lee Turner was murdered. He had nipped into Tesco’s in Barnstaple to buy some milk – as he had no doubt done so

many times before – but this time, he never made it home. He was stabbed to death by someone he didn’t know when he left the store. As he lay dying, he said, ‘Why me, what have I done, help me’. Before collapsing and dying at the scene. Just awful. I am sure you can easily recall other shocking examples.

Feeling unsafe in public places

When you read the media or listen to my podcast, you will have heard many of the stories of innocent people targeted outside pubs and bars. And it isn’t just late at night. Have you ever had the feeling of being unsafe in a public space?

I had it a couple of weeks ago on the train back from London in the early evening when a group of rowdy young men in our train carriage turned a relaxing journey into one of fear of crime, as they picked on a couple of innocent middle-aged passengers who had been minding their own business.

What would you have done in that situation? If you interfere, you are genuinely in danger of becoming the victim. And this could cause the situation to escalate. But is it right not to jump in and assist when you see people being unfairly victimised? On this occasion, I texted the train company – I’m sure I wasn’t the only one – and at the next station the men were escorted from the train.

How we react to our actions

After the incident above, I was annoyed with myself for not intervening. Especially, after an incident on a train a few years ago after which I vowed I would always step in if I saw violence on a train again, whatever the consequences for me personally. This was after witnessing a violent incident on the London tube en route to a football match at Highbury. I saw a man get horribly beaten up in a packed carriage and not one of us stepped in to help. There were maybe 80 of us in the carriage – many were young men – and nobody stepped up to stop the violence. Not one of us. I shudder thinking of it now and how the man being attacked must have felt when nobody helped.

Are we fearful of crime?

Going back to my original question at the start of this article, it is clear that in both these cases on trains it was fear of crime that prevented me and others getting involved. And it was fear of crime that kept me awake fearing a burglary. I would suggest that even if we are not fully aware of it, fear of crime plays a bigger part in our life that we would like to think.

Do you agree?