Tell police? pupils used
POLICE believe schoolchildren see being mugged as so normal they aren’t even bothering to report the attacks.
Now officers have written to parents warning them that pupils need to tell police about all muggings, imploring: “We must not trivialise or normalise robbery.”
However, the news comes as it emerged that in some instances children are being robbed by gangs who steal their details then intimidate them to keep silent.
A lack of reporting of robberies in Enfield, north London, has seen the Metropolitan police write letters to schools and parents. There are fears the tactics are being used nationwide.
Joan Ryan, Labour MP for Enfield North, said: “The robberies are happening outside school and at shops, near train stations and on the pavement. They tell the victim they are carrying knives and they are going to mug them and they should follow them.
“They search them and take any valuables and then order the victim to go to a cash point.
“They then gain information from their phone so they can threaten them.”
She said being robbed had also become normalised and there was very little confidence among parents of anything happening.
She added: “But my understanding is that reprisals are rare.”
Last week police in Enfield, which currently has the highest rate of serious youth violence in the capital, warned parents not to delay telling police of incidents.
The letters were sent out to parents after a significant spike in children being threatened with knives and robbed towards the end of last year.
Sgt Starkey Chan wrote: “In the run-up to Christmas I noticed a worrying trend where robberies involving young people as the victims were not reported promptly to the police.
“If your son or daughter is involved in a robbery incident I wish to emphasise the importance of calling the police as soon as possible, ideally within 20 minutes.
“If called promptly police officers have a greater chance of obtaining vital evidence – for example by carrying out a drive around for the suspect or seizing important forensic evidence.
“Some people feel that a robbery is a common occurrence and is not a serious matter. This is not the case. Robbery is rare and is a serious offence that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if found guilty.
“The intention of this letter is not to alarm you but to remind A MAN was arrested yesterday on suspicion of murder after a woman’s body was found in a luxury block of flats.
Police were called to an apartment on the 14th floor of the Harmony Building on City Island in east London on Friday by ambulance crews.
The woman, thought to be in her 30s, is believed to have suffered a fatal neck injury, but a postmortem examination is due. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 4.17pm. A Met Police spokesman said: “At this early stage it is believed that the victim was known to the suspect.”
A 46-year-old man was arrested after he attended a south London police station. The woman has not been formally identified but police said her next of kin have been informed.
you that we must not trivialise or normalise robbery.”
Joan Ryan said she had spoken several times with the Met Commissioner about the issue.
She said: “I have talked to Cressida Dick three times in the last 12 months and she sent extra officers, but despite this the knife crime offences have increased substantially, as has the serious youth violence.
“She said they will continue to deploy these extra numbers, but on its own that is not enough.”
On Friday one school in Enfield sent a letter home to parents, telling them of two robberies in the last week alone.
On Tuesday, three 13-year-old schoolboys were mugged. On Thursday another group were