Fear/Fight Australia

Let us be armed, say angry shopkeepers

By Robyn Ironside
September 13, 2008 02:41am

Shopkeepers demand right to be armed

Crime has become more violent, they say

Laws currently 'favour the offender, not victim'

QUEENSLAND shopkeepers are demanding the right to arm themselves with clubs, Tasers and capsicum spray to fight back against violent robbers.

Fed up with being used as a ready source of cash for criminals, business owners want the law changed so they can guard their shops against thugs without fear of being charged.

Attacks against defenceless shopkeepers have become more violent, including the recent stabbing of a Brisbane shop assistant.

Retailers Association executive director Scott Driscoll said people who entered businesses with the intent of holding them up should have no rights.

"Any perpetrator leaves their civil liberties at the door and that should be enshrined in legislation," he said.

"The bottom line is there should be no threat to a business owner or retailer if they do use reasonable force to defend themselves."

A Human Right

Related from Australia:

African youth gangs assault taxi drivers
Mike Edmonds
September 13, 2008 12:00am

MELBOURNE'S Indian and Pakistani taxi drivers are being bashed and robbed by African youth gangs.

And there are fears the number of attacks reported to Victoria Police is only the tip of the iceberg.

The hot spot for inter-racial violence is Melbourne's inner north. This year between May 8 and August 2 there were 12 reported robberies on taxi drivers in Flemington, Moonee Ponds and Ascot Vale.

Police will not officially acknowledge any particular ethnic group is a target, or that any other group is carrying out the crimes.

But in every case the victims told police their attackers were African and there was always more than one. Knives are the weapon in most taxi robberies reported to police, but meat cleavers and screw drivers have also been used.
Ten of the 12 victims are from the Indian sub-continent, but police are not prepared to say Melbourne's foreign student taxi drivers have become targets.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24337433-2862,00.html


More:

Police cannot defend our streets against crime
Article from:
By Kara Lawrence
September 10, 2008 12:00am

CRIMINALS who steal your car, break into your house or rob you run virtually no risk of getting caught.

New figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph reveal that the clear-up rates for crime in NSW are as low as 1 per cent in some areas. Overworked and understaffed police stations are struggling to deal with an overload of crime with just 5.5 per cent of home break-ins solved and an even lower clean-up rates for car theft.

Police are solving only half of all non-domestic assaults, while only a little over 20 per cent of sex crimes lead to an arrest within 90 days.

The rapid decline in sexual assault clear-up rates since the mid-1990s has prompted NSW Police and Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) to launch a study into the cause of the drop.

http://www.news.com.au/

More:

More danger on trains in Melbourne than in London or New York
Mary Bolling
September 11, 2008 12:00am

PUBLIC transport users in Victoria are more likely to be attacked than commuters in New York, London or Sydney.

Assaults, sex offences, robberies and thefts soared last year, police figures show.
While public transport crime was up 2.5 per cent, transit police insiders say squad numbers have dropped to a new low of less than 200.

The Hurstbridge train line was rated worst for crime, followed by Frankston, Pakenham and Lilydale.

More:

Hummers to beef up police booze patrol
By Brendan Roberts
September 08, 2008 02:19pm

Police to patrol city streets in Hummers
Part of an assault on alocohol-fuelled violence

Follows weekend of deadly violence POLICE will hit the streets in five custom built Hummers as part of a new assault on alcohol-fuelled violence. The vehicles will be loaned to Victorian police by Hummer and could be on the streets within five weeks.

It follows another fatal weekend of late-night violence at city night spots, in which a 24-year-old man was killed in a brawl outside the Queensbridge Hotel and another man had his jugular slashed with a glass, the Herald Sun reports.

Read more at the Herald Sun.

And Even MORE:

From: A Western Heart

Feeling safe Australia?

Daily Telegraph - WILLIAM Lawrence thought he knew how police were supposed to respond to victims of crime, having once been an officer himself. But three years after a serious assault cost him nine teeth and some of his jawbone, and left a plate and screws inserted in his elbow, police have still not taken a statement. ...... New crime clear-up statistics show only 51 per cent of of NSW's 46,155 non-domestic violence assaults were cleared up within three months of being reported last year.

Daily Telegraph - SEX assault victim Nina Funnell has lived in "agonising suspense" during delays in DNA testing in the investigation which has been unable to find her attacker. The 24-year-old Sydney University worker was walking home in Huntleys Point in May last year when she was grabbed, almost strangled, sexually assaulted and threatened with a knife. "I am disgusted by the way my case has been handled (by police)," Ms Funnell said. ...... "Frustratingly, the average rape victim has to wait six months due to a backlog in state-run labs," she said. "Morris Iemma ordered a complete review of this backlog. We've heard no word of this review since."

Daily Telegraph - ORHAN Dost knows the chances of catching a car thief are slim. The 25-year-old motor mechanic has had three cars stolen from outside his Auburn home in the past four years. The last one, his work ute, was stolen just three weeks ago. No one has been charged for any of the thefts. "I love my neighbourhood," a sarcastic Mr Dost said yesterday. He said it took police two days to respond to his call reporting the ute as stolen.

Daily Telegraph - New figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph reveal that the clear-up rates for crime in NSW are as low as 1 per cent in some areas. Overworked and understaffed police stations are struggling to deal with an overload of crime with just 5.5 per cent of home break-ins solved and an even lower clean-up rates for car theft.

Police are solving only half of all non-domestic assaults, while only a little over 20 per cent of sex crimes lead to an arrest within 90 days. The rapid decline in sexual assault clear-up rates since the mid-1990s has prompted NSW Police and Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) to launch a study into the cause of the drop.

Real confidence inspiring isn't it. None the less, don't any of you dare to demand the right to carry a gun to protect yourself. Not long ago you fell for the lie that the state would protect you, don't worry, we give a rat's ass about you, we'll take care of you, don't you burden yourself with these nasty guns, you'll be safer.

Well, there you have the evidence, the state fails you many times, every single day. You can write letters, whine, complain, call the radio, email the paper and whatever else you feel like, the state may or may not do something, either way it will take its time to pull its head out of its ass.

So while criminals are moving into your street, while this strange fellow seems to be following you around, while your car gets stolen and your home is being ransacked, can you carry a gun to protect yourself. No-no, don't you dare, the state and the gun-haters will fight to stop you. Far, far better if you get raped, shot, stabbed, bashed, robbed, home-invaded etc than see you carry a gun to protect yourself and your family.

Try to think of all the gaseous platitudes the state will be issuing today in reply to this news to ease whatever is happening to you, tough new laws, we will crack down, these grubs will be dealth with, full force of the law, blah, blah.Gee, you'd swear they weren't really on your side.

Read More...

H/T: MK

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com


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Being a soft target SUCKS!