Bonkers, absolute madness.

[miasmum]

But she was abducted by a policeman Cromwell, albeit an off duty one, but not sure him being on duty makes me feel any safer

[Workingman]

Cops on the streets... perhaps. Ours tend to be in vans of five to seven and mostly at the Co-op or the the petrol station with the Gregg's and Subway at break times.

Today's numbers for murders are very similar to those of the early 1970s.

They started to rise to a peak in 2002,when the deaths attributed to the monster, Harold Shipman (179). were included, but since then there has been a steady decline back to 1973 levels.

The population since then has grown from 55mn to 68mn so the percentage has dropped - we have fewer murders per capita now than for a long time. Find that in the placards of the protesters.

The figures for rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse are harder to define. Since 1956 there have been many Acts to try to define what is what. Things that were once accepted as a part of life are now 'crimes against the person' or 'hate crimes'. That does not mean that women are less safe, it means that their legitimate concerns are logged and recorded, as they should be.

Another thing is modern day 24hr reporting. In the 60s or 70s if a murder was committed in, say, Norwich, it would get into the local press and maybe into the wider Norwich area. People in Carlisle or Bath would never hear of it. If it did go national it might be a few lines in the inner pages of the dailies unless it was something horrific like the Moors Murders or the Yorkshire Ripper. Today every murder is national and that does tend to drive the fear.

For women the streets are now as safe or as unsafe as they have ever been. Just as they are for men.

Since 2010 some 2000 women have been murdered. I challenge anyone to name ten of them. I also challenge anyone to name even three of the 4500 murdered men.

In general terms the UK is not an unsafe place for either men, women or children. It has its risks, all places do, but we really do have to get over this idea that a bogey man is round every corner and that we will be mugged, raped, beaten up or murdered if we step out the door.

[TheOstrich]

You know what might actually work? A policeman on the beat. A visible police presence. A copper standing there who a woman can approach and say "Excuse me officer, but that man has been following me for ages and I'm frightened". That would have been a lot more use to Sarah Everard and many others.

Reading that, I couldn't help but think of this news report, Crommers:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-56409023

Although admittedly the male cop was probably at the end of his tether, I suspect we need a bit of a sea-change in police attitudes first.

[miasmum]

But did he follow her, or did he just pull up in his car, flash his warrant card and off she went, as most would.

Nothing would have saved this poor woman, except not being there is the first place

[Workingman]

Nothing would have saved this poor woman, except not being there in the first place

Bingo! And who put her there? Evil men? No, she did - and him. Statistically she would have passed many men on her way home who did her no harm whatsoever. That's normal life.

Unfortunately she met a nutter, a one-off, and he alone did it.

He is not all men, he does not represent all men, but the protests would have us all believe that he is. Enough is enough.

[miasmum]

yes, a one off nutter who happened to be a policeman. Surely by their strange mindset the rent a mob crowd should now be baying for the sacking of all policemen and only WPC's to patrol our streets

[Suff]

I've tried to avoid all of this because I believe it all becomes overhype agenda time for political activists.

As a father of 3 daughters what I deplore about all this hype is that if I were to find a young woman in distress she would be unlikely to allow me to give her help and aid in her distress.

I find that, I'm certain, far more distressing than these political activists found the murder of that poor unfortunate woman.

Where the hell this country is going I don't know, but I don't want to be there when it arrives because it is not a nice place.

I wonder about the youth of today, coming back from a ball in Edinburgh, one January, 1am and -5 reading on the temp guage, we spotted a broken down car on the hard shoulder of the M90 and saw a young man, in a short sleeved shirt, walking up the hard shoulder with a fuel can. We picked him up and took him to Dunfermline and to the petrol station (about 5 miles). After he came out with his can, after paying, he was honestly surprised to see us still sitting there to take him back to his car.

I don't know how young people work their lives today but we would not leave anyone to hitch back to their broken down car after 1am in -5 conditions when he was in short shirtsleeves.

Honestly the mind boggles.

[cromwell]

Let's just disband the police then. Sorted.