... rant on crime ...

Four people went into a charity shop my wife works on Saturdays. A few weeks ago two people distracted the staff, while their two companions went into the back room and stole from the staff's handbags. When the two in the back room were questioned they said that they thought there was some more stuff in there. It was not noticed until later that a robbery had taken place.

On Friday with different staff the same gang robbed the shop again. This has made a lot of the volunteers frightened and the shop will lose staff. The police know of the gang, but have not been able to catch them. This is because of lack of resources.

The numbers of police in our borough, Richmond, have been systematically reduced so that police resources can be concentrated in areas of high crime. As a result the crime goes up.

The only solution is more police.