I will admit that despite the law, I have carried things to protect myself when I lived in some cities, as a last resort. And I have them in my home too. It is too little too late for the police to protect you after the fact, sadly.
The area has an impact on how bold people are. For example, since I have been here, I have not once been broken into or mugged in over two years. I don't expect I will be, because this area isn't 'deprived', most people here seem to have a lot of money, or enough at least. But when I lived in Toxteth in the 80s and 90s, where I was born (same place as some of the riots just kicked off and same place as riots in the 1980s), we were broken into an average of two to three times every year and the car was stolen at least once a year... for ten years. And these burglars were not the type that run away when you confront them. These are the type that get the bleach out from under your sink and keep it close in case you surprise them, or the type that will continue to smash your bedroom window open even after you've told them you are calling the police. Or the type that will storm your house in the night in a gang. It really isn't liveable, especially if you have had ten years of it. My stepdad and I had weapons in our rooms near where we slept, and he taught me the weak places on the human body to apply pressure to or hit if you are attacked and get a chance to use them. He felt the need to teach me some of these things and to have me keep something to protect myself in my own room - it was that bad.
But only in certain areas do you get this kind of behavior, and I'm sure it is taught and passed along to all the people and kids who steal so they get bolder and bolder - a kind of localized culture of crime. Even if you know the places that'll have a guy's breathing paralyzed, it's wise not to to even use it because these people rarely steal alone. In the end, I think you either have to make your house like Fort Knox or you move away from those places if you actually want to own anything decent for more than a few months. And escalation is a factor as Drakan said. You have to be very careful.
One thing a lot of these riots have in common is that they occur in these type of areas or the people taking part are from these areas. Not all of them - but I recognise it in them. The government may think it's a countrywide thing but it's not... it's the kind of attitude that sits in a place where there are no opportunities, nothing to do, and it's generally just a dump. Toxeth is still a dump in places, despite Liverpool being improved over the years and there's still a way to go to make it prosperous enough to get rid of the legacy of the 80s where the city was basically cut loose by Maggie and the bad areas got even worse, and the people had little hope that things would improve. It is improving but that takes time, maybe even a generation. I'd be willing to bet most of these kids taking part in the riots and looting are exactly the type I know from these kinds of places, where nobody gives a damn. Or enough of them don't to make it a run-down dive.
If the government have any sense, they will start NOW trying to undo the damage they started by cutting these areas loose years ago and try to improve these communities, and give community 'leaders' and families symbolic responsibility for their area. These looters are not trashing their own personal backyards - because they have the brains at least to know the difference between their own stuff and someone else's. If the govt. can convince these communities that they own their own facilities and they aren't just "stuff the council put there", I expect people will be less likely to accept their own kids trashing it.
Someone on the news mentioned that in a few of these riot-areas, the opportunities are low, places the kids could use such as basketball courts, fields and facilities have all be locked up due to cuts and their youth clubs shut down... I mean, what do they expect people - especially kids - to do in those conditions? The Devil makes work for idle hands, doesn't he?
I'm not blaming the government or the councils for what occurred - I blame those responsible, entirely, but it is a factor that they seem to hail from these areas or the riots take place in these places. But I expect the government will once again gloss over that to avoid any tension or relations problems, and simply say they will "clamp down" on the effect, rather than the cause.
