UK police tell Brits to ward off gangs by playing classical music
London police are telling locals who complain about gangs to play classical music to keep them away.
Residents of the St. John’s Wood neighborhood — best known for Abbey Road, the iconic crosswalk where the Beatles shot their album cover — have been complaining about gang vandalism, violence, and drugs over the last few months.
According to The Sun, several car windows in the area have been smashed and junkies have been spotted doing hard drugs in public. One family reported seeing a gang shooting heroin and burning crack cocaine on their doorstep. When a resident confronted a man who conducted a drug deal in broad daylight, the dealer threatened to have him “shot and chopped up.”
When a terrified resident turned to the Metropolitan Police, he was told to call law enforcement if he spots any suspects and to film any crimes he witnesses. The officer made another recommendation: “You can also contact your housing association/the council and ask them to play classical music as this has proven to deter and prevent crimes.” The officer cautioned the taxpayer, however, from playing the music too loudly “as that can cause other complaints.”
“Are the police on another planet?” said the resident. “It’s crazy that they thought this would solve the problem.”
Complicit in crime, tough on taxpayers
British police have been the subject of growing criticism for enabling crime while cracking down on innocent taxpayers. It has become a particularly poignant discussion in light of the recent grooming gangs scandal, in which UK officials and law enforcement were exposed for turning a blind eye to the mass rapes of British white girls by Pakistani Muslim gangs. In a recent interview with GBNews, the father of a grooming gang victim said police arrested him twice when he tried to rescue his daughter.
Meanwhile, a study in November found that British police spend an estimated 60,000 hours a year investigating reports of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs). While not criminal offenses, NCHIs are incidents where someone belonging to a protected class feels that they were treated with hostility. An NCHI may be reported to police if a person claims that someone else treated them with ill will, spite, contempt, prejudice, unfriendliness, antagonism, resentment, or dislike based on their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity.
The stated purpose of reviewing NCHIs is for police to gather intelligence on “hate” and learn to recognize behavior that shows “early warning signs” of a hate crime. No legislation requires law enforcement to review NCHIs. According to the Free Speech Union, the practice is based on guidance published by the College of Policing (CoP), a semi-independent oversight body.
In one example of an NCHI, a woman complained that her neighbors had left their “soiled underpants” hanging out for two months. North Wales Police recorded it as an NCHI because the woman had an Italian last name and the underwear was hung in the same month that Italy beat England in the Euros final.
In other instances, NCHIs were reported when a West Yorkshire doctor misdiagnosed a bisexual patient, a nine-year-old called a classmate a “retard,” a person in Norfolk called a Welsh person a “sheep shagger,” and a former policeman questioned in a social media post whether “transgender women” are real women.
Citizens are not necessarily notified if they are accused of an NCHI, but it is recorded in their name in criminal databases. NCHIs can come up in background checks by employers, which means that someone who expresses a disfavored opinion in public or in private can lose employment opportunities if it is reported.
“Each report takes several hours to record, investigate and supervise – involving several police officers, police staff and supervisors,” the report said. “Given there are estimated to be 13,200 NCHIs completed per annum nationally, it is reasonable to conclude that over 60,000 police hours per annum are being spent on NCHIs.”
“The NCHI regime is having a devastating impact on the public and their perception of policing,” said former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief inspector David Spencer, who authored the report. “By abolishing the entire NCHI regime the Government has an opportunity to keep the police's attention on what really matters to the public – catching the burglars, drug dealers and violent thugs who cause misery to the lives of millions.”
