"Attacked in Finsbury parked [sic] this morning"

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by StephenBln on October 23, 2015 at 20:23

I suspect that a few of those who care little for OUR public park

What's all this local blah, blah..? London's Parks and Open Spaces were/are for the use of all Londoners. Not just the Stroud Green residents group. This publication from 1952 makes it quite clear. I don't see that anything has changed since then. It's a park for all, not just for 'our' self-appointed interest groups.

Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on October 23, 2015 at 20:50

Stephen I'm at a loss to understand where you get any notion that "the Stroud Green residents group" has a view that Finsbury Park is for their use rather than others' (non-Stroud Green?) use.

First, that residents' association has been dormant for at least two years, if not moribund.

Second, if you actually mean The Friends of Finsbury Park, then nothing could be further from the truth! The park exists at the junction of three Boroughs. The long-time FoFP Patron is Islington local resident Jeremy Corbyn MP, who spoke at our last AGM.

As for your jibe "self-appointed" : all on our 10-strong management committee were elected at that meeting. FoFP is both a charity and a limited company (of which I'm one of the Directors).

But interest in FP is wider than the three abutting Boroughs:

When I helped the Friends sign up 100 new Members over Love your Parks Week (in the summer), one of the things that struck me was how many people came from all over London to enjoy our park. Some travelled quite a distance.

"Our" means public, by the way, in contrast with the encroaching commercial interests.

Thanks for posting the images.

Permalink Reply by StephenBln on October 23, 2015 at 22:55

So 'our' is now 'public' - I'll keep that in mind..

Permalink Reply by Sharon on October 23, 2015 at 18:47

I remember seeing a dead, rotting fish floating in the lake and lost count of the number of people I spoke to trying to find out who to report it to for removal. I spoke to people in the boat hire hut, in the cafe and someone litter-picking but no-one knew who to mention it to, which was just ridiculous!

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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on October 23, 2015 at 18:52

Hi Sharon, if you go to The Friends of Finsbury Park, there's a drop down menu titled Contacts (including 'Park Contacts'), that could be useful in future. The site is building every week: the aim is to make it the go-to site for things relating to our park. Hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on October 23, 2015 at 20:29

Great sympathy to all those who have suffered a personal crime in Finsbury Park or anywhere else. As a part of this discussion, I thought it might be of interest to compare the Metropolitan Police crime stats of Finsbury Park with Clissold Park - or the best we can do which isn't a perfect measure. In both cases some residential areas are included. (Click the image to enlarge it).

Below are the definitions of the crime categories used:

• Anti-social behaviour: includes personal, environmental and nuisance anti-social behaviour;
• Burglary: includes offences where a person enters a house or other building with the intention of stealing;
• Criminal damage and arson: includes damage to buildings and vehicles and deliberate damage by fire; Theft: includes thefts such as bicycle theft or theft from a person (excludes shoplifting);
• Public disorder and weapons: includes offences which cause fear, alarm, distress or a possession of a weapon such as a firearm;
• Robbery: includes offences where a person uses force or threat of force to steal; Vehicle crime: includes theft from or of a vehicle or interference with a vehicle;
• Violent crime: includes offences against the person such as common assaults, Grievous Bodily Harm and sexual offences.

It is interesting to note that Clissold Park appears to have a higher rate of anti-social behaviour. Violent crime is a little higher in Finsbury Park, but not markedly so. Robbery is certainly higher in Finsbury Park, but the rates are not at overly alarming levels. The major difference seems to be theft and it's difficult to know what story those statistics tell since it's quite a broad category. 

Whilst I recognise that none of this is of any reassurance to those who have already suffered a crime, I hope it provides some reassurance about the relative safety of our park, by showing that violent crime in the park isn't that much higher than Clissold Park.

Having said all this I'm with anyone who stands to improve the crime situation in the park and I'm not suggesting for a moment that we should be comfortable with things as they stand.

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Permalink Reply by Ruth on October 23, 2015 at 20:51

Thanks Hugh. Statistics might help to reassure some people but of course stats only reflect the  reporting of crime in the first place- they are not a true record. We simply can never really have the 'real' rate of crimes anywhere.

It could be, for eg.,  that residents/park users around Finsbury Park are less likely to report crimes than those around Clissold. Maybe they don't think anything will be done, there is no point etc.

Hypothetically speaking, then, that might account for higher stats of anti social behaviour in Clissold- it could be reported more than around Finsbury, perhaps people there less willing to put up with it than round our way.

Not saying that is the case at all as I don't know but I remember studying criminology at uni and we always had to question the stats, how they were collected and their implications. Some time an increase in certain crimes is really an increase in reporting of said crimes etc… Just a thought. 

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on October 23, 2015 at 21:10

Yes, I agree, they're not a panacea, but I thought having them to hand might be better than working blindfold.

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Permalink Reply by Ruth on October 23, 2015 at 21:24

Yes, true. And thanks for always being there to provide some figs Hugh. 

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on October 23, 2015 at 21:34

Better than fig leaves! :o)

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Permalink Reply by Ruth on October 23, 2015 at 22:28

Well I quite like figs, the ones you eat. Figs. are always harder to digest.. 

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Permalink Reply by Pat on October 28, 2015 at 23:50

We constantly encountered antisocial behaviour when playing softball in Clissold. One lady would always walk across the pitch during a game with her dog which meant we had to stop the game due to health and safety reasons. She delighted in informing us that it was her park and she was fully entitled to walk where she wanted regardless of the fact that we pay Hackney to play there. We also had to stop a game once due to a mass fight between school kids.

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