Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Concerns about women shoplifters in Wood Green
I am becoming increasingly concerned about gangs of these women operating in Wood Green - again! I know there was a problem with them a few years ago but thought things had calmed down a bit but lately I have noticed lots of them again - yesterday on was on 67 bus and a huge gang got on and quite openly got out all of the clothes they had clearrly just stolen from shops in Wood Green and proceeded to throw the hangers on the floor and remove the price tags. They got off at the Kingsland shopping centre - probably to steal a few more items
I have also seen them begging all along Wood Green High Road- again they operate in gangs and are clearly not homeless and I can't imagine they get a great deal of money
My main concern is for more vulnerable members of the community who may not be as aware as others of potential thieves and pickpockets - like the 83 year old man who was robbed in broad daylight in Islington by two of these women.
I know they are banned from entering the West End now - I would be interested to know what the police are doing about them in Wood Green - perhaps a blanket ban of them entering shops is a good idea? perhaps if they realise that they are not welcome then they might go back to whichever hole they crawled out of?
Sorry trying not to make this sound like a Daily Mail type rant but it makes my blood boil - particularly for the poor shop owners who I can't imagine are having an easy time of it at the moment I am sure the last thing they need is these girls stealing from them.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tammy Palmer on
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Good idea sadly I chose the Blackberry way of life over the iphone - love the phone but the camera is rubbish - I don't think I could take a clear enough photo of anything standing still let alone an action shot!!
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Permalink Reply by PeterPiper on
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Did the bus have CCTV? Maybe the Bus Co. has a record of this group that the police could use for identifying them with.
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Hi Peter I did think about that but I don't think it did - well certainly not one of the buses with the big CCTV screen that you can see the whole bus on - they went to the Kingsland shopping centre in Dlaston after so perhaps they were spotted on there!
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Permalink Reply by JeremyS on
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I'm sorry Alan, but I have to question who's being holier than thou here. Why are you making the assumption that the "hole they crawled out of phrase" is bigoted? Where I come from that's used to describe low-lifes, criminals. I think you have to challenge why you've assumed the user of the phrase on this site is being bigoted, by which I take it you mean racist. Are you perhaps being holier than thou?
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It may stink of classist elitism seem through your construct of the world Alan; seen through my eyes, low lifes and criminals come from every class, country and race. But you're right. Let's move on.
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Alan
am going to be the bigger person here and not attack in you the way that you have me and I respect your right to voice your opinion
I am more than happy to apply the "crawled out of" phrase to anyone involved in commtting acts of crime regardless of their ethnicity or social class - and yes where I come from it is a commonly used phrase. So for example "I wish the people who had burgled my house (gender, ethniticy, social class unknown) would crawl back into the hole that they came from and not break into anyone elses home"
I would suggest though that perhaps you speak to the 83 year old victim in Islington who was attacked by two of these women and had a considrable sum of money stolen at Christmas, or perhaps ask the family from Tottenham who had the house they were renovating destroyed by one of these gangs, or perhaps the person who posted here about having her bag stolen - the description of all of the people that committed these crimes is as I have stated in the title of my post.
However if it makes you more comfortable I am more than happy to describe the group I have seen as women aged from about 13 - 50 average height around 5ft 4, long black hair tied back, long coats - one was a camel colour and long skirts, all carrying large handbags, dark eyes etc....
now back to the discussion I orignally posted where I was expressing concern about the volume of this gangs around the Wood Green area
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Permalink Reply by PaulG on
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Katy M
I think you should read the OP again.
I have no doubt Tamara was reporting genuine events and doing so with the best of motives but her actual concern, explicitly stated, was the number of "gangs" of Eastern European women out and about in Wood Green. That her objection was based on her experience and knowledge of their criminality is true and relevant. But that does not alter the nature of her concern.
The point - and the absence of a distinction in the OP between Eastern European women criminals and Eastern European women generally is further emphasised by the suggestion that the police ban "them" from shops in Wood Green. Since it cannot be practicable to ban only Eastern European women who are thieves from shops, it must be taken that it is proposed the police ban all Eastern European people from shops in Wood Green.
Quite where to start with such a proposal, I am really not sure; just as I am bemused by some of the posts in which issue is taken with Malcolm et al.
I am usually the last to agree with sentiments often described as "PC" but I would second the contention that the tenor of the original post was just a little unfortunate.
In any event, large shops employ security staff to deal with issues such as these and they no doubt know very well who and what to look out for.
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Paulie - point taken perhaps the title was clumsy but I in no way was refering to all Eastern European women - I actually have no idea which particular community this group belong to or I would have called the post that I was actually taking my lead from descriptions used by others often the police (and no before anyone comments not the Daily Mail!)
I wasn't proposing to ban all Eastern Europen women from shopping in Wood Green - Just this particular group an organised gang of thieves-
groups of women from this community are banned from the West End as well as from begging on the tube- this has been the case for at least the last 18 months or so, my point being if there is ino sensitivities around asking these people not to enter the West End then perhaps Wood Green should do the same, surely we want to create a safer environment for the people who live in the area and shop in the area.
Have you ever been accosted by them? I have been more than once the worst was whilst I was alone in Oxford St - the usual baby being shoved in your face as distraction while the rest surround and try and take your bag, its not fun and fairly intimidating even for a fairly young robust person like myself.
seriously this has nothing to do with any prejudice on my part - if this were a group of white, black asain or or any other group I would have written the same post expressing the same concerns it just so happens that on this occasion the issue is with a group of women from an ethnic community and as a few other people have posted we should not skirt around these issues because we are worried about not being seen as 'PC' my genuine concern is about making Wood Green and the surounding area a nice place to live/work/ shop
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Permalink Reply by Katy Mendes on
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Oh dear, this really seems to have hit a nerve. And I thought that we had finished the dissection of Tamara's post and had actually got to a stage where we could discuss the matter at hand. There were some women (sexism...sorry), they were Eastern European (xenophobia...sorry), who had clearly stolen some goods (prejudice against criminals...profuse apologies). This behavior is not acceptable in my book - irrespective of the social status, nationality, gender, or appearance of the culprits - discuss?
I wonder how many more crimes this group of homo sapiens (acceptable?) has carried out during the time that we have wasted quibbling about this.
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Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
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Right, it is perfectly clear that the original post is not complaining about this group of women because of their ethnicity but because of their criminal activity and it is also equally clear that Tamara is not expressing an opinion about Roma, people from Eastern Europe etc but about the criminal activity that she witnessed and wished to discuss here. It does not contravene the terms and conditions of this site which as you know are pretty strict or it would not still be here.
From reading this discussion, it is clear that it is the title that is causing unease and so we have taken the liberty of changing it, to one that states the criminal activity not the ethnicity of the gangs.
This is in no way to suggest that we believe that the post was racist or that we are making judgements about people in this post but, hopefully it will put a stop to the kind of nit picking over Tamara's choice of words that is sidetracking this discussion.
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very sensible idea and thanks was not sure how to change it myself!!!!
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No worries Tamara, I never accused you of being prejudiced, I am sure you are not; I simply was pointing out why it was wrong to say your post wasn't about Eastern European women causing problems as it plainly was.
What did interest me was the mention of bans from the West End - I have done a spot of Googling and can't find anything about this..?
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