Tuesday 31 January 2012

"Teenagers more at risk online than at the 'bus stop, says Theresa May"

From The Metro:

Teenagers are increasingly the victims of cyber crime, which causes more losses than being stabbed on a bus or at a bus stop, Theresa May said. A new National Crime Agency will help tackle this and make people feel safer, she said.

Mrs May said: "Increasingly, the biggest criminal losses do not come from gangs of feral youths of whatever skin colour who attack and stab members of rival gangs or people of a different race, but from the cyber criminals who say hurtful things online. A teenager can now be at greater risk sat [sic] in their bedroom [sic] on their computer [sic] than waiting for the 'bus.

"That’s why we need a new crime-fighting force that works across different police forces and agencies, defending our borders, coordinating action on economic crime, protecting children and vulnerable people, and active in cyber space."

In a speech on police reform in London, Mrs May outlined plans to offer more protection from antisocial behaviour to stop the ‘horror stories’ of victims being ignored despite making repeat complaints. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary said last week few crimes were recorded from anti-social behaviour cases and the identification of repeat and intimidated victims was ‘poor’.

A police spokesman said: "Look at it this way, if it's a choice between pounding the beat at night to make people feel safe and possibly having to chase after knife wielding maniacs; or simply sitting in the station mucking about on the internet, then it's pretty much a no-brainer. You wouldn't imagine how upset these kids get when even we ignore them, it's hilarious."

3 comments:

Deniro said...

Blog tagline changed

Bayard said...

‘A child can now be at greater risk sat in their bedroom on their computer than outside the school gates.’

I would have thought the computer was at greater risk, they're not designed to be sat on.

Seriously, this is just another thinly-disguised attempt by the government to control the information people can access via the internet. In fact almost any article that mentions children is either rent-seeking or a power-grab.

Rob said...

The line between parody and reality is increasingly blurred.