Tangram

Yeah. I feel I had a lucky escape. Just like being unable to go to Hillsborough.

Souvy

There but for the grace of thingy..........

It happens. My grandfather emigrated to Canada in 1912. He was late arriving at the port and missed the ship he was booked on. He took another one.

Just as well. He'd been booked on the Titanic.

ann m

Affected by crime in the UK - blessedly, nothing.
Witnessed crime in the UK - too many to mention.

Affected by crime in Canada - blessedly, nothing.
Witnessed in Canada - theft of a bottle of listerine.

My Uncle Dan and my Uncle Fred were blown up by the IRA in N Ireland. That affected my dad, lots.

iaink

28 years in the UK
Car broken into in Leeds once, nothing taken.
Lots of paranoia living in Headingley, many neighbours broken into, we were lucky (or had nothing worth nicking)?
Caught up in a couple of brawls on a friday night. Alcohol may have been involved.

14 years in Canada
Nothing.

Lvh76

Mine are pretty soft core compared to everyone else's:

80s - lots of football related fights in my hometown of Wrexham. Dad was a copper and we lived in a police station so witnessed various bad uns being arrested and brought to the house

2007 flat got broken into in Brixton

2008 flatmate had purse nicked right out of her hand on Clapham High St while we all gawped in disbelief

2006 - 2009 at least one grope or being rubbed up against on the tube per year by 'over excited' males

caretaker

I‘m not even going to try to make a list. Let‘s just say there‘s crime to some degree everywhere that people are and if your lifestyle is a bit cavalier you‘re going to see more of it. Funny thing though, I can‘t come up with a memory of crime in the USA! I‘ve spent enough time there, but except for a few of our own drunken escapades and small scale smuggling I don‘t recall witnessing a serious crime anywhere..... I won‘t count the border guards taking down 4 latins trying to sneak into Canada through the bushes at Oroville Wa. The US Customs had guns jammed in these guys ears but they didn‘t look very dangerous. They might have been sneaking up all the way from South America.

ExKiwilass

In Vancouver:

Someone was murdered down the street from us and their body was taken on a dolly right past our condo building to be dumped. First week we had moved in. Got knock on door from cops asking if I'd heard anyting...

Police stormed apartment building down the street with guns drawn, dogs and I think tear gas

Loud party upstairs in our condo building (so loud it sounded like the ceiling was gong to collapse) turned into a machete attack on one of hte party goers on the street outside. Refused to let the OH go outside to intervene. Turned out later they were drug dealers, which explained the endless coming and going at all hours

finding people drunk and passed out on my steps

moved to "family" area in Burnaby:

Moved to posh townhouse complex on mountain. Couldn't throw a coin without hitting a professional. The townhome immediately opposite ours had drug dealers living in it. People coming & going all hours, they left the place in a mess with feces everywhere and skpped out on rent

Another townhome was being used as a grow-op.
(moved again)

Police search with helicopter, spotlight etc for a guy escaping down our laneway, not sure what he did, but they were concerned he was hiding out in one of our houses

Let me think a bit cos I know there's more

cxx

In the UK
- neighbours' house burgled on 3 or 4 different occasions (same house, 2 lots of neighbours - their garden backed onto a doctors surgery so easy access......)
- our garage broken into and some tools were nicked

In Vancouver
- around 3pm one Sat afternoon an elderly man was being kicked by 3-4 youths in the street whilst a couple of policemen watched......

and since moving to Canada I've witnessed some horrific crimes against fashion

el_richo

I witness crimes of fashion every time i walk down the street in Vancouver

Other than that, i had some ipods nicked and there have been a few murders, stabbings, sexual assaults, and violent attacks close by to where i live. The only one that impacted me was the ipods, and the sexual assaults since they were happening near where my wife walked to and from work.

One of the murderers hid in some bushes near the seawall where we live but i only saw the police with guns and had to stay inside for an hour or so while they looked for him.

In Vancouver, i witness drug use on a daily basis out walking by the water or downtown. I tend to smell it before i see it though.

Other than fighting, i've never witnessed or been affected by crime in the UK.


Edit: ****, i've been beaten to the fashion comment

Hawk13

What is it with large overweight people and spandex

Geordie Lass

Glasgow - 1993-1997 at Uni
Got burgled - there were 5 of us living in a house - only got into 2 rooms. Mine was one of them.
Man had a gun on our street - all cordoned off - we weren't allowed back into the house that night.
4 people murdered within quarter of a mile from my house in my first term.
Friend got stabbed in bus station - luckily his walkman was in the right place (they were the latest thing in them days) it saved his life.
An ex boyfriend stalked me and tried to punch my boyfriend in the face - I got in the middle of it and ended up being punched full on in the face myself. Security at the halls had to remove ex. He stalked me for years and even got his friends to ring me almost 5 years later - how he found me is anyone's guess. Nasty business.

Tyneside in my late teens - boyfriend beaten up for nothing.

Newcastle - pick pocketed - again in my late teens

Kings Cross disaster - my mam was on a course in London and was allowed to leave early as she had a long journey home - had she not - she would have been caught in the blast

Yorkshire - tyres let down twice. We know who did it. I have yet to seek my revenge!

Yorkshire - beaten up by a client when I was out with him at a shop - mentally unstable male - he punched me in the face (I didn't fall over - no idea how I managed to stay on my feet) and fractured my leg. I left that day never to go back. Leg still hurts now years later when it's really cold - lets see how it copes with the winters here!

Canada
Nothing so far but haven't been here long enough

Piff Poff

In the UK affected by car crime.

In Canada affected by car crime and a crime of a more serious matter, the details of which I'll not share.

dbd33

Oh yes, that happened when we lived in Mississauga. A man killed his wife and children and then started shooting at random from the window. The first I knew of it was a knock on the door followed by armed police searching our flat. It was all very dramatic. Somehow the gunman escaped and then shot himself.

ExKiwilass

awful.

That reminds me of the time we were living in the West End (Vancouver again) and a guy in the building opposite started dropping things out the window at the pedestrians walking along the street below. Big things, like plants in pots. So I called the cops and was giving them a blow by blow account of what he was up to, what floor he was on etc.

Oink

That was very civic minded of you.