Students on the frontline of York crime
Crime is a natural and ever present force in city life, but theft, criminal damage and burglaries affect students more than any other member of the public.
Although there are no conspiracies, no gangs plotting and scheming, we are still in danger because we are soft, vulnerable and different.
Nationally, York performs well as crime figures aren’t very high. Locally, York is far from a Utopia, as there are hotspots of crime, places where we dare not walk, people who we try to avoid. This is of course true for all residents of York, but we are beginning to suffer from ‘student-bashing’. These are unprovoked and motiveless attacks by local youths with male students being the primary target.
True as that is, we are setting ourselves up. Debt may dominate the headlines, but students are rich pickings. Buying expensive bikes, flaunting expensive phones and listening to expensive stereos. If you are going to walk home in the earlier hours, after spending a ‘night on the ale’, shouting down your new Nokia mobile, then you are setting yourself up.
Students are not streetwise, and locals see us as soft and unaware. A student house is an obvious target during the holidays. We are not just the victims of crime; we are the instigators of crime. Complacency is the fiend that leads to heartbreak when we are mugged or burgled, because most of us, including myself, just don’t care.
Even though the offender is the youth between the ages 14 to 18 causing trouble in the evenings, the criminal is an 18 to 21 year old, who doesn’t think, is the lock on my door sufficient to prevent a break-in? Is it necessary to walk home alone along Thief Lane at night? Do I really need a bike that costs several hundred pounds? These questions, amongst many others, go unanswered by the majority.
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