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THE TRUE COST OF MASS IMMIGRATION

There has been an 800 per cent rise in crime carried out by Romanians

Friday February 15,2008

By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Correspondent

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(61)

POLICE admitted today that they are struggling to cope with an 800 per cent rise in crimes committed by Romanians.

Police chiefs say the unprecedented rise in offences has left British forces swamped.

The alert comes a week after an MP warned that gypsy children are being sold to Fagin-style crime gangs.

They are taught to steal or used to milk the benefits system.

A Daily Express investigation this week also revealed that a foreign national is arrested every four minutes on Britain’s streets.

Separate statistics yesterday revealed that a staggering 339 crimes a month are now being carried by Romanians in London – compared to just 30 in 2006.

Superintendent Bernie Gravett said pickpocketing children controlled by crime masters are causing the biggest drain on police resources after they started to move out of the capital to target backwaters.

Supt Gravett, who heads a 12-strong Metropolitan Police unit dedicated to the problem in Westminster, said: “It’s not just London.

“This is affecting every force in the UK.

“This is a new type of crime that we are encountering. It is the criminal exploitation of children who come from very poor backgrounds in a foreign country.

This is affecting every force in the UK.

Superintendent Bernie Gravett, Metropolitan Police

“They cannot run away or turn to anyone when they are being abused and exploited.” He said police were shocked when a survey of 126 Romanian children in London revealed that their convictions were spread across 32 police force areas around the UK.

Gangs buy the children from impoverished parents in Romania before they are trafficked to Britain.

One senior officer said: “Because the children are so young, it is very difficult to prosecute unless you get to the adults.

“But they are told to say nothing and just ask for their mums and dads who then deny all knowledge.”

In some forces, foreign arrests account for one in seven of the criminals held.

Tory MP Anthony Steen last week warned that 2,000 Roma children are thought to be involved and many are too young to be prosecuted even if caught.

He warned that, with thousands more Romanians expected, it could be just the start of the problem.

EXPRESS COMMENT: "WE COULD EASILY HAVE AVOIDED THIS WHOLE MESS..."

THE TRUE COST OF MASS IMMIGRATION

16.02.08, 7:17pm

"The police are struggling to cope ....."

The police are not coping... and they are not making any effort to do so. The British public is being let down very badly by the police... we are paying their wages which are very generous, bearing in mind the minimum entrance requirements, the limited training and the huge risks involved in sitting in a warm office filling in forms in triplicate.

• Posted by: howardinmk • Report Comment

TRACY JAMY, THE IRISH AND THE POLES

16.02.08, 4:32pm

Tracy Jamy, of course I would rather be neighbors with Irish or Poles than with gypsies, anytime anywhere. This was not the point of my comment. The point was that Romanians as a whole were being unfairly labelled/stereotyped by the media due to the perception of the gipsy minority from that country, some of whom are now causing problems in the UK, according to the police. The whole package, as presented by the media, frankly stinks. When there were problems with Slovak or Czech gypsies a few years ago, the media referred to them as "Czech and/or Slovak gypsies", not Czechs and/or Slovaks. The Daily Express doesn't do the Poles any favors either, sure, but let's not forget also, speaking of the other side of the issue you address from time to time, in all fairness: both the Poles and the Romanians are contributing significantly to the military effort in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I say this irrespectively of what anyone thinks of exactly how "worthwhile" these military efforts are.

• Posted by: Tony_Clark • Report Comment

THE TRUE COST OF MASS IMMIGRATION

16.02.08, 1:18pm

Although this country has always taken in people from other countries, we have reached a point where we must say "enough is enough". The influx of people both legal and illegally must be halted and the people with no right to be here must be sent home. With the police stretched to breaking point by the rise in crimes and the ridiculous levels of paperwork involved, we can no longer afford to be the dumping ground for European and other countries undesirables.

• Posted by: StephenP • Report Comment

IMMIGRATION

16.02.08, 8:52am

we have most of the facts and figures ?? next question is
what in the hells name are they going to do about it,
we have just had a letter from our community police section
about the gatherings of youths etc, the normal police don't want to know and the community police are on call from the hours 8-00am to 10-00pm what good is that when most of the trouble starts after 10-00pm when the local yobbos have had a skin full

• Posted by: ANNR • Report Comment

OOPS - STATS AGAIN !!

16.02.08, 1:16am

"i erred on one of my points. they do give an actual figure. which amounts to 4068 crimes per year committed by romanians." Here he goes again with his "stats", I'm sure "nofreespeechhere" is gridlocked in the land of fantasy. To admit "i erred" is human, but if he sincerely believes the notifiable offences recorded are genuine he must be living in the land of Nod, or on another planet. Take the time & trouble to research how many offences are reported, or not reported, how many people try to report & fail, or give up in frustration because they come up against a telephone answering machine. Or the person taking the call on behalf of the police, is operating in another town or city and requires so much information before he can actually decide whether an offence may be allocated an incident number, if at all. Talk to a police officer about how an incident becomes a statistic, you won't get very far there for obvious reasons. Research the Home Office Counting Rules for the counting and classifying of notifiable offences recorded by the police forces in England and Wales. Find out what happens when a police officer makes an arrest, and the PCSO's seconded to him, are not allowed to stay out amongst the public if the genuine officer is held up at the police station for three to fours hours with paperwork. People don't feel safe in our towns & cities, Jacqui Smith the Home Secretary has been charged with making Britain a safer place. She has taken up the job amid a wave of gun and knife crime and faces tough battles on all sides. She admits 'I won't walk down a street alone at night', I'm sorry my feather brained friend, I and thousands of other people do not believe the 'stats' put our by the quangoes funded by this government, stats I might add, that you appear to rely so much on for your befuddled opinions. If the true figures were released you would not sleep at night. You have to wake up, smell the coffee and get back to the land of reality, then you'll find out why people are concerned.

• Posted by: Anonymouse • Report Comment

OOPS

15.02.08, 10:44pm

i erred on one of my points. they do give an actual figure. which amounts to 4068 crimes per year committed by romanians.

ok, i don't have londin crime figures to hand, but nationally, about 5 million crimes (of varying types) are commited per year (i guess that would be angland and wales stats.

so... that amounts to roughly 0.0008136% of all crime in england and wales..

what an impact!

we should be worried!

• Posted by: nofreespeechhere • Report Comment