CRIME / NORTH LONDON: On the night of Halloween, last Thursday, a gang of youths looted a JD Sports store in the Tottenham Retail Park, north London.
Tottenham, north London, where the infamous riots in the summer of 2011 began, experienced a grim reminder of how lawlessness is still as prevalent as ever.
The 2011 riots began as a protest in Tottenham, but they quickly turned into opportunistic looting, where stores such a JD Sports were looted en masse. The above video, originally shared on Snapchat, shows a large gang of hooded youths entering the store and hurriedly looting it for whatever they can before fleeing with mostly clothing items. This was, clearly, an organised event, which would have required little planning, but a brazen attitude towards law and order and a lack of fear of being caught – maybe even a lack of fear of the punishment, if caught and convicted.
Like viruses, these events are always susceptible to be copied and spread throughout London, especially as there are now fewer police officers and greater lawlessness than in 2011. Tottenham may, yet again, be the ‘host cell’ where this virus rebirths. Londoners are all too aware of how confident criminals have become in recent years and how the Met Police have, to an extent, lost London to criminals. It was only last week when a car was driven into a jewellery shop and one of the raiders was beaten up by passersby in the middle of the road – all caught on camera of course.
Another looting episode like this or a general riot will carry the real and high risk of spreading and consuming the capital once again. Communities are under strain, people are less well-off, funding cuts have hit every corner of society, criminal confidence is high and police numbers are low – all the ingredients are there for more rioting and looting. It seems it’s only a matter of when and not if till London burns again.
Any witnesses or anyone with any information is asked to call the police on 101 – quote CAD 7409/31OCT. To give information anonymously, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.