01/12/2012

Croydon recognises betting shop crime

Croydon police are certainly taking betting shop crime seriously.
They have recommended that bookies set up a 'betting shop watch' group similar to 'Pubwatch' style systems that are now in place in a lot of towns within the UK , suggesting that new betting shops join the local 'safer Croydon radio' which is a council-run scheme where other local business's come together to tackle crime in the area. 

Its good to see the licensing committee talking about the real facts and consequences of the problems that we now have with betting shops, and like a lot of parts of London , Croydon's local business's and residents have been complaining about the number of betting shops there are in their area stating that they are 'taking over the high street'. 

Well done to Councillor Tony Newman who stated 'the recommendations didn't go far enough' but that it was a step in the right direction.

Since the MP's expenses scandal a lot of people have lost trust in their local parliamentary councillors these days , and yes there are still people in government that seem to carry a selfish, non-compassionate way. 
But there are still councillors and MP's out there willing to listen. We may lose faith in a system, but never let losing faith blind and deafen you to those within it that are really getting to the real issues with an open mind.

( Rowenna Davis , David Lammy and Diane Abbot are just a few names of the people bringing up the issues of betting shop proliferation and the consequences of the Gambling Act 2005.)

Councillor Tony Newman also said that Croydon is in danger of being over-run by betting shops. 
Its happening everywhere , there's a good chance that if you google'd for betting shop campaigns in your area that you may find an article, or a campaign or even a local government report. 

When we'v been out campaigning about betting shops on our high streets we'v often got a lot of support from the police, possibly because of the high amount of court cases where the truth has come out about gambling addiction. And lets not forget that there are plenty of betting shop robbery cases. Google search has pages, pages and even more pages of armed robberies in betting shops within the UK.

It's always a positive thing to see more people taking this issue seriously.

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