A bad rep?

[bellinghman]

The following headline is on the BBC web site today, in the 'North' section: Hotel rejects 'theft hotspot' tag

I didn't even need to look to know which particular establishment they were referring to. After all, how many such places can there be?

Crime figures from May 2005 to May 2006 show four out of five room burglaries in Liverpool hotels happened at the Adelphi in Ranelagh Place.

It's a shame, a real shame, but no surprise. We'll be there next Easter, but there's no way we're actually taking a room there - we've too many friends who have been stolen from, there.

(Edit: a single comma added.)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

Wow!
Noone has pressed charges?
That it has not been investigated is not saying a great deal of good about the local Police; even if they don't give a shit about people, clearing up that sort of theft hotspot will do wonders for their Home Office statistics.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

To press charges, there has to be someone to charge. Sadly, that seems to be the problem - when you get a culture of theft, it's difficult to pick out those responsible for any particular incident.

Apparently, a similar problem happened at a branch of Woolworth some years back. In the end, every single person at that store was sacked, with a single exception (no, not the store's manager). Short of the same thing happening at the Adelphi, I can't see the problem being solved.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

I see your point. I suppose that's why 4/5 burglaries happen there, but noone has been charged - there are only reports of crimes in a location, none of them are cleared up.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Indeed, if people were getting charged, or more to the point convicted, you can be pretty sure the rate would have dropped somewhat.

(There is a valid point that, being in a pretty central location in Liverpool, there will be more crime trying to come in off the streets. But I suspect that's merely a screen the insiders hide behind - keeping outsiders out does not stop the theft.)