18 November (Part 1) - There are none so blind as those who will not see
There
was another knife incident (†) in Abbey Wood last night and for the second
time recently I was within yards and minutes of the crime scene.
Yesterday evening I alighted from a train around 17:25, took
a picture of the station lift (Photo 211) that was supposed to be opened for service that
afternoon, but wasn’t, and another of an inconsiderately parked car in Gayton
Road (date stamped 17:28) and continued on my way home. I heard a police siren
and thought nothing of it, sirens are heard on and off all day.
If Kent999s has his timing right, fewer than 100 yards away but the other side of
the railway line serious police activity was in progress.
Within a one and a half mile circle around Abbey Wood station and over the past
month the number of victims of knife crime has I believe now hit double figures
yet no one outside the immediate area knows anything about this shocking
state of affairs. Three of the victims were police officers so that was given
short lived publicity but the others did little more than cause a flutter on Facebook.
Perhaps this is because none proved fatal and some of the wounds were reported
to be little more than deep scratches but that may have been down to pure luck.
Amanda Denford knows a thing or two about unreported stabbing, her son was very
lucky to survive and ‘died’ several times in the ambulance and on the operating
table. She says that the police brush crime under the carpet to improve the
statistics. Each day local police teams put out the previous day’s crime statistics on
Twitter and I have yet to read any about stabbings.
I’ll give you an example of what I believe is the casting of a Nelsonian
eye over local crime spots, I shouldn’t but I will.
In my capacity of Secretary to the Abbey Wood Traders’ Association, ten days ago I
heard ‘officialdom’ tell the membership that after the police, Council wardens
and Council officials had spent the best part of two months keeping the Wilton
Road area under close surveillance, no evidence of crime had been seen and as such the
police and others are unlikely to be “tasked” to look at the area for much longer.
Since I took on the role 18 months ago I have heard officialdom make many
promises and I am not aware that any have been carried through except that
last week Bexley Council got around to putting in the long promised demarcation studs in the
Wilton Road pavement to indicate the boundary of the public footpath with the privately owned land.
(They have not yet attended to Abbey Road.)
When the inevitable happens and there is a serious incident in Wilton Road I am going to go through
all the old meeting minutes and pick out all the warnings that Council officials
have been given over the past year or so and highlight their failings, names and all.
They may well go into denial but every meeting has been audio recorded and the
files sit safely on the cloud somewhere.
The Anti-Social Behaviour and worse in around Abbey Wood should not be hidden.
Councils profess not to have seen any but most likely they are blinded by budget cuts.
† It was subsequently reported that last night’s weapon of choice was a hammer.