Yesterday afternoon two police officers came to school ,we asked them some questions about our project .
DRUGS
When we asked them about drugs they told us that there are two kinds: soft ones and hard ones. A soft drug is marijuana while some hard drugs are heroine and cocaine. If they find someone with marijuana for personal use they won't charge him but if they find someone selling it they arrest him and seize his assets. In Oxford there is a special drug squad to prevent the circulation of drugs. Drugs are directly connected to theft and shoplifting in Oxford because people who want to buy drugs need money to pay for them. There is also a big drug problem in Oxford University because many students come from well off families and have lots of money to spend on drugs, cocaine in particular.
ASBO
They also talked about ASBO`s (Antisocial Behaviour Orders), it is a civil order made against a person who has been shown to have engaged in antisocial behaviour. ASBO's are useful in dispersing groups of youths, in particular hoodies who get in groups by local shops and make people feel frightened. Police make an acceptable behaviour contrat with parents who could face losing their home if they do not take responsability for the misbehaviour of their children.
CCTV
An important help to the police is given by the CCTV (Closed Circuit Television), there a lot of these cameras which record what happens in most parts of the city. Two police officers are constantly watching 20 tv screens checking if something is going wrong so they can intervene quickly. CCTV helps to reduce the number of crimes and they are present in every big city in England.
PROSTITUTION
In England prostitutes are able to work in brothels but if they create problems in the community they can be shut down. However here the problem isn't as serious as in Italy. In England kerb crawling is illegal, in fact if a man tries to pick up a prostitute in the street he will be arrested.
FIGHTS
DRUGS
When we asked them about drugs they told us that there are two kinds: soft ones and hard ones. A soft drug is marijuana while some hard drugs are heroine and cocaine. If they find someone with marijuana for personal use they won't charge him but if they find someone selling it they arrest him and seize his assets. In Oxford there is a special drug squad to prevent the circulation of drugs. Drugs are directly connected to theft and shoplifting in Oxford because people who want to buy drugs need money to pay for them. There is also a big drug problem in Oxford University because many students come from well off families and have lots of money to spend on drugs, cocaine in particular.
ASBO
They also talked about ASBO`s (Antisocial Behaviour Orders), it is a civil order made against a person who has been shown to have engaged in antisocial behaviour. ASBO's are useful in dispersing groups of youths, in particular hoodies who get in groups by local shops and make people feel frightened. Police make an acceptable behaviour contrat with parents who could face losing their home if they do not take responsability for the misbehaviour of their children.
CCTV
An important help to the police is given by the CCTV (Closed Circuit Television), there a lot of these cameras which record what happens in most parts of the city. Two police officers are constantly watching 20 tv screens checking if something is going wrong so they can intervene quickly. CCTV helps to reduce the number of crimes and they are present in every big city in England.
PROSTITUTION
In England prostitutes are able to work in brothels but if they create problems in the community they can be shut down. However here the problem isn't as serious as in Italy. In England kerb crawling is illegal, in fact if a man tries to pick up a prostitute in the street he will be arrested.
FIGHTS
One of the problems at night are drunk people who have fights. Last Friday we saw two drunk guys fighting in front of the Goose, the police arrived very soon and luckily nobody went to the hospital. The policeman said that these kinds of episodes are very frequent and for this reason they do lots of controls in city centre.
HOODIES
The police officers said that some young people who have problems with the police think that being a hoodie is cool because it is like an 'uniform'. The police think that people who wear a hood are going to do something bad so they want to try to change their behaviour. Some people who commit a crime wear a hood because even if CCTV records them the police can't recognize them because they can't see their faces. Vulnerable people, like old people, feel frightened when they meet some hoodies in a group. In Italy youths wear hoods but it is only a fashion, it is not related to criminal actions, we hope that this won't become the same as in England.
HOODIES
The police officers said that some young people who have problems with the police think that being a hoodie is cool because it is like an 'uniform'. The police think that people who wear a hood are going to do something bad so they want to try to change their behaviour. Some people who commit a crime wear a hood because even if CCTV records them the police can't recognize them because they can't see their faces. Vulnerable people, like old people, feel frightened when they meet some hoodies in a group. In Italy youths wear hoods but it is only a fashion, it is not related to criminal actions, we hope that this won't become the same as in England.
1 comment:
You've got lots of interesting information in this post. Well done - you were obviously listening carefully to the police officers who came to school. It would be nice to see a few more comments about what you think about these things (ASBOs for example - do you think they are a good thing?) and a bit more comparison between Britain and Italy. You start to do this later on, but not in the earlier sections.
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