Bad news for Haringey residents: a crime survey this week revealed that three of London's four worst burglary hotspots are in the borough.
Figures for 2007 show that, despite a borough-wide reduction in crime, parts of Haringey are ridden by burglary. Tottenham Green, St Ann's and Harringay are the spots to avoid if you're partial to your possessions. A one percent year on year increase in home burglaries has been recorded, and the main problems centre around the Harringay Ladder area, where pedestrian-only railway crossings mean that crims can skip over the bridge and away from police cars with impunity.
But hang on, wait just one ruddy second - surely this isn't the same Haringey that a certain Sir Ian Blair hailed as the case study for crime-free civility just the other year? Why, yes it is. After touring the borough in 2006, Blair declared it to be a place where the Safer Neighbourhoods scheme meant residents "are opening their doors, leaving their doors open now, or leaving then unlocked".
Could Sir Ian's indelicate comments have wrought this crime spree across Haringey? Perhaps, or maybe the borough, which ranges from poverty-stricken Tottenham estates to the cappuccino and camembert crowds of Crouch End and Highgate, is just an example of the extreme gulf that exists between the haves and have-nots who live cheek by jowl in modern London.
Image courtesy of nicobobinus' Flickrstream
