Rent-a-cops

[Mike]

The private company Security Associates Limited, run by Carlton Crockwell, has been hired by the Corporation of Hamilton to deal with the vagrants in the city.

Hang on, haven't I read this somewhere before?

http://bermudasun.bm/Main.asp?SectionID=24&SubSectionID=270&ArticleID=42998


Right, they did such a good job of putting a band-aid over the gaping wound of social justice in Bermuda, they are back for another PR exercise.   

[Kingfish]

This is just as long as cruise ships are in town.  Once the ships are gone for the winter, so will be the security guards. 

And it doesn't matter how good the "social justice" is.  I've lived in places renowned the world over for their liberal social models, great safety nets, equality, high taxes, etc.  They all have vagrants.  No matter where you are, in a large population there will be people who prefer to sleep rough, who have substance abuse problems that distort their thinking, or who in fact have adequate housing but supplement their income with begging. 

I do find in my visits to Beijing and Shanghai that the Chinese do a good job of sweeping them up and depositing them 50 miles outside town.  That's actually a good thing, as it discourages people who buy children, mutilate and cripple them, force them to beg, then take all the money.  You see that stuff all the time in India where begging is tolerated. 

[BangMaster]

What I was scared about in Bermuda were the crazy guys going back and forward in the middle road, from Warwick to Hamilton, every day; one of them was always drunk and the other I guess was half dumb. Btw, I was scared of them because if you hit them with the car or the bike, you are just in a big shit.

[Mike]

And it doesn't matter how good the "social justice" is.  I've lived in places renowned the world over for their liberal social models, great safety nets, equality, high taxes, etc.  They all have vagrants.  No matter where you are, in a large population there will be people who prefer to sleep rough, who have substance abuse problems that distort their thinking, or who in fact have adequate housing but supplement their income with begging. 

I do find in my visits to Beijing and Shanghai that the Chinese do a good job of sweeping them up and depositing them 50 miles outside town.  That's actually a good thing, as it discourages people who buy children, mutilate and cripple them, force them to beg, then take all the money.  You see that stuff all the time in India where begging is tolerated. 

Great to have your international perspective, Geo. 

Things are very different when you get out of Western-style countries... 

[TotoScarlett]

Maybe I'm just more sensitive to it now, but it seems that it has gotten much worse as of late.

Saturday I was wandering on Front Street, thinking where I wanted to eat lunch.  I walked by Pickled Onion and saw on the wall outside that they advertised new additions to their menu.  I started to read it when I was approached by one of the more well-known drifters...they're mostly so nasty you can spot and smell them a mile away.  Anyway, the dude sticks out his hand, "Hi, I'm ..."  I just pulled my hand back and quite angrily said I don't have any money.

I've done that before and was told "You didn't let me finish." "You interrupted" and "I wasn't going to ask for that."  Oh Really, what were you going to ask for??  Just because I'm wearing an Atlanta Braves t-shirt doesn't make me a tourist. 

Having worked in Atlanta, and riding the train into work, I'm quite familiar with a lot of the street creatures.  They usually ask for money, and even offer a valuable service like giving good directions, but the ones in Bermuda are much more aggressive, and even offer to get you a taxi as you wait at the taxi stand in front of Butterfield Bank on Front Street!

I'm thinking about calling Pickled Onion and advising them that they lost business on Saturday--don't know if they care about the problem or not.

[Wikigrl]

They won't care.

It sucks that they blew up Club Med as it seems to me that the minute they did that, the city was inundated with street people. It just makes me sad that there's nowehere for these people to go...

[BangMaster]

There are places and associations that can help them, we had friends volunteering there. The problem is that those people prefer to live in Hamilton, ask money every day and do little jobs and get drunk with the other homeless during the evening.
I personally didn't mind too much, even because I am a city guy and I was much more aggressive than them with my answers.
It won't change, it may get worst. Nobody says anything and some locals prefer to say "Hello, how are you?" to one of those crapman but neglect an "Hello" to a white expat. This is the true!
They even catch the bus and ferry for free, I saw this scene tons of times, while they were checking if I was paying the right amount in the bus ...

[Pandora]

The more travel you do...the more aware you become. Some people suffer because of circumstances and are easy to help and others choose that lifestyle. Then there are the million shades of grey in-between.

I feel bad for some people because you know it is not their fault. There was a dreadful story in the papers of a 12 year old girl from a series of foster homes who found herself sold into a sex gang and raped repeatedly by up to 22 men a day. She is now 14 and living in a rehab centre in the country but is so messed up and uncontrollable the staff are powerless to help her.

Of course that is in an extreme but it highlights that some times the damage can be so bad it makes it hard to become normal. She was interviewed and one thing she said was there was no way to get the memories and the past out of her head...she cannot pretend...

[Ilanit]

I feel bad for some people because you know it is not their fault. There was a dreadful story in the papers of a 12 year old girl from a series of foster homes who found herself sold into a sex gang and raped repeatedly by up to 22 men a day. She is now 14 and living in a rehab centre in the country but is so messed up and uncontrollable the staff are powerless to help her.

Of course that is in an extreme but it highlights that some times the damage can be so bad it makes it hard to become normal. She was interviewed and one thing she said was there was no way to get the memories and the past out of her head...she cannot pretend...

Just clarify this for me, please..... Did this happen to a 12 year old in Bermuda?

[Wikigrl]

I feel bad for some people because you know it is not their fault. There was a dreadful story in the papers of a 12 year old girl from a series of foster homes who found herself sold into a sex gang and raped repeatedly by up to 22 men a day. She is now 14 and living in a rehab centre in the country but is so messed up and uncontrollable the staff are powerless to help her.

Of course that is in an extreme but it highlights that some times the damage can be so bad it makes it hard to become normal. She was interviewed and one thing she said was there was no way to get the memories and the past out of her head...she cannot pretend...

Just clarify this for me, please..... Did this happen to a 12 year old in Bermuda?

Probably not as there are no 'rehab centres' out in the country in BDA --- she'd have to be sent overseas or would have ended up at MAWI.