| Comment | Disappointed but not surprised by the response of the Police. These aggressive beggars are a menace.
Begging, sitting there passively with a cup and people actively choose to donate money to the beggar is not an offence, but aggressive begging might constitute an offence of breach of the peace (putting somebody in fear or alarm). However this is down to the interpretation of a police officer and should not be confused with robbery.
Adding part of the definition of robbery just for completeness. Not suggesting your experience was anything like this...
Violence or threats of violence to gain or attempt to gain property is robbery. *violence is an essential component of robbery, but the violence may be constructive (i.e. not obvious or stated explicitly, derived from inference) and need not take the form of actual physical assault. It is sufficient if the owner is compelled to submit to the appropriation of his or her property under fear of immediate personal injury. Thus, the mere display of force, whether by weapons, menaces or threats, reasonably calculated to intimidate and overawe, is violence within the meaning of the law.*
https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-robbery-2008-09-2017-18/pages/4/
Source: T'internet, not a cop or in legal profession. |
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