Here's a story in the Daily Mail, reporting from London:

Violent gang members 'prize' middle-class girlfriends who can stash weapons and drugs

By Daily Mail Reporter 24th February 2010

Middle-class girlfriends are highly prized by violent gang members because they can stash weapons, drugs and cash under the police radar, a study warned today.

Young women attending private schools and living in the Home Counties are being drawn into crime by their ”bad boy’ boyfriends, academics said.

Researchers found teenage girls are enticed by the apparent prestige of being linked to gangsters and the promise of protection.

They are used to hide guns, knives and drugs because they are out of suspect circles and their bank accounts may be used to launder cash.

Gangsters often keep their girlfriends in the dark about their criminal activity to protect them from reprisals and detection.

But in some cases, girls found themselves at risk of violence, including rape, by their own gang or rivals and believe they cannot turn to the authorities for help.

The findings were contained in a report into the impact of youth violence on girls by social policy think tank Race On The Agenda.[More]

What's fascinating about this story is this official police propaganda poster warning girls not to hide guns:

Campaign: The Met Police initiative warned girls about hiding weapons

The gunman has very dark skin, the girlfriend much lighter. At first I thought she was meant to be white, but another photo from droptheweapons.org pictures what is clearly a light-skinned black girl (no, I can't say African-American in this context) in the supporting role.

That would make her, for a number of reasons, more likely to be "middle-class." Some of the middle-class girlfriends, of course, will be white.

And one of the reasons they take up with gangster boyfriends is for protection, because the police can't or won't protect them, or punish the wrong-doers, and they're certainly not allowed to protect themselves.