If I am being perfectly honest, the austerity cuts haven’t affected my life much over the past eight years. I’ve written about them so I know about the resurgence of rough sleepers, the proliferation of food banks, the increase in NHS waiting times and the closure of libraries and youth clubs.

But have they hurt me? Not really. My bins got collected a bit less frequently, it took even longer to get answers out of council press offices and everything seemed to grow a bit grubbier. I got angry at what was happening to others, sure. But for me, life essentially continued as before, just with a lower mortgage rate and a larger tax-free allowance from HMRC.

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Then three members of my cycling club were mugged on separate occasions while riding on one of the key traffic-free routes in Manchester – a path going from the velodrome, near Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, to the southern suburbs of Didsbury and Chorlton. They were the victim of the sort of mid-level crime that is becoming an ever more frequent occurrence: new crime statistics released yesterday showed a 22% year-on-year increase in robberies in England and Wales, along with a 30% jump in public order offences.

One victim, Sian, is a club hero: last year she cycled from London to Edinburgh and back again in under five days, nine weeks after a hysterectomy. She fought back at her attacker and escaped with her bike and a few bruises. She called 999 and told them her teenage attackers were still on the path. The police said they would “try” to send a patrol down. They didn’t.

Within the hour another cyclist was attacked in pretty much the same spot. Martin had just recovered from cancer: stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He’d bought the bike to get fit and raise money for the Christie, Manchester’s cancer hospital. He was stamped on and kicked. Later, his £900 bike showed up on sale for £40 in Openshaw, half a mile away. Someone tipped him off about who might be responsible. He gave the police their names; they said they couldn’t investigate because it was hearsay.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Olympic gold medalist Callum Skinner (far left) joins members of Manchester’s women-only club, Team Glow, on the protest ride. Photograph: Helen Pidd

Greater Manchester police (GMP) finally confirmed on Tuesday that 10 cyclists had been violently robbed on that stretch in the previous six weeks. All were attacked in broad daylight. As the superintendent for the area put it: “This offending cohort doesn’t worry about being seen.” They had established a “crime series”, he told me. Officers would be investigating properly now. Why? Might it have been something to do with the mass cycling protest that took place in Manchester on Wednesday night?

It was the first protest I’ve ever organised. But I felt so furious and powerless that it was the only thing I could do that didn’t involve hiring a gang of heavies and sorting out the robbers in their own language. About 350 cyclists turned up, brandishing banners saying, “If I wanted to be treated second class I’d take the train”, and “Muggers: bugger off”. A few police community support officers joined us on the ride, but had to be prompted to follow Sian when she went chasing after two lads carrying a suspiciously expensive Cannondale bike frame on one particularly ropey bit of path.

We sympathise with the police – GMP is down almost 2,000 officers since 2010. But if they are now so stretched that they cannot properly investigate violent robberies then we have a problem that will see more Sians – well-meaning, ordinary, frustrated citizens – trying to do their jobs for them.

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All over the country, people are starting to say enough is enough. In Dukinfield town hall in Tameside, Greater Manchester, more than 400 people crammed into a room meant for half that number on Monday night. All wanted to take their local police chief to task following a spate of burglaries. “If somebody murders somebody, it’s awful – but it probably isn’t going to affect my life,” said one woman. “What’s affecting us is everyday crime. That’s what’s getting us down.”

In Page Hall in Sheffield two weeks ago, St Cuthbert’s church hall was packed out as residents begged the police and council to listen to their concerns about antisocial behaviour they blamed on Roma incomers. One man suggested the community form its own civilian police force “like the Jewish community do in Golders Green”. In that part of London a voluntary organisation called the Shomrim operates as a “mobile neighbourhood watch”, acting as “eyes and ears” to the police.

In the wealthiest pockets of London – Belgravia, Mayfair and Kensington – residents pay £100 to £200 each month for My Local Bobby, a subscription service providing high-end security patrols supported by experienced detectives, and the ability to privately prosecute offences. Elsewhere, residents are being tempted to take matters into their own hands. At the meeting in Sheffield, the threat of vigilantism loomed large. One man said he had already called his cousins from out of the area and they were ready to come to Page Hall, “60 of them”, for a fight. Another threatened “a riot like you have never seen before in your lives”.

We are already living through the era of the amateur paedophile hunter. Will we soon be seeing the same for bike-jackers and fly-tippers? If the government wants to avoid the creation of a parallel justice system, it needs to get more proper bobbies back on the beat – fast.

• Helen Pidd is the Guardian’s North of England editor