Saturday, March 01, 2008

We've Been Burgled - And Seven Hours Later Where Are the Police?

Today has got worse. It started off well as I enjoyed my time with Suffolk Coastal Tories. We had a lively debate on the English Question, but I had to leave at 12.15 to get to Upton Park in time to watch West Ham play Chelsea. After 25 minutes I really wished I hadn't bothered with the Hammers conceding three soft goals within five minutes. The only point to really cheer was seeing Frank Lampard get red carded. Anyway, I digress.

The real reason the day got worse was that we discovered we were broken into and robbed last night. Not the house, but some outbuildings which we rent out as storage units. About £400 worth of roof lead was missing, with various items strewn across the yard. My partner called the Police sometime between 11am and noon. As I type this at nearly 7pm they have still not bothered to come out. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but it galls me. It really does. It's clear from the items in our yard that the car used was stolen as the contents of the boot were left behind. It's now dark, so any clues there might have been cannot be seen. If they had intended to do anything forensically, they now won't be able to.

They called back at 3pm to say someone would be with us within the hour but they were coming a long way (!). A few minutes later someone called to say it would be longer. When I got back from football I called them again. They were unable to say when anyone would come. I'm afraid I lost my temper and told them exactly what I thought. You can probably imagine what I said.

So when I call them again in a few moments I'm afraid some even harsher words are going to be said. I do not pay taxes to fund them to be treated like this. I do not think it is unreasonable of me to expect them to attend a crime scene within seven hours of the crime being reported. They can witter on about resources all they like, but I'd love to know what is happening in West Kent today to mean they cannot attend a crime scene within seven hours. No wonder people aren't bothering to report crimes any longer. This is a major reason for the level of reported crime falling. And it's a terrible reflection the level of service (if you can call it that) which rural areasnow get from the Police. Perhaps I should tell them I am holding the burglar at gunpoint.

UPDATE 7.47pm: Well, they turned up at 7.30pm, just as I was doing a phone interview with Steve Claridge on Setanta Sports about the West Ham game! I asked why it had taken seven hours and was told: "That's quite good. It's normally longer!" We live in a village of 6,000 people a mile outside Tunbridge Wells and four miles from Tonbridge. Both these towns have relatively large police stations. So where do you think our policemen are based? Cranbrook, a town around hald an hour's drive from here. These two policemen cover the area of Cranbrook, Lamberhurst, Pembury and Paddock Wood. Anyone who knows this area will realise how big an area that is. And it's covered by TWO policemen!!!

49 comments:

Anonymous said...

It rather reminds me of the tale I heard on a Radio 4 show of an old lady who rang the police to say she was being burgled. The police replied that they had no resources. Thats all right she said. Hes here and Im pointing a gun at him.

Five minutes later three carloads of armed police turn up and discover no burglar and no gun. Upset they say, "you said you had him at gunpoint" to which she replied "you said you didn't have any resources"

Anonymous said...

Tell them you caught a burglary in progress, but kicked and punched the burglar and forced him away. That'll make them come immediately - but not for the burglar.

Anonymous said...

Ian, I suggest you dip into Inspector gadget's Blog now and then. Depressing reading, but you can see how government interference and targets, plus the creep of PC policy making has reduced the police service to the organisation it is today. I am retired from the farce now, it all started to go steadily down hill from the early '90's, Ken Clark and Sheehy didn't help and the loonies or SWP 'sleepers' who are churned out by Bramshill haven't helped. The introduction of PACE and the grip the legal profession now has on the burdensome bureacracy is also a scandal. In my current role I meet people on a daily basis who haven't a good word to say about the police, and who have received poor, or like you, no service whatsover. They don't believe the police are thre for the ordinary tax paying citizen anymore. The police have left matters considered inconsequential or a drain on resources to go after the things that tick the target boxes, so no reporting of road traffic accidents despite the whole thing leading to millions of pounds worth of fraud, even burglary no longer matters, remember 'Op Bumblebee' bringing fear back to the criminal? Don't make me larf. As long as they've got enough quotas filled using the scandalous PCSO policy, as long as they can hold seminars on glass ceilings and wasted hundreds of man hours (sorry - person hours) on diversity and Health & Safety training the better. If I was involved in a road accident and I had concerns I would allege I had been racially abused, just to get some interest, your partner should have said he felt sure there was someone hiding on the premises and had a knife. Even if you do want to report a matter in person the stations are shut in major towns after 6pm. There's more personnel on squads than there is out and about. It's a bloody shame and a disgrace.

Anonymous said...

Commiserations Iain-sad to say the only way to get the police out is if you tell them you have shot the burglar-but you know who they are coming to arrest!

Dont know the answer though-It would be nice to think that we could have community/village policemen, but show me the copper who's prepared to stay as a village bobby for his career.

I agree with you that this is more about priorities than resources. I fear it is generally acceptable nowadays to let people get away with "low-level" crime.

Anonymous said...

Bad bloody luck, but for what it's worth, here's some free advice.

(1) As someone who holds an F.A.C., Iain, I would never recommend that you tell the Police you are holding a burglar at gunpoint. It'll just give some of the - ahem - more over-zealous members of the squad an excuse to turn out in full kit. It's the equivalent of joking about bombs in your luggage in airports and it'll be on your record forever.

(2) If you want to attract a working-class and lower-middle-class vote, don't re-tell this story with the phrase "out buildings" in it.

(3) Part-ex the Jack Russell for a Rottie...and don't feed it too well.

Anonymous said...

Iain, I am surprised your local force even bother to say they are coming out. Round here they dont. They give you a crime number, ask if you can see any blood if none they tell you to clean up and "return to normal."

On the plus side you can expect a visit from a PCSO in a few months time to give you an update upon the investigation! ie to be told bugger all.

Anonymous said...

Also meant to say bad luck and sorry to hear about your break-in...

Unknown said...

http://humor.beecy.net/misc/jobad/robber-shot.jpg

Anonymous said...

Thank you for reminding me while I'm so proud to be British. Maybe you should have told them you'd arrested the criminals and had them locked in the cellar under citizens' arrest. The police would have been there within minutes. To arrest you!! I used to really respect the police, but not now. But i hasten to add it's not the hard working coppers i hold in contempt, but just the politicised way the force has been hijacked by the Guardianista-Ian Blair types of this world who astonishingly are charged with running the force in Labour Britain. Heaven help us, God save us. And I really hope you have better news to report later.

Anonymous said...

You missed a trick Iain you should have got the wife to call them.

Sorry I forgot.

Seriously it does help big time.

You could have just pretended your partner was female. Then said if they did not come soon you will slap her, as you think she may have had something to do with it.

Believe me you would have had half the police force round in less then two mins.

I usually just start mentioning my friend who's an important MP or that you know who did it and might take the law into your own hands very soon.

This can get risky, so its best to make sure your are fully clothed and have a toothbrush and the name of a good lawyer (not on holiday,) in your pocket first.

Welcome to the real world of 2008 Labour Party Britain. Lets both hope for your sake, you do not have to visit it again too often in the future.

ATLAS shrugged and thought to himself. He could have gone on about the utter uselessness of the Police so called Service for a month and still not told even half of it.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the 'real' world.
The sad thing is , you , and most people reading this , will not be surprised or shocked.
Dont worry , northern council estates are much the same.

Chris Paul said...

Oh dear. Having been burgled a number of times - until we got some big FO dogs that is - I sympathise.

But it must be said that even directing traffic or reinforcing the Met at a London derby football match are activities that requires live police more than a burglary that has taken place, possibly 12 hours before it was even reported, in which no-one was harmed, in which there are no eye witnesses, in which - though you don't say - nothing much was gone apart from the lead.

If there are worthwhile forensic clues and they do send a SOCO they'll quite likely still be there. Some certainly would be.

The last time the police didn't attend our place when they should have done was when I had a good look at a burglar checking the back of our house.

Including full face, close up. In broad day light. They have neither sent an officer nor even taken much of a description over the 'phone.

It is of course possible that they knew immediately from release schedules or the basic description who this was or had even picked them up. This is also possible in your case Iain.

We have far more police than under the Tories. The unnecessary paperwork that has grown up under successive governments apparently accounts for 3% of police time.

If you can explain why the police should prioritise a bitty blogger burglary over anything else I'd be interested to read it.

And if you could reassure us that you at no point told them you were a top boy blogger and op-ed writer and would feature their incompetence en blog I'd be relieved.

Anonymous said...

Realistically Iain, what did you expect? As a previous commenter has said, all you get these days is a crime reference number unless you have been murdered or raped.

However, well done for highlighting a very important issue. I propose we have a private police force and do away with the publically funded police. Discuss.

Anonymous said...

All that the police will do is issue a crime reference number for insurance purposes. They will know who it is, of course, all police forces have a database of a limited number of crooks who commit the vast majority of the crimes in their area. Especially if you have lost some roof lead....there will be a dodgy scrap metal dealer or two known to the local police for handling such materials.

There is the possibility (probability) that the crooks will be of a certain lifestyle...feckless "travellers" passing themselves off as persecuted Gypsies. Bet the cops will not want to get involved then!

Welcome to Brown's Britain!

Baldwin said...

This is quite typical and partly to be blamed on Labour.

The police are bogged down with political correctness, targets, form filling and lack of moral support from government.

The police may be good at solving murders but seem to take a pick and mix approach when dealing with more mundane crime. That is the types that effect most people.

Sorting it all out should be one of David Cameron's major future tasks.

Scipio said...

Iain, firstly I am really sorry to hear this. I think that, emotionally speaking, burglary is deeply distressing.

It is wrong hat the police care so little. It is more wrong that some little robbing s***t feels he has the liberty to take things which do not belong to him, that he has not worked for, and that he does not care about.

sadly, the police don't care because they are spending time solving easier crimes in order to meet Government targets. Burglary is difficult to solve - and time consuming. If you are driven by targets, what is going to be easier - perusing speeding drivers or low-level drug users, or calling out forensics, fingerprinting the area and still not knowing who did it?

No brainer really.

The police are not to blame. The Government is.

However, if you doid say you had thumped the burglar, or had him at gun/knife point, they would be around in flash - to nick you and tick off two easilt solvable crimes!

Hope they cathc the got who robbed you.

Anonymous said...

I am sorry to hear about the robbery Iain.
I did chuckle when I read that they wouldn't be able to send somebody for forensics though while it is dark.
I will be amazed if they send somebody for forensics at all. This will go down as a very low level crime, I think it is the way of policing now.

Anonymous said...

Would anyone support a party that really really was TOUGH ON CRIME..

I mean a party that said they were going to deal with crime, antisocial behaviour, poor policing ,poor prisons . The whole thing.

If it meant a total curfew on under 16's, chain gangs for repeat offenders. Three strike policies, zero tollerance. Automatic deportation or the building of super prisons.Decriminalisation of drugs or legalisation of prostitution. All of thses things or none of them?

Get some real think tanks to work.

Asking the police what they want.
I mean the actual on the street guys. Doubling community officers and increasing their powers. Getting the Armed Services to include 1 years civil policing in the training program? 10,000 extra officers or a reduction in office based managers? More resources or more powers ?

Telling the EU to stick it if the Uk and the EU laws disagree on areas of criminal justice.


Ensuring respect for the law.. life to mean life or whatever it takes to restore some faith in the police and the criminal justice system.

There will only be 5 years of government because this particular party will not be standing for a second term. This party will have achieved its aims or it will have failed.

A party which said it will deal with real crime to the exclusion of everything else, unless it impacts on crime.

So if asked about the NHS, or Green Power it stays as it is now , for better or for worse. If current policy says aid to Africa, it stays. If it says windfarms, then windfarms it is.

Only areas that border on , contribute to or cause crime will be focused on.

Poverty, social mobility, education , Housing, immigration , Drink, Drugs and a raft of other areas would all have to be addressed.

But the stating place would be that terribly hollow Blair Mantra

TOUGH ON CRIME , TOUGH ON THE CAUSES OF CRIME.

Only to really mean it.Put some action words in there.

Solving crime, solving the causes of crime.

Little Black Sambo said...

When you rang the police were you asked for your date of birth and your ethnicity? Have you been offered counselling?

Devil's Kitchen said...

Iain, what a bummer.

Still, what did you expect? The police are useless, clueless, whining little gits who, despite blaming the government for their plight, only get off their fat behinds in order to waddle through London to protest about not getting enough money.

In fact, what you should have said was that you would give £50 to the first officer to turn up.

Is there still a police station in Tonbridge? I thought they'd closed it years and years ago.

After which, they used to park a couple of police vans next to the Castle for a couple of afternoons a week, so that people could drop in and report routine crimes.

Perhaps they've reopened the station though; it's been many years since I lived there...

DK

Newmania said...

We have far more police than under the Tories. The unnecessary paperwork that has grown up under successive governments apparently accounts for 3% of police time.

What a load of rubbish. Chris Paul clearly does not know any policemen , I challenge him to try out that picked from the air 3% on any of them. As for "prioritise” I didn’t know that you needed to “prioritise “ a burglary , simply to put in an appearance .It is entirely the fault of the Labour Party that what was once a great institution has been reduced to whiney lying shadow of their New Labour Masters , usually off sick and retired before most of us are half way through our working lives .. Labour did what they always taxed , spent and left a bloated useless mess.
Local accountability is badly needed and the very worst offender of all is the Met.


Watching Galloway on question time the other night my wife ( a non combatant) said , you know that man has not once said a thing that wasn`t gibberish..I mean he makes a good argument but everyone knows its not true.

How like Chris Paul.

Unsworth said...

If this runs to form you can expect to receive a letter in about ten days from the local Chief - or some other senior cop - commiserating with your difficulties. Note the 'your', not 'our'. (It is 'your' problem, but it is 'their' crime statistic which they will glibly use with many others to demand more resources (i.e. money) from the Home Office etc.)

And enclosed will be several printed booklets explaining how you can avoid this happening again.

If you're really fortunate you may even get a telephone call from someone in the criminal justice machine giving you exactly the same run-around nonsense - but in a sympathetic tone of voice. These people are specially trained to adopt that slightly cloying pitch, and are employed at considerable expense, hence the need for more cash. Welcome to the money-go-round

Do what everyone else does, Iain. Make sure you are insured up to the eyeballs and claim like crazy. It may not be entirely ethical - but then what is these days?

Vicky Ford said...

Poor you. Be glad that you managed to phone them though - round here people have been digging up the phone lines and stealing the cable for the commodity value. Entire villages have had communications cut off for days for the sake of a few quid for the copper.

Yak40 said...

To be burgled is quite disturbing, it's the feeling of somehow being violated I'm told. Certainly I found it both like that and it also made me livid !

You should've told them your name was Tony Martin.

Anonymous said...

Remember the soundbite "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". That slogan always begged the question "what are the causes of crime?"

Left wing academics have taught for years that the causes of crime are deprivation and racism. I know that this mantra is now being taught to police officers., as I know a marxist ex sociology lecturer who earns large consultancy fees for running training courses telling policemen about "inequality in a capitalist colonialist society".

In the real world, there is another agenda. That is "Tough on the victims of crime". The public are to be actively discouraged from reporting crime and thus the crime figures will fall.

From personal experience, I offer this story. At 4am, I was called to a burglary in a Jewellery shop that I was managing. The door had been stove in and there had been a lot of damage caused. Two bored policemen stood in the store staring at their watches and lifting their gaze to me. I looked the older on in the eye and said "Its a good job they are not still here, because I would have probably caused them serious harm". The police officers eyes lit up, I had now got his interest and you could see the wheels turning under the helmet.He gave his colleage a knowing look and leant towards me adopting the attitude of a vicar. He said, "you have to understand that some people have had deprived upbringings". Horrified, I realised that he believed what he was saying. Some weeks later I had a visit from a young man dressed up like a shoplifter. Hi top trainers and a hoodie. Turns out he was CID. Told me there was nothing he could do and that he had to go because he was off to investigate a "hate crime". I asked why he needed to dress up like a criminal. He told me that it made people feel comfortable........

Newmania said...

Exam Question : Who is the more ridiculous Liar Chris Paul or Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf , discuss with reference to his claim that 3% of Police time is spent on forms



Chris Paul is entirely happy with the 3% of time wasted in bureaucracy . Others have a different view .For example , the Police Federation of England and Wales criticised the Government for imposing culture of targets saying this was behind ludicrous decisions like arresting a child for throwing cream buns . What Labour have achieved( said the Federation) was to cause them to criminalize middle England . A Cheshire man was cautioned for being ….‘in possession of an egg with intention to throw …..’ meanwhile violent crime is out of control and actually no-one believes the rest of it is not also escalating despite the weasel assurances to the contrary.
Sir Ronnie Flanagan asked for the first review of red tape in a generation recommending dozens of forms that might be scrapped . He spent five months taking evidence from Officers …Ministers admitted concern ( at the time) that despite record amounts spent on Policing ,,and the amounts have been prodigious , there are FEWER POLICE ON THE BEAT( Said Labour ministers)
Ian Johnston chairman of the Police Superintendents Association (PSA) attacked Whitehall targets as a shambles saying they should be scrapped . Labour keep promising to do something about all this but they keep promising the same gimmicky thing which fails to happen once the headline disappears . For example David Blunckett said we were going to have hand held devices to cut out paperwork in 2002 which was recently renounced by Gordon Brown . Meanwhile outside the Labour fantasy 250 Forms are in regular use ,79000 Stop and account forms filled in last year ,32,916 Hours spent by one force filling in stop and account forms and ,according to the Lib Dems, the proportion of time spent filling in forms is 19.3%..( Not 3%)
If only that was the worst of it . According to PC David Copperfield in a given shift no more than 30% will head out to stop crime and he reported from Edmonton that it is 70% different over there . ( (3%?!)Anecdotal evidence say the Lib Dems are being kind and as they using Police compiled data they certainly are
Never mind Ian if the burglar had been caught you would probably have gone to prison for infringing his human rights by shouting at him in an inappropriate way and anyway they forgot to build enough prisons to send him away. Had he gone to trial the odd are as follows : Discharge 8% ,Fine -71%, Comm Service -13% ,Prison- 7 % .He is less likely to go to prison than anywhere in Europe and less likely to be caught , we have , for example , about 2/3 as many front line Policeman per cap as famously bureaucratic France .
The failure on crime is the failure of Labour . Spending and central targets have not worked and we are crying out for locally accountable responsive Police ….Instead we get local consultations ‘action teams’ and assorted decorative PR. With Public spending up 30% in the last ten years and sod all to show for it , the first people that should be arrested are New labour and their cackling Lord Haw Haw acolytes like Chris Paul…

New Labour might just as well have burgled you themselves such is their direct responsibility for the fearless feral creatures that snuffle closer and close to the camp fire on their watch.

Anonymous said...

Sorry for your trouble Iain.

Anonymous said...

Things will never change until we have elected Chief Constables; then we can chuck the liberal PC bastards out of office when they don't give us the policing we want.

strapworld said...

Iain,

As the ex police officer has said everything started to go downhill years ago. It was before Kenneth Clarke and Sheey.

It was The Police and Criminal Evidence Act brought in by the Tories which created the Crown Prosecution Service. You now see the CPS at every force interview during an investigation or after the court trial. Lording it as if they did all the work.

Yes the Labour Government have made matters worse by their one size fits all answers to everything and targets upon targets.

Before the CPS the police prosecuted. They did have solicitors to advise. They did have to refer matters to the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Attornet General - but most prosecutions started immediately following an arrest or investigation.

Now finance rules the roost and some kinds of burglary are just ignored.

I do hope your experience will mean that you take your friends who run the Conservative Party to evaluate the success or otherwise of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. It was a disaster.

It was the Conservatives that stopped police stopping and searching!!

Prior to my retirement the conservative home secretary asked me for one thing that would assist the police. I answered STOP AND SEARCH POWERS.

Did he bring them in? of course not.

I am afraid that whilst this shoddy poor government cannot take any credit whatsoever for their shameful record. The cancer of the good old british police force started with the Conservatives.

Who was behind the Bramshill scheme of ensuring that all Chief Police Officers had to be 'cloned' in effect by the Home Office?...The Conservatives!! They objected to free thinkers like, Mark, Anderton,Imbert,Hall and so many others. Name one Chief Police Officer who actually wants to POLICE their area?.......?

The one good idea is local elected Police Chiefs. Bring it on. Lets get back to local Municipal Forces.

Let local police deal with local crime.

Reclaim the streets.

Yak40 said...

Try reading some of the coppers' blogs, e.g. http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/

to get their take on PC obsessed Chiefs etc.

Anonymous said...

Iain, to be honest your lucky your rural area is covered by two coppers. My parents rural area, about the same population and area as your own only has one on duty!!

Anonymous said...

Cheer up it is even worse in London. Mid feb visit to London ,came down from hoteln morning to get car from NCP car park ,car broken into , joined a group of other motorists , 8 in total ,whose cars had also been broken into over night. Took it in turns to try to contact the Police no answer from any of the phone numbers ,patrol car waved down ,too busy to do anything but promised to contact station. Nothing !!!!!!!!!! In meantime Autoglass,Rac etc had all turned up. Left at2.30 p.m , not a sign of any guardian of the law

Anonymous said...

too bad you didn't get the "hate crime" unit in on it. They will be the one's with the resources.

Anonymous said...

Oh well things are getting better - when I was burgled in Beckenham on a Saturday afternoon in 1994 the police didn't arrive until the following Wednesday, and I had to take time off work to meet them. the burglar did leave prints on the window - but they were very poor quality because of condensation for which I was responsible.

Johnny Norfolk said...

Iain welcome to the real world. Its middle class crime and you dont count.
This country is not for the law abiding. We have no say. nothing is done for us, we just pay.

Anonymous said...

This sort of crime is just an irritant to the police and a low priority - they have a slim to no chance of catching the offenders and it messes up their detection rate.

Most people wouldn't even bother to report it apart from you need a Crime Ref to make an insurance claim.

I suspect you were lucky you actually received a visit from a police officer within 24 hours(probably because you were persistent) you normally just get a Scenes of Crimes Officer who takes some cursory forensic evidence, tells you that this is the 7 or 8th such similar incident they've had to attend and that you will get a visit in the next 7 days from someone at the local station to take a statement. If you're really lucky you may even get a visit in a month from the local Crime Prevention Officer who tells you that you should have had better locks etc but don't hold your breath and of course, no-one will ever be caught

Johnny Norfolk said...

I think Strapworld is spot on. The Conservatives still have not learned. How far down do we have to go before real action is taken.

Anonymous said...

ranter said...

"In my current role I meet people on a daily basis who haven't a good word to say about the police, and who have received poor, or like you, no service whatsover. They don't believe the police are thre for the ordinary tax paying citizen anymore."

All very true. Plus we are continually being told that only some sections of the community (i.e. Muslims and Blacks) have no confidence in the police.

Truth is it's hard to find anyone (give or take a few dumb tories) with a good word for the police, and rightly so.

Lawyers, social workers and politicians may have elevated care for the criminal and blame for the victim to unheard of heights but it was the police who first realised what a great wheeze it is. And PACE was introduced because the police were/are lazy thuggish corrupt liars.

Anonymous said...

Iain, you should have voted Labour then you would have more Policemen, Doctors, Nurses and Firemen - all with new uniforms and shiny buttons.

A friend of mine said he was going to "shoot" them [with his camera] - and they were round immediately.

Anonymous said...

Just a thought Iain, perhaps the police were all at the football game earning overtime money and wearing the official blue supporters club uniform.

Curbishly said...

As a retired officer from a Inner City Force I have to agree 100% with Ranter and Strapworld.

Read Insp Gadget, Bloggs and others you will hear the authentic voice of the street copper.

P/Correct Senior Officers, PACE, CPS and something not yet mentioned the influence on recent Home Secretaries of various Professors and other academics from whose "specialist subject" is policing.

Great on theory, but in practice?

Chris Paul said...

Blimey! Serial attacks from the blether Newmania. The stats that there is 19% of police time used on paperwork and 3% of police time vs paperwork could be avoided are not mutually exclusive. If both the stats are right it means that approximately one sixth of police time on paperwork is deemed by Ronnie "from the hip" Flanagan the "no paperwork, no pack drill" Omagh hero to be unnecessary and five sixths necessary.

As Omagh proved police don't get their perp when they don't do the paperwork correctly. What does Newmania, and indeed Iain want? More PR visits to middle class burglary victims or more intelligence led swoops on known lead-nicking scrotes?

Discuss.

Theo Spark said...

You have Police down there. Some people don't know where they are well off.

Benny said...

Reading things like this make me want to review my career. I'm going to go out and buy a stripey shirt and swag bag now.

Twig said...

A friend of mine had her purse stolen at Morrisons supermarket and the police refused to record it as a theft because she couldn't "prove" it had actually been stolen, no witnesses, no snapshots or CCTV footage etc etc., so they recorded it as lost property.
I wonder if this is a widespread custom with the police now, as a way of reducing crime statistics?

In your case Iain, you can look forward to a taxpayer funded victims of crime booklet and a computer generated "sympathetic" letter, and that's your lot.
The police are not interested in catching real criminals, they're too busy persecuting the taxpaying public at large, it's much easier.

Have you read The Abolition of Liberty by Peter Hitchens?

Vienna Woods said...

Strapworld!

I take my hat off to you sir! An excellent post and right on the nail! However, the press must also take responsibility for much of the witch hunt which decimated the police “force”. Many of the daily rags have always been very adept at distorting news with their cavalier attitude, lacking responsibility at every step of the way, causing changes in our society which have had a devastating effect on the honest and hard working. The criminals in our midst have been supported wholeheartedly by NuLab and its politically correct hangers-on, never more so than in the London metropolitan districts where Livingstone presides over his resurrected cabal of lackeys willing to drain the capital of any common sense in favour of pet schemes and worthless projects.
Ambition and promotion for police able to really apprehend criminals has been cancelled in favour of the Bramshill officer class who couldn’t catch a cold during a flu epidemic. The Children & Young Persons Act of 1968 (I think!) was the first shackle on our police service, when the age of criminal responsibility was lifted from 10 years to 14. Then the PACE rules torpedoed the detection rate overnight and bound the hands of the police even more, but the same results were expected of them. So our Bramshill educated administrators sought to control even more and together with the CPS and the HO, by now full of solicitors that were too thick to go into private practice, developed reams of paper to totally clog the system for the sole purpose of shielding them from making any decision, so that the shit would land someplace else!

We are told that we jail far more than any country in Europe! Well, that might be so in former Western Europe, but as we now harbor the greatest number of the former East European criminals, maybe we should be taking that into account before we start letting them go. England & Wales have 148 prisoners per 100,000 (population), Germany 93, France 85 and Holland 128. Poland has 236, Ukraine 345, Russia 628, Hungary 156 and Romania 150. The dear old US of A has a colossal 750.

Much of the criminality in the UK today is not home grown, but imported from Romania, Poland and other East European countries and our police are totally overwhelmed by it. We cannot expect the police service in its current form to deal with this enormous challenge without equipping them with the tools and manpower to do the job. Likewise tackling these very violent East Europeans takes a little bit more than a short lump of wood and a pile of paperwork every time they use it. Unshackle our Police and give them the powers. Supervise them by all means but support them in what they do.

Anonymous said...

What did you expect Hercule ruddy Poirot? Given that, unless someone saw them at it, the chances of nabbing these rotters aare about nil, you could complain that it's a waste of police resources to send anyone.

I think I'll start calling my shed an outbuilding, sounds a lot posher...

Anonymous said...

The Police WILL be in contact soon;
to offer counselling.

Anonymous said...

My sympathies, Iain, but I am amazed that you were surprised. And for the record, it was the Conservatives who turned the police into wimps handing out victim support leaflets. Labour have merely failed to do anything about it.