Tarisai Makuwaza was visiting her friend in Lewisham on March 29 when she bought a drink from a convenience store in Hither Green Lane, leaving her iPod Touch behind by mistake.It appears they did. How very obliging of them...
The 21-year-old says when she got back, it had gone, so she asked the shopkeeper to show her the CCTV.
She said: “You see a girl move her head left and right to see if someone’s looking. Then she pockets something, gets her bus pass or whatever and walks out of the shop.”Which enraged law graduate Makuwaza:
But despite telling police about the footage, Miss Makuwaza says she received a call the next day saying the crime was unlikely to be solved as police had around 30 similar cases per day.
Miss Makuwaza, who is about to start a law placement in Beijing, said: “If I’m going to work with the police I need to know they’re doing their job.It appears they didn't cover real life cases in her law studies. How unusual.
“I don’t live in Lewisham, but now I don’t feel safe there. I don’t feel like I can call the police.
“I think their response was above and beyond a joke.”
I have to wonder just what they did cover. The News Shopper prints her recollection of the conversation:
Errr...
Tarisai: What’s going to happen at this stage?
Policeman: Well, to be realistic if we were to find the person that did it we wouldn’t do anything about it.
Tarisai: Isn’t that the whole point of having the police? You find this person and get a search warrant or something.
22 comments:
I agree with her. Unless you have actually dealt with the police you have the expectation that they will do something if you report a crime and have some evidence.
The reality is of course, excluding the serious theft of 45p of junk requiring 2 copters, 3 swat teams, 19 dogs etc they don't give a toss.
The crooks know they don't give a toss. As far as I can see we might as well save the money and disband the police.
All your posts today show the lack of logic in our public bureaucracies Julia - and the presence of madness. Our cops are now extremely poor and have lost sense of proportion. I kinda see this law student as the little girl shouting that the Emperor is naked. The response these4 days is just to cover up with more invisible yarn.
Get a search warrant ahhhhh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Poor deluded girl.
I have sympathy with the girl. A crime has been committed, she has evidence, and the police won't act. She is right to ask what the hell they are for, if not that. It's the same in many areas with car theft: the police's role seems to be to provide a crime reference so that the owner can claim on his insurance, and nothing else.
And yet, I also have sympthy for the police. If there are 30 similar thefts a day, what are they to do? They can't pursue them all. Until people stop stealing stuff (and that is a social change that I have seen - thefts like that were rare when I was growing up), then either the police are hugely under-resourced, or they need a fundamental shift in priority - say from dealing with things which most people don't regard as crimes to those they do. You know what I mean.
She should have said the perpetrator was a racist who had not paid the licence fee. They would have jumped then.
Richard you will probably find that the 30 crimes were committed by the same person and the police know that person.
I remember calling the police to a break in and being told they recognised the modus operandi, knew the guy was released from jail a couple of weeks earlier and they even had finger prints. Not enough evidence to proceed as his lawyer would claim he left the finger prints when visiting my offices.
Hanging lawyers might help.
DoB - I quite agree, except that you would have to hang most of the House of Commons. Hmmm...
This all reminds me of an old joke.
She ought to realise that anger over a lack of police action in response to clear evidence of a crime is merely the start of the process.
The next stage is that people quickly learn to avoid the experience of pointless anger by simply no longer bothering to report crimes like this.
Then the police/Goverment boast that recorded crime has fallen and pat themselves themselves on the head for doing their job so well.
This means that while crime keeps going up, faith in the law falls. Eventually you're bound to reach a point at which the system breaks down.
Dave H, I think that's happened already. How else to explain the consistently-falling crime figures and the experience of most people who believe that crime is increasing? And you do meet a lot of people who say they would no longer bother to report a minor crime because 'there's no point'. What's next? A breakdown of law and order totally, or a rise in vigilante justice?
What crime precisely ? This woman left her property in a public place where it was technically found by someone else.
What would you charge them with ? Failure to declare finding lost property ?
Morally it's stealing...legally it isn't. The police are not responsible for upholding morals.
Dave H is right, that is exactly the plan.
Having faced a very similar situation myself I sympathise with the girl. It is maddening to find the police will do nothing even when presented with all the evidence on film/on a plate.
But then if they actually investigated reported crimes that would only encourage us to report the next one and that of course would be bad.
It's different in Newcastle. The trick is to phrase the crime report to maximise the number of Priority Policing Points.
@ Anonymous: there is the offence of theft by finding. Example here.
*cough* Thanks Brian.
Is this what Richard intended?
Reminds me of the chap who was shocked to find a XXL size turd on his front garden wall one morning. So disgusted was he that he took it in a plastic bag to the police station. He presented it to the Sergeant on the front desk and asked what the Police would do. "Let me take your name and address and if it's not claimed within three months, it's yours," said the world-weary Copper.
The old ones are the best :-)
This is in my local paper and you have to read the whole story before judging.The victim herself also made a silly comment in reply to the criticism.She left the IPOD on a shop counter.The CCTV does not show a person stealing it,just someone near it.She then expects the police to track this person down and get him/her to confess after searching their address with a warrant....unfortunately the criminal has not got his details written on his T shirt.Don't forget this woman is a law student.Glad she's not defending me...
Jaded
"Richard said: @ Anonymous: there is the offence of theft by finding. Example here."
...
Ok cheers for that...I learn something new every day.
Not sure what she expects the police to be able to do about it though. Might teach her to take better care of her expensive toys.
A technical point-
The "perception of crime" is a meaningless thing to measure. It's hard to imagine a situation where a survey would ever say the perception of crime was decreasing. The average individual believes it to be worse than when he was younger. Whatever the facts may be.
The authorites like crime figures to decrease, it makes them look good. But they like the "perception" to increase, it justifies increasing budgets.
The real world.
Police identify and arrest the suspect. Search of her flat fails to locate the I pod. It never does. It has either been translated into 5 bags of heroin or is in a safe place until the heat dies down.
Girl is taken to Police station where she demands her right to a free Solicitor. (free in the sense that the taxpayer gets the bill)
Solicitor demands disclosure and the Police have to tell him that the suspect was seen on video pocketing 'something'.
Solicitor advises suspect to make 'no comment'.
You know that the CCTV is not clear enough to actually show the I pod being picked up.
Next move......?
"I agree with her."
I was tempted to at first, until I read a bit more...
"Our cops are now extremely poor and have lost sense of proportion."
It's not just cops, though. Frankly, very few of our public sector services are fit for purpose.
"And yet, I also have sympthy for the police. If there are 30 similar thefts a day, what are they to do? "
Particularly if the courts will let 'em go again even if they do catch 'em...
"Don't forget this woman is a law student."
In Beijing, though. We dodged a bullet there!
"Next move......?"
It goes to court anyway, and he gets off because the judge was a bit shirty.
:/
Blue-knight, absolutely spot on. Email your comments to the stupid girl.
Jaded.
Blue-knight, absolutely spot on. Email your comments to the stupid girl.
Jaded.
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