Friday 23 July 2010

Well, It'll Certainly Cut Crime..!

Police have told shopkeepers not to report thefts of goods worth less than under £20 in a scheme which they claim will cut crime.
/facepalm
Under the trial, retailers are told not to dial 999 if they fall victim to petty shoplifters, but note details in a log book.

It could then be weeks before a community support officer visits to read the log.

Police chiefs claim the policy will reduce thefts in the long term by enabling them to 'build a stronger case' against offenders and impose anti- social behaviour orders to keep them out of shops.
Well, sure. But if it doesn't work, hey, the crime figures came down for a while, right? Score!

Naturally, people who make a living selling things, as opposed to giving them away, aren't happy, and aren't in a mood to co-operate with this barmy scheme:
Anthony Bush, owner of the general stores and post office in Killingholme, said: 'It's an absolute joke. You might as well put a sign on the door to say "nick up to £19.99". I wish the police would explain to me how this is going to drive down shoplifting.

'This is people's livelihood we are talking about. I don't care what they are suggesting, if I notice shoplifting I will call the police.'
And what will they do when he keeps phoning, I wonder?
Humberside Police insist the project does not reflect a lack of resources to investigate crime.

A spokesman said: 'We are not saying we won't investigate.

'We are saying rather than pick up the phone every time a Mars bar goes missing, we are taking this to a better level by trying to build a stronger case against offenders.'
I'm sure it sounds like a great idea...to you. But it doesn't to us.

And it's not what we pay you for, is it? And at this moment in time, do you really want yet more people wondering why we keep paying you?

In fact, more people will start taking the law into their own hands. And probably not the correct way, the way Simon Cremer did*. Because look what happened to him...
But Gilbert was let off with a police caution, while floor fitting firm owner Mr Cremer and his staff were charged with false imprisonment before the case against them was dropped.
Is it me, or has the world gone utterly mad?

How the hell can iDave's 'Big Society' ever work, when those who transgress the laws get coddled and protected, the people we pay to maintain the law shrug and sit on their backsides and ambulance-chasing shysters wait to feed off the carcase of what remnants of decent society still remain?

*H/T commenter RAB via email

19 comments:

Dalrymplist said...

Shocking, really.

As things stand*, I personally wouldn't necessarily want the police turning up to Mars Bar thefts - which one would imagine might involve children - but twenty quid? That's a couple of bottles of scotch. Don't tell the alcoholics who hang around the bus station near Asda.

* Of course, if you got rid of 75% of the bureaucracy, more of them would be freed up to get out on the streets, and then they could turn up for Mars Bar thefts as well.

Jiks said...

Targets again, I believe.

Police are targeted on reported crime so anything that reduces reports of crimes is a good thing of course. Crime itself is fine however, as fear of crime helps justify the vast expense, the abuse of power etc.

This particular strand of idiocy is not the fault of the police out on the streets IMO, its the fault of the politicians placed in senior positions with the "Service". However, it does serve to drive a further wedge between the lawful majority and the police.

The criminals will love it of course, I wonder how long it will be before the first sues a shopkeeper who does dare to call the police for breaching his Right to Rob?

AntiCitizenOne said...

If you see a shoplifter do not call the police.

Follow them out of the shop and hit them without warning hard from behind with a baton. Hopefully this will kill them and it will be perfectly legal (see police).

Anonymous said...

Our beat cops reckon the 'borrowers-from-shops' only do this in preference to burglary-dwelling because it carries much lighter chances of being investigated and punished. Shop-ban ASBOs would thus lead to more burglaries if the fantasy of better investigation were true.
To establish real crime figures we could create a statistical model based on the recall of shit-for-brains criminal sampling. They claim to be doing hundreds of jobs before getting caught (I know from TIC and sociological interviewing)and I suspect this figure would swamp the BCS.
The Orwellian aspects of not believing our eyes and ears beggar belief.

microdave said...

"Is it me" - No, it's not.

"Has the world gone utterly mad?"
- Possibly not the entire World, but certainly this country.

gordon-bennett said...

Why not put the limit up to (say) about £10,000? Or more!

This would almost entirely eliminate shoplifting crime statistics and we could save the wages of all the police we would no longer need.

Why can't the police come up with simple, brilliant ideas like this?

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget that only 6% of the officers in larger forces are available to work with the public. Oh, and of those only 13% are out on patrol at any one time.

In a sense this is good news, since it means we're much less likely to be Tasered in the balls for nothing.

Angry Exile said...

The Pound Shops are all fucked then.

Actually that's only half joking. Steal just a few items from them and you're fireproof since you'd need a full basket to trigger a police response. I'm guessing their margins are fairly thin so from their point of view not a joke at all. Apart from the slight problem that the bastards would jail people I'd suggest the fair solution would be to only pay the portion of their taxes that goes to the police if more than £20 of goods are stolen and therefore a police response is needed. It'd be just like ordering a pizza, except you can expect a pizza to turn up in under forty minutes.

RAB said...

Jeez, where to start...

Well quite apart from the fact that he only got a fuckin Caution for stealing nearly a grand, as if it was a "Woops could have happened to anybody, dont be a naughty boy again,and off you go now" incident it's the fact that he has the brass balls to sue his ex employer for his distress and loss of fuckin earnings that burns me up!

I note that his supposed Medical insurance is covering him for his legal fees, but why do I not believe that for one minute?

The bastard has a shyster lawyer on a no win no fee agreement I bet.Which is something this Govt should do away with forthwith.

If you allow people to sue about anything under the sun with absolutely no cost to themselves win or lose, then people will keep on suing for the most ludicrous of things, and as in this case are almost guaranteed a payday because the poor bastard they are suing has to cover his costs no matter what to refute the ridiculous claim, but cant afford it, so he may well cut his losses and settle out of court.
Like the man said "This aint Justice"

In my day in the Justice system, before no win no fee, you had to get a civil legal aid certificate to pursue your case if you were poor.
Well the Legal Aid Society scrutinised claims very carefully back then, and didn't grant all but a few well grounded claims.
This concentrated chancers minds wonderfully at the thought of having to pay thousands in fees. Consequently very few fatuous claims were brought.Now it is money for old rope, blackmail no less.No win no fee has got to go!

Oh and dont even start me on the shoplifting thing! If a small shopkeeper has to ignore £20 a day going walkies from his shop that could be a minimum of £140 a week, that is life and death to someone on tight margins and tough competition from supermarts, who can afford the loss.

When are the featherbedded cunts who supposedly run our system of justice ever going to wake up to the reality of life as the rest of us experience it?

Brian, follower of Deornoth said...

Ah, fuck it. Moat was right. Killing these corrupt perjuring scum is everyone's civic duty.

Smoking Hot said...

Even then you'd probably end up with one of these :-

http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/Cardboard-cops-tackle-shoplifting/article-1938395-detail/article.html

:)

MTG said...

£20? Such is the disinterest of W Yorks police in theft, half the residents of Almondbury no longer see a point to reporting thefts under £1000!

This has resulted in well earned bonuses for upper ranks as crime figures have shown how effective our police have become in reducing crime.

Anonymous said...

Cops know crime ain't dropping and that it just shifts in focus. If crime was going down their phone lines would have gone quiet.

blueknight said...

One of our 'Chiefs'tried a similar ploy, upsetting the local garages by telling them not to report 'drive offs'. He wanted his police to concentrate on burglary and vehicle crime.
The fact that the garages were on a 'rough estate' and the the burglars and vehicle thieves were the ones doing the drive offs was lost on him.

Anonymous said...

Brian, follower of Deornoth (who prefers boys) YOU ARE A MORON! Surely even a dimwit such as yourself must understand that the police are stretched thinly enough these days, being everything else OTHER than what they should be - concentrating on policing in its truest sense i.e. policing. That means nicking villains, getting the evidence and putting them before the Court. Instead, the last Government has turned them into hybrid social workers, community workers, all that rubbish. They are forced to interact with the CPS, who are incompetent, and the majority of younger police officers these days have simply never had the same policing training than their older colleagues from up to the mid 90's when it all started to go wrong and they are joining an organisation that has lost its way. Senior officers are only interested in progressing up the ranks, highlighting their worth by doing 'projects' and the whole edifice has been undermined by a meddling Goverment, wholly motivated by statistics. Who said 'There are lies, damned lies and statistics' Mark Twain?

RAB said...

I neglected to mention my suggestion for iDaves Big Society.

Forget ASBOs and Cautions, bring back the Stocks! I'm sure I could get a deal with our local Tescos to take the really ripe and rancid past its sell by date produce off its hands...

Probably not the kind of social/commercial enterprise that he had in mind though eh?

JuliaM said...

"Of course, if you got rid of 75% of the bureaucracy, more of them would be freed up to get out on the streets, and then they could turn up for Mars Bar thefts as well."

Especially since it's unlikely that the Mars Bars thieves are confining themselves just to shoplifting...

"Targets again, I believe."

Yup! Target culture has got to change or go.

But it seems plenty of police forces are ignoring Teresa May's commandment on abolishing the Police Pledge, so good luck trying to scrap this...

"Follow them out of the shop and hit them without warning hard from behind with a baton. Hopefully this will kill them and it will be perfectly legal (see police)."

:D

"They claim to be doing hundreds of jobs before getting caught.."

Is this a form of boasting though? Trying to look like a better crim for their mates, instead of a dumb thief who only managed a couple of Mars Bars before being collared?

"Why not put the limit up to (say) about £10,000? Or more!

This would almost entirely eliminate shoplifting crime statistics..."


Mmm. Probably best not to give them ideas! ;)

"Let's not forget that only 6% of the officers in larger forces are available to work with the public. Oh, and of those only 13% are out on patrol at any one time."

Yes, those figures were even more shocking than poor Peter Cox's experience!

"Apart from the slight problem that the bastards would jail people I'd suggest the fair solution would be to only pay the portion of their taxes that goes to the police if more than £20 of goods are stolen and therefore a police response is needed."

Heh! Good plan.

Well, execpt for the certainty of jail part. The state is happy for us to thieve, but not from it.

And they really do believe it's theit money, and we are just holding on to it for them.

JuliaM said...

"The bastard has a shyster lawyer on a no win no fee agreement I bet.Which is something this Govt should do away with forthwith. "

It's difficult to see any way in which they could, that would not penalise the real victims.

Better scrutiny of cases for legal aid would help, but the 'no win no fee' cases don't rely on that do they?

"Even then you'd probably end up with one of these..."

/facepalm

"If crime was going down their phone lines would have gone quiet."

Maybe that depends on the definition of 'crime'? I suspect Sharona would still be phoning up to report Darren's harassing text message, and that she 'wants 'im done, innit!'...

"The fact that the garages were on a 'rough estate' and the the burglars and vehicle thieves were the ones doing the drive offs was lost on him."

/doublefacepalm

"...the last Government has turned them into hybrid social workers, community workers, all that rubbish."

And it's going to take far, far more than a simple change of government to reverse this.

"I neglected to mention my suggestion for iDaves Big Society.

Forget ASBOs and Cautions, bring back the Stocks! "


I saw a pair for sale at my local boot sale the other week! Not sure if they were a genuine antique or merely a reproduction, but my, they'd come in handy, wouldn't they? ;)

Nigel Sedgwick said...

Some 23 or 24 years ago, I and my family were holidaying in central Nice (lovely city of Mediterranean France). One day in the market, as observed by me and my (now) wife as we strolled through, some person (I think male - s/he ran fast) stole some modest item of clothing (certainly less than £20 at current prices) from a street-market stall, and ran off. The stallholder cried out; he and several other market stallholders set off in pursuit; it took at least 200m. The thief was caught, the property recovered, and the thief was soundly beaten.

No one complained to the police, who undoubtedly saw some of the action and did not intervene. On the proportionality of the beating: IMHO a very British, 'not unfair'. We 'noted' the incident.

Market justice; social justice; societal justice; government justice; even French justice: you decide.

Best regards