Sunday 24 October 2010

Home Office Advice On Car Crime

It's pretty comprehensive. All the usual tips are there: Don't leave items on display, have an immobiliser, watch out for the police...

Wait. What?
Four police officers are being investigated for allegedly trying to break into a car to retrieve a mobile phone one of them dropped in the vehicle during a stop and search.
*sigh*

And not only are they technically criminals - since they have no cause to break into the car - they are utterly incompetent criminals:
When the female officer realised her phone was missing, she and a colleague allegedly went to the driver’s house.

But when they could not get an answer at the door, they tried to prise open his car door with their metal batons.

Two more officers from Devon and Cornwall Constabulary arrived to help, but their efforts failed and eventually they posted a note through the man’s front door asking him to return the phone.
Great! We have four police officers unable to do something the average inner-city teenage boy can probably do without breaking a sweat.

Sack the lot of them!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi

I wonder what propsect there is of any serious sanction - rather than "words of advice" - being applied to officers involved in such activities.

This shows the pervasive lack of respect for the public throughout the police service at all ranks.

The alleged acts of the officers are not in the scope of what the senior ranks are concerned about.

Still, let's see what happens on this honesty and integrity issue.

Bertie Bassett

SpiteK said...

Hopefully the owner will have them charged for causing criminal damage to his property.

MTG said...

Sisters of the Gorgon who shared an eye were not at all handicapped in comparison to four cops and a brain cell.

Anonymous said...

No one in their right mind would try to use one of those truncheons as a lever. I wonder which one of the four becomes the 25% cut? How will they ever cope on such jobs with only three?

Jeff Wood said...

Years ago, sorry decades, I locked my keys in my car.

We approached a constable, who looked at the problem. He asked me what was in the glovebox, then said to look into the sky for a moment.

Within seconds he had the door open, then checked the glovebox. Sure enough he found the box of .22 ammo I predicted would be there and, satisfied the car was mine, touched his hat and walked on.

Fortunately, he didn't check the tax disk, rather out of date at that point.

JuliaM said...

"I wonder what propsect there is of any serious sanction - rather than "words of advice" - being applied to officers involved in such activities. "

Almost certainly none.

"Hopefully the owner will have them charged for causing criminal damage to his property."

He's lodged an official complaint, so let's hope he gets some compensation. It should come out of their pockets, not the taxpayer's...

"Sisters of the Gorgon who shared an eye were not at all handicapped in comparison to four cops and a brain cell."

*chuckle*

" How will they ever cope on such jobs with only three?"

About the same as it seems they fared with four!

"Fortunately, he didn't check the tax disk, rather out of date at that point."

I'm assuming no centrally-driven targets and a lot more autonomy and judgement expected of a solitary police officer back then?