When Law And Order Breaks Down...

Mark Archer, who had charity tins stolen from his Bar Next Door venue in Worthing this month, said he was appalled by the policy. 

He said that on a combined “shopwatch” and “pubwtach” smartphone app used by the town’s traders the same faces appear time and again, flagged up for theft, petty vandalism or anti-social behaviour. He said: “Because they know the system is broken, they’re doing more crime. They know if they keep under a certain threshold they’re not going to get prosecuted.”

“Everyone pays their taxes, we pay to have law and order and it’s just not happening.”

Maybe start withholding your police precept? Of course, since you have something to lose - and a fixed address - you can't get away with anything.

What's a fixed address got to do with it? Glad you asked!:

A spokesperson for Sussex Police said yesterday: “Our approach to dealing with shoplifting is by assessment of the threat, harm and risk levels and not tied to a specific figure.

“Sussex Police has been issuing summonses for a variety of offences, including shoplifting, by post for many years.

“Each case is considered on its own set of circumstances, not least that the accused has a known fixed address that the summons can be posted to.

“As the practice of postal summonses has been going on for some considerable time, it is not possible to establish a measuring point against rises or falls.”

He said he was unaware of targeted gang shoplifting happening in Sussex at this time.

What is he aware of, one might ask? Nor is this just a Brighton problem:

The manager at the store, who has asked neither he or the business be identified, recovered images of two suspects they believed had stolen £100 of toys on December 15.

The evidence was passed to police but the manager was astonished to receive a letter back from police saying the matter wouldn’t be investigated.

The letter from Essex Police said: “Essex Police has recently undertaken a review of its processes and practises. On review of any crime we have to consider the best way in which it is to be dealt with under our current investigation strategy.

“Every crime reported is taken seriously and proportionate review of this offence has been conducted.

“The financial loss to you is minimal.”

After considering whether it would be “cost effective” to investigate the incident, the letter adds: “I regret in this instance it is not viable to continue with the matter.”

The manager said: “The letter from Essex Police is an insult to decent law-abiding people and gives thieves a free pass.

“We caught two young male shoplifters who ran off, we captured this on our CCTV and promptly called the police who quite frankly did not seem to be interested and then sent us the letter.”

It's hardly surprising that they are warning people 'not to take the law into their own hands'. Yet what other choice will people have?

I expect the usual whining about 'Tory cuts', but it's not hard to see this as a deliberate and calculated act by the police to target their real enemy - the Tory government. The law abiding public are simply pawns in this game.