What can the police do when you something is stolen.

(So as not to derail another thread.)

Say you have something stolen - a car, items from your home or your handbag, for example.

Often you will hear / read of complaints that the police do nothing, or that the police should "do something about it", after all, it's their job.

My question is, what, realistically, can the police do?

Aside from making the victim of a crime feel that something is being done, by going through the motions, filling out forms, dusting for print etc. then what is the expected outcome?

What would you do if you had the powers / authority wielded by a copper?

What if you didn't have to subscribe to the rules that a police investigator has to abide by (warrants / reasonable cause etc...)

Forensics!
Get the word out to every country sheriff in the tri-county area, get the hounds out, a 5 mile search pattern from the crime scene inspected by foot. Police helicopters and sting operations. MI-5 if needs be!!




I want that garden gnome back!

-Mic- said:

I want that garden gnome back!

Click to expand...

Just couldn't resist....

they cant do much once the theft has taken place but they should do more to stop it happening in the first place

they could start by treating the thiefs they do manage to catch more harshly.

most thiefs know that if they get caught theyre likely to get off with a warning

Not a lot we use to get regually broken into at work. The police were really quite good giving us security tips offering to mark up expensive equipment with UV IDs. At one stage police cars would come and check up on our site just to make sure everything was OK.

However when reporting a crime once the person who phoned up (the boss) was treated more like a criminal on the phone than someone reporting a crime. People will nick anything though. We use(d) a giant metal shipping container type thing for storing tools in. which was sealed by fences all round. This container was broken into! They came along with a gas axe and cut a hole in the back and took about a grands worth of STIHL equipment.

Peoples complaint is often that the police can tell you that they know who it was but can't do anything about through lack of proof or lack of willingness to prosecute by the CPS.

It's more a complaint against the system than the police directly but as the public face of the system it's the police that take all the stick.

I got my stereo nicked from my car a while back, unless he was caught in the act there was no way I ever expected it back. Its going to be the way unless you want O'brien watching you on CCTV on every street corner.

It all hangs on what evidence is available.

If your car is stolen then the police attend and do the neccessary forms. Within a short while, the car should be on Police National Computer as stolen so theoretically all forces should know about it so if it is stopped and checked then the stolen marker should flash up and the occupants arrested.

Maybe a CCTV camera or automated plate recgnition camera picks it up ? Maybe it is found abondoned forensic evidence is left ?

Also, maybe the police do their job and arrest someone but the CPS say there is not enough to charge so they have to be released without charge. The police get the bad press from that and not the CPS as charging people now is only done by the police in the simplest of cases, the CPS having the decision on most things now.

The police usually do what they have to do with the evidence available. Sometimes though, the available evidence is just not enough.

On the subject of what would you do not having to abide by rules that cops have to follow ..

I am going back to when I was a kid here, perhaps over 20 years, but my sister was attacked by a man and she would not go to the police. My dad received a phone call from his mate who was in a town centre pub who told him that through the grapevine and a little digging of his own that the lad responsible was drinking there and my dad said to keep an eye on him and he would be down shortly.

He walked in and without a word dragged him outside and he was taught in no uncertain terms some respect when it comes to respect in an alley around the corner. This was in the days before CCTV. This is a family forum so I will say the bloke my dad dragged out was second in the contest !!!

The police were called and by the time they arrived, he was unconcious in a heap and my dad was long gone. It was purely coincidence that nobody in the pub saw nothing.

Acceptable to some, not to others.

A friend of mine had his car stolen from a city in N.Ireland (which is very close to the border with Ireland)....and notified the police both in N.Ireland and Southern Ireland. The police in the North ( a UK based police force ) said there wasnt much they could do -took the cars reg and his address & told him they would keep a look out for it (but were generally very unhelpful & basically told him to drive around and look for it himself). The Garda, in the south, asked him to call at the station to make a statement and got loads of details off him.

Funnily enough, 2 days later - an off duty garda seargant spotted the car filling up at a petrol station 3 miles away from where it was stolen, apprehended the thief and got the car back.