Thank you Surrey Police!
Discussion
I'd been hunting for someone to trim some hedges, some climbing plants that were starting to get under the guttering and roof tiles, and to clear out my guttering for quite some time without much success. Everyone seemed too busy. The other week a tradesman knocked at the door and offered his services, and it turned out he could do exactly what needed doing. He had his own ladders and equipment and we negotiated what I thought was a reasonable price. I had to allow him access to my garage so that he could get into the garden without coming through the house. But as I hadn't used him before, I discreetly placed a wireless camera in the garage itself. After he and his mate had finished the job and left, I quickly reviewed the footage, where I saw him rifling through the contents of the garage, and then helping himself to an item which he probably thought I wouldn't miss or notice had gone missing. He furtively hands the item to his mate who secretes it inside his van - also caught on my driveway and front door cameras.
I then make a crime report to the police, just so that they know what's going on and not expecting anything to come of it, but explaining exactly what happened and providing footage, photos of his vehicle, a copy of his long expired waste carrier licence, and the flyer he gave me in the hope I'd call him back to pressure wash my paved driveway and patio at the back. A PC calls me back asking for more details and asks if he can come over next day to take a formal statement. In the meantime police have posted stills of the two wanted men, one of whom contacted the police wondering why his face was plastered over their social media.
PC visits the next day, asking what had been taken, inspects garage and general situation, and takes a nice cup of tea along with a statement and a DVD with all the security footage. He must have been here a couple of hours in all.
Two days later, doorbell rings and it is the thieving tradesman, clutching item that he had taken and claiming to have picked it up "by mistake". He then has the gall to ask me to give him a call if I want pressure washing done. Obviously playing the "I'm innocent!" card. I forward the video of man returning items to the policeman, who calls me back and is equally incredulous that man came back with stolen goods, and equally unimpressed by his explanation. The PC calls again the next day and explains that in light of the fact that thief has returned the property he finds a criminal prosecution unlikely, and instead says they are moving towards a "community resolution" which apparently is nothing more than a record of the incident which would influence proceedings if he is caught committing any other crimes in the next 7 years. Considering that I've got my goods back and knob has a record that will hopefully dissuade him from playing the same trick on some other unsuspecting householder, I'm quite happy with the result.
Thief has been warned not to approach me or my area, and that if he is caught he is likely to find himself in a lot more bother. I'm not sure whether this is legally enforceable.
I don't wish to post videos or photos, but if you're in the Surrey/Berks area and are approached by two men in a white pick-up style Transit with ladders, chainsaws and leaf blowers in the back, think twice about giving them the job. Younger one looks like Oliver Hardy, mid-late 30s with no tache, while the older thinner one who I presume is the father wears a flat cap and looks a bit like a weathered Stan Laurel.
I'm just wondering what made him return the item? Was it guilt, or was it knowing he'd been rumbled? I wonder...
A massive thank you to Surrey Police who resolved this admittedly rather minor incident to my satisfaction, as well as scaring the thief into returning what he took. Despite the fact that the item taken was not particularly expensive to replace, it didn't make it any less gut-wrenching to have your property lifted. I can only imagine how it feels to be deprived of something that holds real sentimental value!
I then make a crime report to the police, just so that they know what's going on and not expecting anything to come of it, but explaining exactly what happened and providing footage, photos of his vehicle, a copy of his long expired waste carrier licence, and the flyer he gave me in the hope I'd call him back to pressure wash my paved driveway and patio at the back. A PC calls me back asking for more details and asks if he can come over next day to take a formal statement. In the meantime police have posted stills of the two wanted men, one of whom contacted the police wondering why his face was plastered over their social media.
PC visits the next day, asking what had been taken, inspects garage and general situation, and takes a nice cup of tea along with a statement and a DVD with all the security footage. He must have been here a couple of hours in all.
Two days later, doorbell rings and it is the thieving tradesman, clutching item that he had taken and claiming to have picked it up "by mistake". He then has the gall to ask me to give him a call if I want pressure washing done. Obviously playing the "I'm innocent!" card. I forward the video of man returning items to the policeman, who calls me back and is equally incredulous that man came back with stolen goods, and equally unimpressed by his explanation. The PC calls again the next day and explains that in light of the fact that thief has returned the property he finds a criminal prosecution unlikely, and instead says they are moving towards a "community resolution" which apparently is nothing more than a record of the incident which would influence proceedings if he is caught committing any other crimes in the next 7 years. Considering that I've got my goods back and knob has a record that will hopefully dissuade him from playing the same trick on some other unsuspecting householder, I'm quite happy with the result.
Thief has been warned not to approach me or my area, and that if he is caught he is likely to find himself in a lot more bother. I'm not sure whether this is legally enforceable.
I don't wish to post videos or photos, but if you're in the Surrey/Berks area and are approached by two men in a white pick-up style Transit with ladders, chainsaws and leaf blowers in the back, think twice about giving them the job. Younger one looks like Oliver Hardy, mid-late 30s with no tache, while the older thinner one who I presume is the father wears a flat cap and looks a bit like a weathered Stan Laurel.
I'm just wondering what made him return the item? Was it guilt, or was it knowing he'd been rumbled? I wonder...
A massive thank you to Surrey Police who resolved this admittedly rather minor incident to my satisfaction, as well as scaring the thief into returning what he took. Despite the fact that the item taken was not particularly expensive to replace, it didn't make it any less gut-wrenching to have your property lifted. I can only imagine how it feels to be deprived of something that holds real sentimental value!
I wouldn’t even consider giving work to so called “tradesmen” who knock on doors, even if they were offering something I needed, proper tradesman don’t get business like that, it’s pretty obvious they’re going to be members of the caravan appreciation society and my garage would be the last place I’d give them access to, even if nothing went missing there and then a return visit at some point is more than likely.
I was needing some gardening work done and called a few companies for prices. One turned up, looking a little shifty, just something about his behaviour had me thinking he wasn't a good un. Anyway to the price, it was a really good price, a really really good price... I ask to get that in writing etc, which was fine apparently.
He then goes on about how it's only him, his dad and brother who do the work and everything is safe with them. I point out my CCTV cameras and say it's all recorded anyway. Oh! is his reply.
Funnily enough I never did hear of him again...
The CCTV was s
t, but I've upgraded to a newer Swann system, to quote a copper "that's better than they'd seen in banks and shops!"
He then goes on about how it's only him, his dad and brother who do the work and everything is safe with them. I point out my CCTV cameras and say it's all recorded anyway. Oh! is his reply.
Funnily enough I never did hear of him again...
The CCTV was s
t, but I've upgraded to a newer Swann system, to quote a copper "that's better than they'd seen in banks and shops!" JDiz said:
LunarOne said:
I have a 5-camera Amazon Blink XT2 system.
do you like it?The newer 3rd gen system (I think it's called New Blink) allows you to save clips to locally attached storage, but whether you can access them in bulk by connecting from a computer, I don't know.
LunarOne said:
The PC calls again the next day and explains that in light of the fact that thief has returned the property he finds a criminal prosecution unlikely, and instead says they are moving towards a "community resolution" which apparently is nothing more than a record of the incident which would influence proceedings if he is caught committing any other crimes in the next 7 years. Considering that I've got my goods back and knob has a record that will hopefully dissuade him from playing the same trick on some other unsuspecting householder, I'm quite happy with the result.
Thief has been warned not to approach me or my area, and that if he is caught he is likely to find himself in a lot more bother. I'm not sure whether this is legally enforceable.
I appreciate you're happy with this but MO strikes me as a little unusual. Were they hoping to gain your trust by returning said item, hence offer the pressure washing? Thief has been warned not to approach me or my area, and that if he is caught he is likely to find himself in a lot more bother. I'm not sure whether this is legally enforceable.
My guess is they, or someone else saw the PC visit your address word got back and they panicked. Was he arrested before this community resolution was offered ? I'd prefer arrest, premises search, 47/3 bail and get to the bottom of his little game..certainly enough to do that.
RipRideRocket said:
I appreciate you're happy with this but MO strikes me as a little unusual. Were they hoping to gain your trust by returning said item, hence offer the pressure washing?
My guess is they, or someone else saw the PC visit your address word got back and they panicked. Was he arrested before this community resolution was offered ? I'd prefer arrest, premises search, 47/3 bail and get to the bottom of his little game..certainly enough to do that.
I don't know what he was hoping - probably that the whole thing would get dropped if he returned the item. I believe he attended an interview at the station voluntarily, where he claimed to have picked up the item by mistake. The video very clearly shows him rifling through my stuff, finding something of interest and grabbing it, so there's no way he picked it up by accident. Apparently he is known to the police, but they wouldn't say what for. I don't imagine it's the first time either of them have been in trouble. His mate who he gave the item to to hide in the van was very clever about hiding it under his jacket, and going to the passenger door of the van where he leant in to remove the item, emerging with a bottle of water as if that's why he had gone to the van.My guess is they, or someone else saw the PC visit your address word got back and they panicked. Was he arrested before this community resolution was offered ? I'd prefer arrest, premises search, 47/3 bail and get to the bottom of his little game..certainly enough to do that.
Before out light-fingered friend returned the item, the police were asking whether I would be willing to stand as a witness in court. Afterwards, they said it would be unlikely to proceed to court, so I guess our "suspect" has done himself a big favour by returning it.
I shall be investing in some locking cabinets to put tools and other similar items in, as right now they are stored in open shelving. I don't have tons of very expensive tools, but as a keen DIY mechanic I prefer to buy tools and learn to do things myself rather than pay someone else to do the job. It often works out much cheaper, I learn valuable skills, and once I have the tool I have it forever. Or at least in theory! So I have trolley jacks, torque wrenches, calipers, lots of sockets and spanners and specialty items that maybe the average garage doesn't.
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