How to get items back from the Police, that they "lost"

[Pothole]

What are the chances of an update from the OP, do you reckon?

[Biggy Stardust]

La Liga said:

Ilovejapcrap said:

La Liga said:

Let’s steal and sell the OP’s property which will have been referred to in the investigation and overtly obvious from the original information.

Nothing better than going to prison and throwing away a career for £50 ??

Did you see the 24 hours in police custody when a copper got caught blackmailing someone for 1000 pound.

No can’t have happened loosing his job, wife and potential jail term for a grand I must have made it up.

Nothing worse than a loose job...

I was proposing it as an improbable event vs other possibilities, I wasn't saying it was impossible.

I've heard rumours that some are willing to throw their career away for even less then £50. Perhaps as little as a box of donuts.

[XCP]

Some people find extraordinary ways to push the self destruct button.

[Ian Geary]

Biggy Stardust said:

La Liga said:

Ilovejapcrap said:

La Liga said:

Let’s steal and sell the OP’s property which will have been referred to in the investigation and overtly obvious from the original information.

Nothing better than going to prison and throwing away a career for £50 ??

Did you see the 24 hours in police custody when a copper got caught blackmailing someone for 1000 pound.

No can’t have happened loosing his job, wife and potential jail term for a grand I must have made it up.

Nothing worse than a loose job...

I was proposing it as an improbable event vs other possibilities, I wasn't saying it was impossible.

I've heard rumours that some are willing to throw their career away for even less then £50. Perhaps as little as a box of donuts.

But it wouldn't just be £50 would it?

It would be £50 x however many times this occurs over the course of their career.

And plenty of humans are perfectly capable of making stupid decisions.... having a dark blue uniform does not cure stupidity.

I doubt we'll get an update, but I am quite able to believe there are a small number of police force workers who break the law.

After all, you only find out who the criminals are after they've been caught.

[Pothole]

Ian Geary said:

But it wouldn't just be £50 would it?

It would be £50 x however many times this occurs over the course of their career.

And plenty of humans are perfectly capable of making stupid decisions.... having a dark blue uniform does not cure stupidity.

I doubt we'll get an update, but I am quite able to believe there are a small number of police force workers who break the law.

After all, you only find out who the criminals are after they've been caught.

Is, there is s small number. While I agree it's possible. I cannot believe it's as endemic as some above would have us believe. As usual, posters expect us to extrapolate individual pieces of anecdata into an enormous nationwide issue where almost every item of property booked into Police systems goes missing. I know that's not true, at least for one force. I don't think anyone on PH (or anywhere) will be able to produce a shred of evidence to prove that it's a widespread problem.

[XCP]

I'll hold my hands up to disposing of some Santa hats seized from an illegal street trader. We gave them to local school kids. The shame of it. ( mind you it was with official permission). Still, it's still the police disposing of someone else's property I suppose.

[Ian Geary]

Pothole said:

Ian Geary said:

But it wouldn't just be £50 would it?

It would be £50 x however many times this occurs over the course of their career.

And plenty of humans are perfectly capable of making stupid decisions.... having a dark blue uniform does not cure stupidity.

I doubt we'll get an update, but I am quite able to believe there are a small number of police force workers who break the law.

After all, you only find out who the criminals are after they've been caught.

Is, there is s small number. While I agree it's possible. I cannot believe it's as endemic as some above would have us believe. As usual, posters expect us to extrapolate individual pieces of anecdata into an enormous nationwide issue where almost every item of property booked into Police systems goes missing. I know that's not true, at least for one force. I don't think anyone on PH (or anywhere) will be able to produce a shred of evidence to prove that it's a widespread problem.

Not sure that's aimed at me. I don't think it's endemic, in fact I'd think/ hope it's extremely rare. No one has suggested otherwise, apart from the post I have quoted.

As usual, the answer probably lies somewhere between the "no police officer would risk their career" and "almost every item that gets booked into police systems go missing".


In a rather upsetting twist of irony, the off the cuff remark I wrote this morning about police not being immune to breaking the law looks like it's coming into sharp focus in the sad case of the missing lady where remains have been found in Kent.

Whilst the guy is obviously only a suspect at this point, I spotted this quote in the thread, which seems to be further evidence (that a very small number of) the police are totally capable of risking their career by doing illegal stuff.

Dibble said:

...I’ve interviewed several for theft, criminal damage and assault.

(Ps accountants fiddle accounts. Doctors kill patients. Fitness trainers eat junk food. This is a "humans are human" point, not anti police one as such)

[XCP]

That's a strange conclusion to draw from Dibbles comment. During my career I had allegations of numerous criminal offences made about me. Indecent assault, GBH, perverting the course of justice and possession of controlled drugs to name but a few. Guess what, none were true. Police officers get investigated ( which includes interviews) with depressing regularity.

It goes with the territory.

[Pothole]

Ian Geary said:

Not sure that's aimed at me. I don't think it's endemic, in fact I'd think/ hope it's extremely rare. No one has suggested otherwise, apart from the post I have quoted.

someone above said:

It was common, according to him, for certain items to go missing rather than go to auction. The ex-officer took or was given a bike from the stores and he said he was set up by one of his seniors who didn’t like him. He was ultimately dismissed and as above quite open about what happened, he said it was a commonly known ‘perk’ of the job right up until he took something, prior to this ‘they’ were all at it, including senior staff.

They were all at it, apparently. Is that not suggesting it's (or was) endemic?

[djohnson]

Ian Geary said:

(Ps accountants fiddle accounts. Doctors kill patients. Fitness trainers eat junk food. This is a "humans are human" point, not anti police one as such)

Indeed after 25+ years in audit I can say that the notion that ‘no one would risk their whole career by doing that’ doesn’t always hold. Rationally people on six and seven figure incomes wouldn’t risk it all by colluding to commit fraud to get a small % more from the bonus/option/ltip but I’ve seen it happen. Rationally people who have spent three years getting a degree and another three getting an accounting qualification and have big earning potential wouldn’t risk getting struck off by fiddling a few hundred pounds in expenses but I’ve seen it happen. Rationally directors of a struggling business wouldn’t engage in false accounting and/ or misrepresentation to save the business when they could get other lucrative jobs but I’ve seen it happen. Rationally a well thought of CFO wouldn’t risk his reputation and qualification by manipulating the results simply to avoid a difficult discussion and admit that his business is trading off budget but I’ve seen it happen.

All in, the majority of people are honest and the suggestion that goods going missing from police custody is endemic is very unlikely to be true. However never underestimate the capacity of people under pressure and / or in a difficult position to make some pretty irrational choices.

[98elise]

XCP said:

Some people find extraordinary ways to push the self destruct button.

Agreed. We had a fairly senior guy (so well paid) based on a client's site. He started stealing office kit like overhead projectors. He would put them in his office for a week or so. If nobody flagged something was missing he would pop in at the weekend and collect it.

What was really stupid was that there was lots of extra paid work at the weekends available so if he put the time into that he would have easily made more money than stealing kit.

The stuff he stole had very little value second hand.

[XCP]

98elise said:

XCP said:

Some people find extraordinary ways to push the self destruct button.

Agreed. We had a fairly senior guy (so well paid) based on a client's site. He started stealing office kit like overhead projectors. He would put them in his office for a week or so. If nobody flagged something was missing he would pop in at the weekend and collect it.

What was really stupid was that there was lots of extra paid work at the weekends available so if he put the time into that he would have easily made more money than stealing kit.

The stuff he stole had very little value second hand.

The PTI at my training college, A Sgt, was selling swimming badges to students. He had obtained them free from the RLSS. He can't have made more than £10 a month on average. Cost him a prison sentence for fraud ( or whatever it was called 40 years ago)

[bunchofkeys]

Pothole said:

What are the chances of an update from the OP, do you reckon?

After speaking to 101, the iPad can be seen on the police system, but she has been told they need to produce a letter to obtain said iPad.
I've left it to them to sort out, i don't have the time at the moment to look into this any further.