Why is car crime unpunished/ unpoliced?
Discussion
Jamescrs said:
suspended sentence.
...and this is why it's so prevalent now. Because the courts don't give a s
t. Drive like a tool and they'll take your licence and as a result your livelihood, but take someone else's car, even if you've broken into their house to get to the keys, and it's "oh well, you naughty boy"! 
(There's been a lot of it near us for about 5 years now...known problem, but as per the OP, no real police response)
I’m a Crime & Intelligence Analyst - been working in the same large town since coming over straight off the back of the Olympics in September 2012, on maternity cover.
The system reminds of that scene in “The Bridge at Remegan” where the German engineer discovers they haven’t got enough explosives and keeps repeating “key points only”!
Our priorities are inevitably Serious Violence (Domestic Abuse / Public Place / Sexual Violence), safeguarding and vulnerable people, Anti Social Behaviour hotspots. Huge amounts of time go on missing persons.
The entire system is threadbare. I used to meet monthly with Probation - always productive. Since then they’ve been split up, privatised, some CRCs went bust, de-privatised, re-organised. Haven’t seen them for years.
Ludicrous delays between offending and getting young people into court to get interventions in place - months and months.
No Youth Clubs for preventive work. Family Centres decimated. No ‘Cardiff Model’ data out of hospital EDs in the area since COVID.
So we concentrate on murder prevention, basically. Having said that, if we pick up a trend in anything else - cycle theft, catalytic converters, burglary, then we’ll flag it up, model it, and look for an intervention or identity likely suspects.
Interestingly, the most recent spike around here in theft-from vehicles, on people’s drives, is all down to Ring doorbells: people now know that someone’s been in their unlocked vehicle at three in the morning, whereas they just used to wonder where they’d misplaced their sunglasses / IPod / parking change . .
Only two years to retirement - I was settled, but am seriously tempted to do something else.
The system reminds of that scene in “The Bridge at Remegan” where the German engineer discovers they haven’t got enough explosives and keeps repeating “key points only”!
Our priorities are inevitably Serious Violence (Domestic Abuse / Public Place / Sexual Violence), safeguarding and vulnerable people, Anti Social Behaviour hotspots. Huge amounts of time go on missing persons.
The entire system is threadbare. I used to meet monthly with Probation - always productive. Since then they’ve been split up, privatised, some CRCs went bust, de-privatised, re-organised. Haven’t seen them for years.
Ludicrous delays between offending and getting young people into court to get interventions in place - months and months.
No Youth Clubs for preventive work. Family Centres decimated. No ‘Cardiff Model’ data out of hospital EDs in the area since COVID.
So we concentrate on murder prevention, basically. Having said that, if we pick up a trend in anything else - cycle theft, catalytic converters, burglary, then we’ll flag it up, model it, and look for an intervention or identity likely suspects.
Interestingly, the most recent spike around here in theft-from vehicles, on people’s drives, is all down to Ring doorbells: people now know that someone’s been in their unlocked vehicle at three in the morning, whereas they just used to wonder where they’d misplaced their sunglasses / IPod / parking change . .
Only two years to retirement - I was settled, but am seriously tempted to do something else.
CCTV. Reminds me of an assault that was reported and passed to me to look into. The area of the town centre was covered by a camera.
Issues. It showed the assault but wasn't good enough quality to identify the other party
Plus points. It showed an argument between 2 men. Then quite clearly my "victim" starting it by head butting the other guy. Thereafter coming off worse.
All's well that ends well. The victim admitted that he might be "a bit of an arse with a drink in me". My crime manager was happy with the assault being no crimed.
Issues. It showed the assault but wasn't good enough quality to identify the other party
Plus points. It showed an argument between 2 men. Then quite clearly my "victim" starting it by head butting the other guy. Thereafter coming off worse.
All's well that ends well. The victim admitted that he might be "a bit of an arse with a drink in me". My crime manager was happy with the assault being no crimed.
My brother has had his car stolen twice (actually three times - on the first occasion they nicked both his cars).
The police have been quite active on all the occasions, and he has had every car returned. The first occasion when both cars were stolen they caught one of the thief as he stole the wifes credit card and then tried to use it in the local post office who knew he was not a Mrs and also what his name was. The cars were left in an out of the way location and reported to the police as looking out of place.
The second time the local fair was in town, which apparently always meant a rise in car theft attempts. A tracker recovered that.
The police have been quite active on all the occasions, and he has had every car returned. The first occasion when both cars were stolen they caught one of the thief as he stole the wifes credit card and then tried to use it in the local post office who knew he was not a Mrs and also what his name was. The cars were left in an out of the way location and reported to the police as looking out of place.
The second time the local fair was in town, which apparently always meant a rise in car theft attempts. A tracker recovered that.
surveyor said:
My brother has had his car stolen twice (actually three times - on the first occasion they nicked both his cars).
The police have been quite active on all the occasions, and he has had every car returned. The first occasion when both cars were stolen they caught one of the thief as he stole the wifes credit card and then tried to use it in the local post office who knew he was not a Mrs and also what his name was. The cars were left in an out of the way location and reported to the police as looking out of place.
The second time the local fair was in town, which apparently always meant a rise in car theft attempts. A tracker recovered that.
Im struggling to picture the profile of someone who frequents the local post office often enough to be known by name, but also steels cars and credit cards. The police have been quite active on all the occasions, and he has had every car returned. The first occasion when both cars were stolen they caught one of the thief as he stole the wifes credit card and then tried to use it in the local post office who knew he was not a Mrs and also what his name was. The cars were left in an out of the way location and reported to the police as looking out of place.
The second time the local fair was in town, which apparently always meant a rise in car theft attempts. A tracker recovered that.
Was this thief a pensioner or someone who just f
king loves pic and mix? 
Friend of mine had a car stolen a few years back, I forget if it was a 330Ci or an M3, but some form of interesting BMW. Anyway, he rang the Police and came away pretty unimpressed. They gave him a reference and, when he asked if someone was coming to check the car park, the operator dryly said "well what would you have us do sir, take a photo of an empty parking space?"
Car was never recovered, insurance paid out, friend moved on. He got an M3 or a 330Ci (the opposite of what was nicked) but then sold it a few months later when he never quite warmed back up to it.
Car was never recovered, insurance paid out, friend moved on. He got an M3 or a 330Ci (the opposite of what was nicked) but then sold it a few months later when he never quite warmed back up to it.
Flumpo said:
surveyor said:
My brother has had his car stolen twice (actually three times - on the first occasion they nicked both his cars).
The police have been quite active on all the occasions, and he has had every car returned. The first occasion when both cars were stolen they caught one of the thief as he stole the wifes credit card and then tried to use it in the local post office who knew he was not a Mrs and also what his name was. The cars were left in an out of the way location and reported to the police as looking out of place.
The second time the local fair was in town, which apparently always meant a rise in car theft attempts. A tracker recovered that.
Im struggling to picture the profile of someone who frequents the local post office often enough to be known by name, but also steels cars and credit cards. The police have been quite active on all the occasions, and he has had every car returned. The first occasion when both cars were stolen they caught one of the thief as he stole the wifes credit card and then tried to use it in the local post office who knew he was not a Mrs and also what his name was. The cars were left in an out of the way location and reported to the police as looking out of place.
The second time the local fair was in town, which apparently always meant a rise in car theft attempts. A tracker recovered that.
Was this thief a pensioner or someone who just f
king loves pic and mix? I guess he didn't really have a plan for it!
Flumpo said:
Im struggling to picture the profile of someone who frequents the local post office often enough to be known by name, but also steels cars and credit cards.
Was this thief a pensioner or someone who just fking loves pic and mix?
You may laugh. I came across a guy serving time for robbery. Had robbed his local post office. Masked up but they recognised his voice.Was this thief a pensioner or someone who just f
king loves pic and mix? Early 20s. The criminal population varies in intelligence just like everyone else.
Sebring440 said:
of-the-trousers said:
Did he have any additional security in/on the vehicle?
That's it! Blame the OP!It's a question to see how determined these thieves have been.
The blame is squarely on the person who took it. Not the victim, not manufacturers, not the Police, not the Courts etc etc.
Should we have to take any security measures?
No.
We should be able to leave our car unlocked, with the keys in the ignition & it be fine.
The victim is not guilty, the thief is.
Shall we deal with the reality of securing property though instead?
If we care about reducing the likelihood of our particular purchase remaining in our possession that is?
I use extra security because I don't want it to go. It doesn't guarantee it won't go, but it does make it harder & hopefully they'll go to someone else's instead.
We live in a st time in a st country, and many of us live in st areas of this st country.
It's not the fault of anyone on here, it's nice to have a nice car and it's not fair that the scum of the earth would rather steal your car than actually earn a living. But as a nation we seem to be very hung up on driving shiny flash cars that cost north of £50 grand, and keeping them in full view of anyone driving past. Belonging to shed-world avoids both theft and depreciation. PCP and company cars both have a lot to answer for.
There are three things you can do to avoid getting your car stolen:
1. Keep your car out of sight of the road.
2. Keep it behind an electric gate that requires a secure method of opening it, not just sensors that open it when you drive up to it.
3. Own a car that nobody would want to steal, like my 20 year old, £900 Saab. I dont even lock it at home because of 1 and 2 above, I don't keep anything valuable in it, and it has a transmission lock, not a steering lock, so is much harder to steal without the keys, even if anyone could be arsed to try.
t time in a st country, and many of us live in st areas of this st country.It's not the fault of anyone on here, it's nice to have a nice car and it's not fair that the scum of the earth would rather steal your car than actually earn a living. But as a nation we seem to be very hung up on driving shiny flash cars that cost north of £50 grand, and keeping them in full view of anyone driving past. Belonging to shed-world avoids both theft and depreciation. PCP and company cars both have a lot to answer for.
There are three things you can do to avoid getting your car stolen:
1. Keep your car out of sight of the road.
2. Keep it behind an electric gate that requires a secure method of opening it, not just sensors that open it when you drive up to it.
3. Own a car that nobody would want to steal, like my 20 year old, £900 Saab. I dont even lock it at home because of 1 and 2 above, I don't keep anything valuable in it, and it has a transmission lock, not a steering lock, so is much harder to steal without the keys, even if anyone could be arsed to try.
Sebring440 said:
of-the-trousers said:
Did he have any additional security in/on the vehicle?
That's it! Blame the OP!We put so much effort on physical security for ourselves (don't walk down dodgy streets at night wearing a Rolex) and our houses, but neglect cars. Open driveways. Keys in hallways. Gates open. etc. etc.
oyster said:
We put so much effort on physical security for ourselves (don't walk down dodgy streets at night wearing a Rolex) and our houses, but neglect cars. Open driveways. Keys in hallways. Gates open. etc. etc.
Our (1990-ish) housing estate has open front gardens and driveways all around it. No gates possible without looking odd, and you'd need to fence/hedge the whole front garden off. Those houses with single garages don't use them in the main as they're too narrow for anything except a supermini (assuming you want to open the door to get out, of course).The same applies to the estates where a few friends live...all built more recently. Then you've got people living in inner-cities for lifestyle reasons who don't HAVE driveways.
Oh, and one of the families near school...they DO have a gate to their driveway...toe-rags broke in and threatened them to get the keys to both cars, didn't they? So much for securing the car...
I agree on faraday cages...but again, it's a solution to a problem the OEMs have created - keyless entry. "We think our customers enjoy being lazy, so we're going to create an easily-hacked system which will make it easier to nick their car and cause them problems with their insurance companies when they try to claim". And yet it still f
king exists!?!Sheepshanks said:
spaximus said:
It is infuriating that this happens. We had an XR2 stolen.....
So it's the same now as it was, what, 40 years ago?police had zero interest in my new sapphire cossie when it was stolen, i had spent the night polishing it and it was found in a field with no interior / wheels etc covered in rape seed pollen and 100s of fingerprints from the crims, zero interest in it, no interest of taking finger prints, they were more bothered by the obstruction to the farmers field than the theft ...
Second Best said:
Friend of mine had a car stolen a few years back, I forget if it was a 330Ci or an M3, but some form of interesting BMW. Anyway, he rang the Police and came away pretty unimpressed. They gave him a reference and, when he asked if someone was coming to check the car park, the operator dryly said "well what would you have us do sir, take a photo of an empty parking space?"
Car was never recovered, insurance paid out, friend moved on. He got an M3 or a 330Ci (the opposite of what was nicked) but then sold it a few months later when he never quite warmed back up to it.
They weren’t exactly wrong were they? Car was never recovered, insurance paid out, friend moved on. He got an M3 or a 330Ci (the opposite of what was nicked) but then sold it a few months later when he never quite warmed back up to it.
Dingu said:
Second Best said:
Friend of mine had a car stolen a few years back, I forget if it was a 330Ci or an M3, but some form of interesting BMW. Anyway, he rang the Police and came away pretty unimpressed. They gave him a reference and, when he asked if someone was coming to check the car park, the operator dryly said "well what would you have us do sir, take a photo of an empty parking space?"
Car was never recovered, insurance paid out, friend moved on. He got an M3 or a 330Ci (the opposite of what was nicked) but then sold it a few months later when he never quite warmed back up to it.
They weren’t exactly wrong were they? Car was never recovered, insurance paid out, friend moved on. He got an M3 or a 330Ci (the opposite of what was nicked) but then sold it a few months later when he never quite warmed back up to it.
I got the car back though - it was towed into Haringey car pound on Jan 17th with 8 parking tickets on it!
There’s a difference between no evidence and can’t be bothered to even gather any evidence .
The crimes Ive reported including burglary and attempted car theft were instantly dropped without any investigation. On one occasion I hadn't heard anything for weeks, so I went down to the police station, they didn’t even have the decency to inform me the case was closed and had zero compassion. They treated me worse than the criminal.
The crimes Ive reported including burglary and attempted car theft were instantly dropped without any investigation. On one occasion I hadn't heard anything for weeks, so I went down to the police station, they didn’t even have the decency to inform me the case was closed and had zero compassion. They treated me worse than the criminal.
Hugo Stiglitz said:
Range Rovers are allegedly being stolen fairly regularly. So much so RR have stopped their insurance scheme on them due to thefts in London?
Can attest, wife's friend had her FFRR stolen from a station car park a couple of weeks back. Weirdly found a couple of days later in South London with only her gym bag missing? 
QBee said:
There are three things you can do to avoid getting your car stolen:
1. Keep your car out of sight of the road.
2. Keep it behind an electric gate that requires a secure method of opening it, not just sensors that open it when you drive up to it.
3. Own a car that nobody would want to steal
Let's see:1. Keep your car out of sight of the road.
2. Keep it behind an electric gate that requires a secure method of opening it, not just sensors that open it when you drive up to it.
3. Own a car that nobody would want to steal
Electric gate, none opening
CCTV - just got some colourvue cams put up
Bars on garage window
Garage guardians
CCTV in garage
Sash jams on windows and doors
Patlock
PAS handles
Anti bump snap locks
Window film (one way)
Laminated glass downstairs
Composite door
Key pouch things
Not to mention the usual car alarms, trackers and immobilizers, steering lock, disclok and chain for the bike.
If I get the extension done I might stick a rising bollard on the drive and border my grass.
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