Is this effective policing?

Published on 24th May 2007 in Letters

Sir - Last Wednesday, May 16, at 5.30am I was awakened by an observant neighbour on her way to work.

She had noticed my garage door and the gate was open and, looking into the yard, she noticed the broken window. On investigation I found that two mini moto-cycles had been stolen. I telephoned the police and was given a crime number. Later that day a police officer from the forensics division came to check for prints and found one. I asked him if he wanted any more details; his reply was that another officer would come for that.

Twelve hours later, at 5.30pm, I phoned Goole Police Station because no one had been to ask what had happened. I was told that because there were no witnesses, nobody would be attending unless I could give them more information. I gave a name of someone who might have some information. The following morning at about 9.30am a police officer attended and explained that because there was no witnesses, no time and no CCTV, the crime was 'screened off' the system. Later on in the day a neighbour told me that at 4am, when returning home, he saw someone pushing a small motorcycle down the back lane, and went straight to Goole Police Station to report what he had seen.

He described what he saw to the best of his ability, because the person had a hooded coat on. He explained how to get to where he had seen the incident to the two officers who were leaving the police station. On Friday, May 18, I received a letter from Chief Superintendent Divisional Commander P. Geenty of Humberside Police, stating that because no further evidence had come to light no officer would visit me. This letter was written on May 16, suggesting to me that the police officers had not reported the information they had been given about the sighting

To me, this just added insult to injury. This is the second time I have suffered this kind of treatment from the Goole Police. In July, 2005, when someone smashed into my garage - doing considerable damage - I had to find the culprit by warning all garages in Goole what had happened and if a car of a particular colour came in for repair to let me know.

I supplied all photographs of the damage but I was told it is not in the interest of the public to prosecute. After all the propaganda we are given about how policing in the Humberside area has improved it just goes to show that's all it is, just propaganda. It appears that one has to do one's own policing to catch the criminals because the police do not have the time.

INJURED AND INSULTED

* Sam Lane, spokesperson for Humberside Police, said: "When the burglary was reported to police, scenes of crime officers attended the property to conduct a forensic examination. The name of a possible suspect was given to police and a witness who reported to have seen a possible suspect was contacted by police to obtain the details. Officers do not close an investigation and if new evidence comes to light it is investigated appropriately."Anyone who may know the whereabouts of the stolen bikes now or who has any information in relation to the burglary is asked to contact police on 0845 60 60 222 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."