I Must put in a good word for the Avon and Somerset police in thelight of the gloomy headlines regarding the latest crime figures.
We were recently burgled, the front door being forced open as weslept.
From the start the response from the police was impressive.
Two officers came round that morning, offering reassurance as wellas taking notes.
They were followed minutes later by a Scene Of Crime officer, whocarefully identified possible fingerprints. Nonetheless, I did notexpect anyone to be caught, and a follow-up letter warned me theinvestigation might not lead to an arrest.
Weeks later detectives got back to me; the fingerprints matched.
An officer was round the next day to get a full statement, tellingme that the suspect was an ex-offender whom they had linked toseveral other crimes. The officer was courteous, helpful and verythorough when I made my statement.
An arrest has now been made, and I'm looking forward to seeingjustice done in cour t.
This wasn't a high-tech investigation or a high-profile crime; itwas just good, old-fashioned police-work.
To the police I say thank you.
To everyone else I say don't believe the doom-mongers; as theBritish Crime Survey shows, there's much less crime than a few yearsago, and the Avon and Somerset force deserve some credit for that.
Name and address supplied.
AS we live in a city where policemen seem to waste enormousamounts of time loitering in cars in side streets, waiting to pounceon motorists a few miles over the speed limit or with a back lightbroken, is it really any wonder they're failing to solve real crime?You remember - solving real crime - apparently it's what we paybizarrely high council tax for in this beleaguered city (well, and tobuild grotesque monuments in the city centre, but that's anotherstory entirely).
I've been burgled twice, the first time we knew who'd broken in asI had my neighbour as a witness who could provide an identity. Thepolice? Utterly disinterested.
We had one visit, were given a crime reference number - and thatwas the end of it.
No update, no result . . . but I did get a nice "victims of crime"leaflet.
The second time we were burgled we had a 24-hour wait for thepolice to even turn up, and then the finger print officers left moremess than the actual burglars.
It's a depressing fact that people in Bristol don't call thepolice thinking they may actually do their job and solve the crime,but only to get a crime reference number for the insurance companies.
It's high-time this force was placed on emergency performance-related wages.
It would be amazing to witness the rise in solved crimes then, andeven more welcome would be the disappearance of the infuriating cops-in-cars brigade, often seen lurking round areas of the city wherethey'd be far better deployed looking for criminals, not motorists.
Russ Thomas, by e-mail.
No comments:
Post a Comment