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February 04, 2007
Dispatch from Not-So-Great Britain, Part the Second
Did you hear about the doctor whose home was burgled? The thieves got away with computers containing irreplaceable patient data -- as well as a lifetime of family photos, but the cops couldn't be bothered with such an insignificant crime, refusing to send an officer to the crime scene to take a report.
So the good doctor posted signs in his neighborhood, offering a reward for the return of the pilfered PCs, no questions asked.
Finally, the cops had a crime they could solve, and a criminal they weren't afraid to pursue.
Yeah, you guessed right.
It's illegal for a private citizen to post a reward for the return of stolen goods, making the doctor a criminal.
Let me rephrase: it's a crime to purchase stolen property, and in England, the fact that you're buying back your own bloody stuff is no excuse!
According to the Daily Mail, this is just a taste of the stupidity that seems to have afflicted the once-formidable British law enforcement establishment.
The Mail revealed this month how the Met was refusing to send officers to burglaries if the culprit had fled the scene – instead dispatching civilian ‘scenes of crime’ staff to examine for signs of a break-in.
Senior officers claim this actually improves detection rates because potential clues such as fingerprints or DNA evidence are retrieved sooner.
Dr Chan’s case is the latest in a series of bizarre police investigations.
A pub landlady from Somerset was investigated by police last June for inciting racial hatred.
Her ‘crime’ was to devise a St George’s Day celebration featuring children throwing homemade arrows at the dragon on a Welsh flag.
In early 2006, the crown prosecution service was forced to drop public order charges against an Oxford University student for calling a mounted policeman’s horse ‘gay’.
A police spokesman later said that the remarks had been ‘offensive to the policeman and his horse’.
And the reason why we should pay attention to what the rest of the world thinks is what?
They've gone insane.
Posted by Mike Lief at February 4, 2007 08:32 PM
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