I have seen several cases, most recently last week, of a mean little scam in which a couple of low-lifes phone up to have pizzas delivered, and ambush the unfortunate delivery person on his moped, stealing the pizzas as well as any cash they are carrying. In one case they took the moped as well, although that was soon recovered.
Pizza delivery people are low-paid part time workers who are alone and vulnerable, usually at night. The offence involves pre-planning, and I think that the perpetrators can think themselves lucky to have been charged only with theft from the person, rather than robbery.
I entirely agree.
ReplyDeleteFrankly I am appalled by the theft charge; I have seen this offence a couple of times, and robbery has been on the sheet both times.
Lucky if it's only robbery:
Deletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-24739725
When I was working overnight in Docklands in the early 2000s, the local lads would randomly hang around the entrance to the office park and ambush our pizza deliverers when they arrived. The police took no interest.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know the police took no interest ? Comments like this really make my blood boil. I spent 2 years working in a robbery squad and we dealt with incidents like this on a daily basis. Sadly, we rarely had enough information to identify, let alone charge suspects - most of the crimes happened at night in the dark and the suspects usually wear hoods over their faces so we never even had a description. The phones are usually throw away mobiles so we did not know who they belonged to. Even more sad, many of the delivery drivers viewed this as an occupational hazard and would not give statements to us because it meant having to take time off work to talk to the police (when they are paid by the hour taking time off is not easy.) So even if we did have a suspect, without a witness statement and someone willing to go to court the case would be going nowhere.
DeletePeople glibly throw out statements about the police taking no interest. Obviously I am biased - I am a police officer - but we do take robbery very seriously. But it is a crime that is based on speed and fear and it can be very hard to get to court. Even if we do get a charge, many defendants will plead not guilty knowing that the victim will not come to court to give evidence.
It's really frustrating to investigate these offences and get nowhere. It's even more frustrating when people think that no court result means you can't be bothered.
In my experience as a victim of crime on several occasions, I would know that the police took no interest because the only action they took was to give us a crime number for insurance purposes.
DeleteSo it sounds like communication is the problem then Carrie as every reported crime is subject to some form of investigation. That investigation should always be proportionate though and that tends to be the bugbear of most victims.
DeleteCarrie, if someone came and spoke to you, took details of the crime (and obviously I don't know what those crimes were) they were conducting an investigation. So they did take an interest. In my experience - and I do not speak for any local force, only for myself - that first visit will probably be the only investigation as there is rarely any other evidence or lines of enquiry that we can pursue to find the perpetrator. If the offender was not seen (so no witnesses) and if there is no forensic evidence the crime will be closed. Does that mean the police took no interest ? No, it just means there is nothing else we can do. Nowadays, the initial investigator (i.e. the officer who comes to the scene) should be telling people whether there will be more enquiries or whether there is nothing left that can be done to identify the suspect and the investigation will be closed. In my experience, when I spoke to most victims of crime and explained this they understood. And they really needed the crime number for insurance purposes.
DeleteAnnoyed DC - you are absolutely right, communication is the key. When my car was stolen, when we had a break-in we were given a crime number over the phone, no other communication. When the house was set alight as burglars left, the police attended briefly but there was no further communication. If they had only spoken to us as though we were human beings and also had explained the process, we would not have felt so aggrieved.
DeleteI am curious as to why the fact that deliverers of pizza are low-paid part-time workers is relevant to the crime? Would the crime not be equally reprehensible if the victim who was lured into ambush had a full-time white collar job and a mortgage?
ReplyDeletePerhaps it goes towards Vulnerable Victim, an established aggravating factor. Also there is the fact that they are serving the public. It's all in the Guidelines.
ReplyDelete