House burgled a week ago, police not followed up yet.. advice please?

[sandi_84]

Ok my house was burgled just over a week ago (luckily the robbing ba****ds didn't get away with much), the police came to have a look round and take any forensic evidence there was and to take statements from my mum and me. They told us they'd be back on thursday just passed to take elimination dna from us both but they never came back to the house. When my mum called to see if they were still coming the officer she spoke to said no one on her shift was scheduled to come back to take more evidence. So we've had no follow up/news on how it's going or anything. I know that it wasn't a major crime or anything and so it won't take priority for them but it does make me feel like they just don't really care and aren't doing anything about it. It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd contacted us and said they didn't need our dna after all or something but we've not heard a peep from them.
What would you do?

 

[Holly Hocks]

I wouldn't want them taking my DNA to be honest! If you're arrested for something, fair enough - DNA taken - but otherwise they wouldn't be getting it from me, sorry!

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Sounds much the same as my neighbours experience unfortunately.

 

[sheep]

My ex's flat was burgled last year, they took laptops, TVs etc. At the time we were told it was unlikely that anything would happen; the chances of the burglars being caught were very slim. The police did take fingerprints, shoe prints etc but as it did not match any existing data they weren't really able to do much.

 

[sandi_84]

I wouldn't want them taking my DNA to be honest! If you're arrested for something, fair enough - DNA taken - but otherwise they wouldn't be getting it from me, sorry!

Why not? More annoyed that they haven't followed up at all.

 

[Holly Hocks]

Oh I would be more annoyed that they've not followed it up too!!

Your DNA will be kept on a database - it will always be there. Even people who are taken into custody and then released without charge always have their DNA kept for life on the DNA database - is that fair? It could be a totally false allegation from one person to another, but the DNA is kept, regardless.....


You could go somewhere where later on it's the scene of a crime - you know nothing about it, but your DNA could still be at the scene. George Orwell was right - Big Brother State. I don't believe that DNA should be taken until people are charged with an offence - but that's a totally different discussion.
I hope you get it sorted out. Good luck.

 

[perfect11s]

Sorry to hear about this and I doubt there is much they can do, the whole police model is wrong realy, stable and door springs to mind too many pushing paper about and not about on the beat to discourage crime....

 

[Hairy Old Cob]

Sorry to hear about your burglary, this is the sad state of our Police force today they are forever chasing targets low clear up conviction rate so not really interested, its much easier to target motorists. The Company I work for works nationwide and our sites are always being targeted by the "thieving community" nowadays you are lucky to even get a crime No off the Police let alone a visit our Co excess on theft is now 5K!

The reason Crime figures are dropping is because people now realise that Nothing Will Be Done so they dont bother reporting Incidents.

Most Motorists have the ability to pay so they are easy targets and good cash generators for the Police.

 

[Maesfen]

Sorry about your burglery, it's horrid, you feel violated yourself regardless of the value of what's been stolen.
Unfortunately, the poilice at least around here, won't even come out to a robbery, they'll just give you a case number for your insurance. Makes us so mad as for the last week, there has been a motoring crackdown; 4 police cars in one small village which is a long stretched out one so the speed limit is absurd. Caught one woman doing 33 in a 30 and she was just ten yards from her own door; they did her of course; also did a farmer friend and even breathalysed her at 10 am; they were very stroppy when she said she had been milking since 5 and asked them if they hadn't anything better to do such as catching burglers or God forbid actually going out to crimes instead of being sneaky in a village; she got a £60 fine and points for her cheek!

 

[Piglet]

I assume all the forces have the same procedure, normally once the Police have visited, you are given the option of been updatd on a regular basis or as and when any more info comes to light.

If you want to find out what is happening, ring up the Help Desk and quote the crime number and then a message should be left for the OIC to ring back and update you.

Unfortunately if there are no more leads, once enquiries are done and Scenes of Crime guys have done their bit, then the Police can't conjure up a perpetrator out of thin air, frustrating I know for the victim but most Officers DO give time to all crimes.

 

[doonrocket]

If they found anything useful in forensics, analysis may take a while with labs backed up due to Christmas etc. (could be up to 6 weeks around here).

Glad to see plenty of the forum have read "1984" but samples need to be taken from you for elimination purposes - it costs money to do a speculative search, on a sample collected that might turn out to be yours.

 

[Luci07]

And just to say maybe ask for advice on further securing your property. Thieves have a nasty habit of returning to steal the replacement items.

 

[SusieT]

'Caught one woman doing 33 in a 30 and she was just ten yards from her own door; they did her of course'
And your point is? Most accidents happen within a few miles of our home, so how far or close she was makes no difference. If she was just ten yards away I'm guessing she wasn't doing 33 and about to turn..? A speed limit is law. If you feel its an unfair speedl imit, campaign about it. But realistically-what harm does it do to slow down? None compared tot he harm excess speed does. Don't complain about getting fines/tickets for speeding, you knew the law and choose to break it!

 

[sandi_84]

Glad to see plenty of the forum have read "1984" but samples need to be taken from you for elimination purposes - it costs money to do a speculative search, on a sample collected that might turn out to be yours.

This made me smile

Just call up with your crime reference number (or incident number) and say you require an update asap from the officer in the case who is dealing with your burglary.

It may well be that he / she has nothing to update you with at the moment, and it's normal for victim updates to occur every 7 -10 days (but I'm sure they will be happy to call you back when next on duty).

Your DNA / fingerprints would have been required for elimination purposes if the crime scene officer has found some marks (to compare them to) and your DNA/fingerprints will NOT be held on file in these circumstances despite what others have told you.

Hope that helps.

Ok cheers everyone, it's highly unlikely whoever did it will be caught I know but I totally changed my plans for the day waiting for the boys in blue to come back again and was a bit miffed they never turned up... oh well never mind, life goes on

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Oh I would be more annoyed that they've not followed it up too!!

Your DNA will be kept on a database - it will always be there. Even people who are taken into custody and then released without charge always have their DNA kept for life on the DNA database - is that fair? It could be a totally false allegation from one person to another, but the DNA is kept, regardless.....


You could go somewhere where later on it's the scene of a crime - you know nothing about it, but your DNA could still be at the scene. George Orwell was right - Big Brother State. I don't believe that DNA should be taken until people are charged with an offence - but that's a totally different discussion.
I hope you get it sorted out. Good luck.

Errrrrrr wrong! If you are arrested & charged & convicted then any DNA is kept on the national DNA database. If your DNA is taken during an enquiry for elimination purposes or you are arrested charged but found not guilty the collected DNA sample is destroyed. A similar course is taken regarding fingerprint evidence taken under similar circumstances. They are also destroyed.

 

[Hairy Old Cob]

Sorry, this is a total load of tosh
!!!

I can only speak as I find with my dealings with various police forces across the country we had a Tele Handler stolen froms a site in london recorded on CCTV filmed being loaded with reg No visible I fully realise it was possibly a false plate on the lorry but no interest from the police 3 artic trailer loads of gear stolen from lay by outside Leicester minimal interest from police, to mention 2 incidents only, it is no wonder the police no longer have the respect that they deserve.

 

[Pedantic]

You have to remember that it's just a job to them, so no they won't actually care.

 

[Dizzle]

We were burgled in September. The only reason I have the crime reference is because I chased the police who haven't spoken to us since the morning after when they finger printed the flat. They advised us (and our neighbours) that we would receive full crime reference number in the post and a 'Victim of Crime' information pack.

Their attitude was very much "you've got insurance, you haven't lost out". I used to get really annoyed with people saying the police were useless but this and another incident recently have really shaken my trust in the service.

 

[Jake10]

Makes us so mad as for the last week, there has been a motoring crackdown; 4 police cars in one small village which is a long stretched out one so the speed limit is absurd. Caught one woman doing 33 in a 30 and she was just ten yards from her own door;

I thought you were legally allowed to do 10% above the speed limit so 33 in a 30 is acceptable and you shouldn't be fined/given points for it

 

[Piglet]

As a member of my local Police Force and Neighbourhood Team, part of my job is to check up on Victims of Crime whether it is an assault or anti social behavior, and update them on what is happening, I can only apogise for the behaviour of some Police Staff/Officers. Admittedly I cover rural villages over a big area so it is probably different in s big city, in all fairness, people must remember there are huge cut backs in the Police Force and there are far fewer Police and Police Staff - DON'T BLAME US, PICK ON THE GOVERNMENT WHO HAVE INSTIGATED THESE CUTS!!!