C4 dispatches did a lawless Britain documentary earlier in the week. I know figures are probably manipulated to help the programme along but the “screening out “ figures are interesting. Vehicle Crime: Last year there were more than 450,000 vehicle offences in England and Wales, including both thefts of cars and items from inside them. Of the 21 Forces who provided comparable data for Vehicle Offences, on average nearly 60% (59.51%) was being screened out. West Yorkshire - 81% (80.65%) Wiltshire - 72% (71.62%) Staffordshire - 64% ‘telephone resolved’ (63.91%) Martin Innes, criminologist: “Criminal damage offences and vehicle-related offences are important because they are what criminologists refer to as gateway offences so those are, if you like, the kind of offending that individuals use when they are launching their criminal career. “That’s the kind of thing where people learn how to commit crime, they learn the lifestyle, they learn the contacts that they need to disperse the stuff that they steal …and we know from pretty good evidence from research that if people engage in these kind of gateway type offences and if they are not caught and intercepted than they are more likely to go on and continue to offend at greater levels and engage in more serious forms of crime.” The whole report is here http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/lawless-britain-where-are-the-police-channel-4-dispatches i suppose it’s a case of choosing your ‘job’ depending on the county.
