About seven weeks ago I had to report a crime to the police. One of our employees had been systematically stealing money from us over a period of weeks to the tune of several thousand pounds. I won't go into all the details, but basically he confessed to us at the point where he knew he was likely to be caught very soon because he was unable to replace the money or hide the evidence that it was him. When he realised the game was up he decided to confess.
We sacked him, obviously. He apologised, blamed personal problems and promised to repay the money as soon as he could.
I was told when I reported the crime that as he'd admitted it in writing (he sent me a long text explaining why he'd done it and exactly how much he'd stolen) and was not on the run it was a low priority/low urgency case but that he would be arrested and charged. Fair enough. I informed the employee that he should expect a call from the police as we would be pressing charges. He was expecting that and said he would cooperate fully.
I was then asked to give a statement over the phone about 4 weeks ago (yes it took another three weeks from reporting the crime and being given a reference number to be asked for a statement.)
I'd heard nothing since. Until this morning. At 6am my phone rings, wakes me up, and I ignore it because it's from an undisclosed number. But a voice mail is left.
It's the police officer dealing with the case. He was ringing me at SIX A.M IN THE MORNING to tell me that the ex-employee had just been arrested earlier that morning and was now in the station awaiting interview.
WTAF? If it's such a low priority, open and shut case, where the person has confessed to a relatively minor crime and had not absconded, why would they not just phone him and ask him to come to the station for an interview? Was it really necessary to knock on the door and wake the whole family up in the early hours of the morning?
And was it also necessary, having waited seven weeks to arrest the man at all, to wake me up to tell me about it? 