to mind that the police have treated me like a criminal

[gingeroots]

locked bike to railings ,on return found crossbar badly dented where someone had presumably been twisting bike against lock .
Insurance want crime reference nos - police refuse to give one -
"we're not here to give crime reference numbers "
"we can't verify that this is how bike was dented - the wind could have done it "
The position and type of dents ,imo ,make it obvious that someone has been wrenching the bike against the lock - but as well as telling me that they know nothing about bikes ,there was no interest in seeing the damaged bike .

So basically they think I'm lying .
Great.

To be honest, it probably is just mindless thuggery/boredom. It's sadly quite common. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be entitled to your crime reference no. DH spends a lot of time investigating crimes that have no outcome at all. And dh has never, ever, ever not investigated something to make his detection rates look better. He does his best to help everybody.

And dh doesn't mind being bugged at work. He's a safer neighbourhood officer, it's his area of interest. Sadly, tonight is Saturday night so they all get to do Public Order which is the official name for patrolling around the city's nightlife herding the tipsy and the jolly. He's probably glad of the distraction.

Ginger
You don't have a "right" to a crime reference number. Under National Crime Recording Standards if the victim believes that a crime has occurred then a crime should be recorded unless as SOH stated that there is credible evidence to the contrary.

There is a lot of pressure on officers to ensure they only record crimes when there is evidence to confirm a crime has occurred. We have had a false reporting unit in the past for burglaries as there have been a lot of cases of students reporting "burglaries" when their laptop is stolen just prior to dissertation needing to be submitted which wasn't backed up [hmmm]

I have to say though that it does sound like you have been dealt with by an arse. Every company has them - even the police and everyone remembers a bad experience far more than any good experience.

if you are not happy then complain - you would do it for any other service you received and you are entitled to complain

Hi.If you are not happy with how you were treated by the CSO, you can ring the station and ask to speak to the Sargeant,(sp), and complain. I did this once, after a conversation with a very curt officer, and the Sargeant apologised.

Thats exactly what it is - you try and report ebay fraud and they don't want to know. Response "it is not their policy to investiate ebay crimes" fortunately i had done my research, was able to point out they are not allowed to pick and chose what crimes they investigate and quoted the relevant parts of the fraud act and they are now investigating.

most people would have given up and accepted the loss - police dont' want to investigate crime as they are judged on results

MDUK, your last statement is a bit offensive. As SG said, all companies, all services, all walks of life, all contain arses. Don't dismiss the entire police service in one biased and unfounded statement.

They do no 'pick and choose' which crimes they investigate.

I thought if you reported a possible crime they made a record of it and provided an incident number (not a crime number), even if they don't intend to investigate further. That's what's always happened whenever I've reported anything.

MDUK- please dont bunch all police officers together- they are not all the same. When I worked in the police we investiaged lots of ebay crimes. However- I believe this situation will not improve due to the impending cuts.

I agree with MDUK in some areas (especially in London) there is a reluctance by police to investigate crime because they are judged on the results.

Very few police stations will allow you to report stolen mobile phones unless you have been robbed - which of cousre is a very serious offence.

Whilst living in London the police refused to take details of an occassion where a man tried to snatch a mobile out of DH's hand (whilst he was carrying DD- grr) on the basis they couldn't "verify his story".

My car was driven into and I was then assualted (7 months pregnant) when I got out to exchange details - Police told me that there was no point me making a statement as there was no CCTV and it was "my word against his" (despite him clearly being a thug who assualts pregnant woman and me being a 30something professional).

And a kitchen fitter stole DH's mobile from our house and again the repsonse was how do you know you didn't actually lose it -FFS.

More recently (and this is out in the suburbs) my lovely new car was keyed: two lines right down the wing. Reported it as criminal damage and again a refusal to take the details as I couldn't "prove how it happened". Oh forgive me I thought that was your job.....

And breath!