to think the police were monumentally useless when handed a crime on a plate

[mamateur]

my DB and SIL lost all their belongings out of the boot of their car at a hotel last week. They were staying the night and DB was leaving for the US the next morning for work, so his passport went along with his laptop, all their clothes (their best stuff, of course, for their first overnight without the children and foster children in years). None of it is covered by their insurance and they are pretty hard up.

Fortunately, his computer has a clever programme that films and tracks, so we could SEE these guys using the computer, and pinpoint their address to the nearest 3 houses. We sent the police the googlemap showing exactly which houses it was, and also the pics of them using the computer which were incredibly clear - as good as a photo. Meanwhile they logged into and drained his paypal account, ebay and bank (no passwords on the computer so they knew their stuff) and spent a fortune, obviously.

An ebay seller was suspicious and got their registration plate, so we had that too.

This was all on Saturday. We waited with with glee for the police to snap the cuffs on them. They didn't go round there till TUESDAY and found nothing (they were alerted by ebay thing that someone was on to them). They made an arrest but I don't know if it'll stick. They could have cracked a major gang - I don't think it was their first crime.

It's a shame the police didn;t get there quicker, yes, but I suppose they must have been busy with other things.

And I'm sorry to be critical and unhelpful when your DB and SIL are clearly in a shitty situation, but why did they leave so much valuable stuff in the car in the first place?

It was very silly i know. THey arrived just in time for the dinner which was organized for DB because he is leaving the charity he set up to start a new one. It was such a nice hotel they thought it would be ok for a couple of hours.

I hate to say it but they do have other crimes to solve you know

I do find it breathtakingly naive of them to leave all that stuff in the car.

Hope it all works out though.

well, IF they were all busy solving blood crimes then I would completely understand.

to be fair, DB and SIL aren't bemoaning their bad luck or anything, they know it was a mistake to leave the stuff, although it was out of sight. THey just feel frustrated that the police could have cracked a fairly professional outfit and saved others from going through the same.

I've replaced SIL's rocket dogs which she can't live without

I agree with you the police are bieng useless and theres no excuse of "solving other crimes" due to the fact there are meant to be enough of them to deal with different types of crime. You are right this may well be a gang.

Someone in my family had a very expensive car stolen. The police tracked the car and it was being driven by 2 young guys and some young girls they had picked up (probably by using the flash car).
They let them get out the car and run off and only managed to secure the one girl who clearly had not stolen it.
They then found the one guys wallet, complete with photo ID. Still didnt manage to track him down though.
In future, dont pay your council tax, they'll soon be round.

Next time go to the palce where stolen computer is being used and threaten to go in and get it back unless the Police come and stop you :-)

It was definitely a gang, there are lots of shots of them huddled round the computer. One man's son is in on it too.

I just can't imagine they get so much great evidence very often, they would certainly have got them for other stuff too, if they'd had the element of surprise. Coincidentally, just found out the cashpoint DP used last night had a fake cover on it and they've dug 2.7k out of his bank account (lot more than I've ever managed to get )

Manfrom, like your style, but boy they looked mean!