To think when you have CCTV evidence of two thefts by the same person the police should come out.

[AlexanderHamilton]

We reported a theft at work on Monday, two separate incidents. Same perpetrator, we can identify them. We have reason to believe they may return.

Its now Friday and still no-one has come out.

I know police are overstretched but its several hundred pounds of cash and over a thousand pounds worth of goods.

You're right about them being overstretched, if you watch any of the cop programmes you'll see that they are busy dealing with drunks, people with mental health issues and domestic violence which all need immediate attention. The resolution better mental health management and more police.

Are there any witnesses who saw the alleged thief entering, loitering etc to back up the CCTV images?

If you believe you can prove who they are, you can launch a civil claim to recover the money.

You go to them. Not hard.

I wonder if you could put it on social media and get it shared /retweet enough to go viral would the public exposure and the disgust of the general public make the police do something about it...

Have they arranged any appointments to come and see you? (Although these are obviously subject to cancellation)

If you are in an area affected by Trumps visit then the wait may be longer than normal.

If you are not happy with the current situation regarding police availability in your area, I would recommend speaking to your local MP and police crime commissioner who are the people who actually can influence how much money is available to the police and help increase police numbers.

The situation with policing is abysmal.

Recently, one of my family was awoken in the early hours of a weekday morning by the piercing screams of a man in the street - ‘help please, somebody let me in.’ There was also lots of banging. My family member looked out of the window but couldn’t see anything, except lots of other neighbours standing around looking, and with phones in their hands, so they too went outside to look.

The man had been shaking gates and banging frantically on windows and doors for help, and started screaming repeatedly ‘he’s got a knife.’ Two other men came running behind him, also doing the same. All the neighbours had been calling the police, and a brave neighbour made the decision to let the men shelter in their house.

As they were going into the house, a naked man wielding a huge knife that looked like a scythe came running up the road shouting and screaming, demanding to know where the men were. Everybody ran inside as quickly as possible, and the man with the knife hammered on the doors, shouting threats to the residents and their families, and ran up and down the road for nearly 2 hours doing this before the police finally arrived.

This was a truly terrifying event for all concerned. It’s terrible that they still haven’t visited you, but if it took 2 hours for them to arrive for what could’ve been a massacre of many people, then I’m not very surprised.

Our country is in a dreadful state with massive cuts to policing, education and mental health (amongst others). It is very frightening.

We are nowhere near Trump.

The images are crystal clear. There were also two earlier thefts but only circumstantial evidence (was seen entering the building on the days the thefts occured and spent too long inside) so extra cameras were installed.

Was told on Tuesday someone would visit within the hour. Was told yesterday 72 hours from when we reported it. This morning was told an officer would be in touch shortly.

I wonder if you could put it on social media and get it shared /retweet enough to go viral would the public exposure and the disgust of the general public make the police do something about it...

Or the person in the video goes to the police, and the OP finds themself up on a charge of cyber bullying ? Two wrongs don't make a right and all that.

The bottom line is you can't keep creating new criminal offences for the police to deal with (especially ones that involve them sitting at comfy computer terminals ....) and reduce their budget, and expect to have the same level of service.

You get the criminal justice system you are prepared to pay for.

A lot of police forces - mine certainly - have issued statements about having to target resources carefully.

A. That woudl give him warning that we know about the second incident

B. We may be in breach of GDPR regulations.

The person admitted one incident and we agreeed not to pursue it as they appeared apologetic. However the very next day they commited another incident.

Re GDPR I’m sure there is a legal gateway to processing of data in the public interests or the administration of justice.
No one should be able to get away with criminal activities by relying on refusing to allow their data to be processed.

Disclaimer I’m not an expert just had some training in work.

They will be in touch when they can. They aren’t sitting idle, it’s just constant pressure of incoming incidents, some of which have to take priority.

In their view, you have excellent cctv and it’s a known offender so there’s no risk of losing evidence by delaying the visit if something more urgent comes in. Unfortunately in this position - evidence which isn’t going to expire and a situation that’s happened rather than on going, it’s going to be one of the lowest priority jobs (opposed to incidents which are ongoing or forensic evidence which may be lost). It’s certainly not ideal, we are very very aware of it.

We are allowed to pass the data on to the police but I think we would be in very dodgy territory putting the images on the internet.

What we are afraid of is that some of the items may have already been sold on etc. Also the person has keys to a vehicle they are refusing to return.

Even though you may not be in area where Trump is, you may find that a number of officers have been deployed to his visit.

This has been one of the busiest weeks ever for forces, particularly English ones.

Expect the property to be gone. The police wouldn't have necessarily gotten a warrant for his house anyway, it's not automatic after a theft.

OP you are going to have to move the vehicle to a secure location and if he never gives the keys back, pay to have the locks changed/reprogrammed. You would have to do this regardless of whether the police are involved or not.

Also whoever owns the premises needs to ban him from it. So if he enters tell him he must leave, and of he refuses escort him out every single time. If he kicks off and assaults anyone then call the police.

The locks to the premises have been changed along with the locks to the gate where the vehicles are kept. The thefts took place out of hours.

Can you not go down to the station yourself OP you might get the ball rolling quicker

I reckon if he doesn't hear soon the boss might end up doing that!

Oddly enough whilst we were in the process of trawling through the CCTV we also came across an incident of drink driving & fly tipping on our car park by a complete stranger!

Unfortunately the police don’t tend to prioritise standard business theft or shoplifting unless it involves violence/an immediate threat or a high monetary value. You may be better off getting legal advice and chasing this person through civil proceedings.

Even if the police arrived, they would take their absolute sweet time investigating this - so he wouldn’t have been arrested or charged any time soon.

If you’re acting as a business rather than an individual, don’t upload the cctv online as you’d probably be in breach of GDPR. It’s different than say a homeowner releasing cctv of the theft of their car outside their home for example. Even the police have to be careful when uploading cctv of suspects. Doesn’t your company have a legal department to deal with this? At the very least, your boss should be chasing this up rather than you.

OP the drink driving and fly tipping are up to your boss to sort out as well. So it looks like more than one individual needs to be banned from your premises.

Btw attacks on the person are considered more serious than theft of property, which is why large retailers use civil recovery.

I’m not chasing it up. I just posted in general frustration. I had to give permission for a camera to be installed that over looked my desk. It feels horrible that our trust has been betrayed.

We are a small family run business. No legal dept.