The body which represents police officers in England and Wales says up to 40,000 front-line jobs could go if the anticipated 25 per cent budget cuts take place. The Police Federation has said it was inevitable crime would go up if these conditions prevail.
Worried relatives are demanding security measures, including CCTV, be installed at a Cambridgeshire cemetery, believing that two thefts could just be the tip of the iceberg and that another family might be put through the trauma. Campaigner Penny Thornton arrived at her mother Patricia Shears’ grave to find a bronze statue, which was secured to the gravestone, had been stolen some time between then and her previous visit to the Eastfield Cemetery in Peterborough.
Concerns have been raised about signs put up in a Portsmouth neighbourhood to deter wrong-doers after a spate of criminal damage. Police install the signs for short periods of time in crime hot spots at the request of the local safer neighbourhood teams or crime prevention officers.
A deception involving a false passport meant a woman passed herself off as someone else undetected for seven years. The ruse of Qamar Yasmeen was only rumbled when the woman whose documents were used renewed her passport at the Passport Services offices in Liverpool in July last year. Staff found that a passport had been issued with Yasmeen’s photograph and address.
An official campaign is under way in Southampton to tell the south coast citizens that crime there is much lower than they think. Overall crime fell by more than a tenth last year, and violent incidents in the city centre at night time plummeted by nearly a third. The city dwellers are tending to think otherwise, therefore police and council chiefs in tackling the fear of crime are getting their message across that the city is safer, using an advertising campaign.
Defence counsel at Exeter Crown Court Warren Robinson said his client had never intended to harm Devon petrol station cashier Stevie Harper in a robbery attempt. He explained the use of a stone in the crime by David Fairbairn, who was caught on CCTV. "It was not a sophisticated crime," said Mr Robinson. "He was on CCTV but did not attempt to disguise himself during the robbery.
The Government is embarking on its own ‘clampdown’ – it has announced that wheel clamping on private land will be banned in England and Wales. It hopes the legislation will be introduced during the winter. Once it is in place, anyone who clamps a vehicle or tows it away on private land will face tough penalties. The ban will also apply to towing away and all other forms of vehicle immobilisation.
Police and insurance assessors are continuing to add up the cost of the haul snatched from De Beers in the Royal Exchange shopping arcade in the City of London. Jewels to the value of several million pounds were stolen in a matter of minutes by a gang. One source said thieves ‘cleaned out’ the exclusive store. It is understood the shopping courtyard was protected only by wrought iron gates joined by a chain and padlock more suitable for securing bicycles.
A criminal who fled from both court and open prison has had 21 months added to his sentence, which already numbered 14 and a half years for armed robbery. The prison service said it was investigating why he was deemed minimum risk. Following a "rigorous assessment", the prison service said David Patmore was placed in Sudbury Open Prison in Derbyshire, from which he absconded and then recaptured.
Campaign group the Criminal Justice Alliance agreed that crime had been falling in recent years but said many offences were not reported. Jon Collins, the CJA’s campaign director, said that a recent overview of crime trends was accurate, adding it was a sign “that the recession has not yet led to the predicted rise in crime.