If YOU become a victim of crime who do you expect to investigate? Who is responsible for identifying and arresting the criminals so that they may be brought to court and, hopefully, to justice? On television we are used to seeing a dedicated team of detectives working day and night on ONE JOB. In reality many detectives are SINGULARLY responsible for resolving over 20 investigations, with limited time and resources for each one.
With the current cuts threatening our jobs and safety we have heard a lot about the everyday risks and dangerous situations that uniformed police officers deal with on a daily basis. Too right, because we put ourselves out there every shift. We carry on in the face of adversity, even though we feel mostly unappreciated by society. Upon catching the bad guys (yes… this happens VERY often, contrary to what you are led to believe by SOME) we hand them over to the men in suits and trust that our initial hard work will be continued in interview and beyond. When we say ‘See you in court,’ we are actually hoping that we will.
How will the cuts in budget and numbers of police officers affect the investigation of crime? CID are feeling the pinch, leaving them with more jobs to investigate and less detectives to deal.
‘Well, so what?’ I hear you say. We’re all dealing with the economic downturn, why should the everyday public care about cuts in policing? I’ll tell you why.
What happens if the detective responsible for investigating YOUR case already has over 20 crimes to deal with? What happens if they are so overworked that they can’t give each job the time and attention it deserves, prioritising instead the ‘larger’ jobs and putting yours to the bottom of the pile? I’ve been talking to a good friend and respected colleague of mine to try to bring you a picture of ‘the real CID’. Under Winsor’s thumb and being slowly strangled by increased budget cuts and decreased levels of morale. Let’s call him DC Busy.
DC Busy works for a London borough. Here’s what he currently has on his books. Twenty crimes in total, all of which he is solely responsible for investigating:
6 x possession with intent to supply (Drug Dealing)
1 x Production of Class A (making drugs)
4 x fraud offences (including one to a value of over £100,000!)
1 x Attempted murder (multiple stab wounds to female victim – not domestic)
3 x Grievous Bodily Harm
1 x possession firearm
1 x computer misuse
2 x drugs into prison (visitor or staff smuggling drugs into prison)
1 x sexual assault.
Ok, you may think, so 20 is not that many! Maybe you’re right…..but now have a look at what he has to do for EACH CRIME.
Victims:
Contact victims
Update victims
Obtain written statements (average 2 – 3 hours)
Witnesses:
Canvass area for witnesses, door to door, etc.
Locate witnesses
Statements from witnesses
Suspects:
Obtain suspect descriptions
Identify suspects
Locate suspects
Research suspects (multiple intelligence checks)
If suspect can’t be found circulate him/her as wanted (more forms to fill in)
Arrest suspects (arrange a full arrest team which varies in size depending on risk the suspect poses)
Interview suspects (including contacting and arranging solicitors, appropriate adults, interpreters, etc)
Prosecute suspects (see below)
Write up full case files for court
Obtain CPS advice
Present all the evidence
Arrange identification procedures
Arrange search of suspects address if necessary (then seize, package and exhibit any further evidence found)
Bail or remand suspects
Scene:
Visit scene
Seize evidence
Package all evidence
Send evidence to forensic labs (fill out paperwork for each exhibit)
CCTV:
Locate all possible sources of CCTV near scene (visit on foot)
Attempt to contact owners of possible CCTV evidence
Arrange to visit, view and seize any CCTV evidence.
View ALL CCTV (for a large scene this could be hours and hours of footage)
Obtain stills of any suspects and circulate them for identification.
I will stop there. I think you have the picture. There’s probably much that I have missed and the time that it takes to actually carry out each of these actions simply cannot be appreciated by reading them alone.
Now, lets take a look at one of the victim’s in these cases. What if YOU were the lady who was brutally attacked and stabbed over 15 times with such force that the handle of the knife broke off? I think you would expect that your case was investigated fully by a dedicated DC using all resources that the Metropolitan Police Service has to offer, so you should. Now, I know for a FACT that DC Busy is a hard-working and diligent officer who cares greatly about his victims. He found it difficult to arrange time to visit the victim on the day after her attack because the Senior Management Team wanted him to arrest the suspect wanted for Computer Misuse. There are certain ‘targets’ to meet once a suspect has been identified and a quick arrest means a good result for the Borough. So, back to you, sitting in hospital after suffering a horrific attack. How do you feel when no one turns up to explain to you what is happening? Luckily for you, DC Busy arranged to visit you ON HIS WAY HOME, unpaid and in his own time, so that you could be updated and reassured that the police were doing the best they could to bring your assailant to justice. Not every DC would do this. They shouldn’t have to.
The simple fact of the matter is, if there were more DC’s available that day then both jobs could have been achieved without DC Busy having to work unpaid. The current cuts will reduce the number of DC’s even further meaning that more victims WILL be left feeling like the police just don’t care. It is unavoidable. On speaking to DC Busy I can clearly see that it’s not just uniformed police who are feeling overworked, under appreciated and trapped in a job that seems to be constantly changing for the worst. Most police officers want to do right by the public, they want to bring criminals to justice and they want to go home to their families every night without the overwhelming burden of disappointed victims on their shoulders. We are all working towards a common goal. A goal which is being dragged off into the distance by Winsor whilst May throws insults at us from the sidelines.
I hope that you NEVER become a victim of crime. If you do, I hope that enough people will have stood up against the police cuts to affect a change and that the DC Busy’s out there can again feel proud to be detectives.
Thank you for reading.
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