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Mark Andrews: When the police hand ‘get out of jail free’ cards to the thieves

By Mark Andrews

Copyright expressandstar

Mark Andrews: When the police hand 'get out of jail free' cards to the thieves

Ever wondered if the person sitting next to you on the bus, train or tram is up to no good? Wondered what they are fidgeting with inside their thick coat on a hot day?

Well, it seems there’s a scam going on, where thieves steal contactless card machines out of shops, and use them to scam money out of the bank card you have in your wallet.

A couple of weeks ago, it appears one such criminal tried to swipe the card machine from Carver’s Building Supplies in Wolverhampton. Two of the store’s staff gave chase, wrestled the thief to the ground, and detained him more than half an hour while they waited for the Old Bill to turn up.

What happened next is truly remarkable. Did the officers thank the shop staff for preventing a serious crime that could have potentially seen dozens of people fleeced out of their hard-earned cash? Is the thief in custody, awaiting a reasonably hefty sentence? Well no. They let him go.

The store’s boss, Shropshire businessman Henry Carver, says his staff feel let down by the response. I’ll bet. Police say they agreed the matter should be dealt with by a ‘Community Resolution Order’.

Oh, pull the other one. I find it extremely hard to believe two shop assistants, having put their safety on the line to detain a thief, would then say: “I think this matter would be best dealt with by a Community Resolution Order.”

Indeed, I’d be surprised if they had even heard of a Community Resolution Order. I hadn’t until a few years ago. I| think they were ‘encouraged’ to take this route.

Community Resolution Orders were introduced as a way of dealing with minor offences without the need of going through the criminal justice system: officers suggest the offender can avoid prosecution if he performs some kind of forfeit.

But given that most of our police stations are now closed, that option is somewhat limited. On this occasion, it appears the penalty was that the thief would not be allowed to return to Carver’s. A nuisance if he is planning a kitchen extension, but I doubt he will lose too much sleep.

I suspect that these orders are becoming much more commonplace than we realise, and probably explain why police forces continually claim to be ‘solving’ more crimes, when this does not match up to the public’s experience.

Because as far as I can see, in this case, the police did not solve anything. They simply handed a ‘get out of jail free’ card to a serious offender.