Only one in every 50 thefts from cars in Croydon ends in arrest or charge
By Gareth Davies
-
CRIME FIGURE: Only two per cent of thieves who steal property from cars in Croydon end up being arrested or charged Photo No: CCRdf051108d
IF your sat-nav, handbag or mobile phone is stolen from your car in Croydon there is only a two per cent chance of police catching the culprits.
Newly-released crime figures show that in the 2009/10 financial year there were 3,092 thefts from cars across the borough.
But only 57 of the offences resulted in arrests or charges, according to the British Crime Survey.
The survey shows Croydon's police force fell below the national average for robberies, violent crimes and car thefts.
Only 14 per cent of the 1,624 Croydon robberies led to an arrest or charge, compared to 20 per cent of total robberies across England and Wales.
The survey's figures also show the number of robberies in Croydon has risen by 15 per cent from 1,407 the year before.
And, of the 7,074 violent crimes, only one third resulted in an arrest or charge.
The number of burglaries between April 2009 and March 2010 also increased, in comparison to the previous year, by seven per cent from 2,547 to 2,720.
This conflicts with Met Police figures, which showed that from the start of June 2009 to the end of May 2010 burglaries were down by eight per cent compared to the previous year.
The latter figure led to Croydon's borough commander Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts, when interviewed last month, to hail the fall in burglaries as his greatest achievement during his first year in charge of the borough.
Responding to the British Crime Survey figures, Superintendent Dave Stringer of Croydon police said: "We're very encouraged by the rise in detection rates for domestic burglary but disappointed by the overall rise in burglary figures and we'll continue to focus on reducing this crime type this year.
"These figures also confirm what we have been saying for some time, that we need to focus on violent crime – particularly violent crime committed in the home and against young people."
It has been widely acknowledged that Croydon town centre has become a safer place over the last year to 18 months.
But some of the crime appears to have been pushed into areas like Broad Green and Thornton Heath.
As a result, Chief Superintendent Roberts intends to set up two new safer neighbourhood team bases, one in Windmill Road, Broad Green, and another close to London Road, Thornton Heath.
Mr Stringer revealed that other measures are being introduced, including the creation of a new team to focus on "violent crime and harassment".
As a result of this, motorists in Croydon should not expect to see a drastic improvement in the rate at which car thieves are caught.
Mr Stringer explained: "Whilst we will take every opportunity to reduce vehicle crime and catch those responsible, we have to focus on domestic burglary and violent crime.
"However, we have set up a motor vehicle and drugs unit to target those who commit acquisitive crime and encourage such incidents through the supply of illegal drugs."
4 Comments
by Dave, South Croydon
Thursday, August 19 2010, 3:20PM
“in reply to Mike:
When the police have a vehicle that they can't be bothered to forensicate, or can't be bothered to collect a murder weapon from a neigbouring police district, or actually turn up to a crime in progress, then how can the police actually catch/charge anyone!!! Evidence may be there but if they can't be arsed to do anything, then the criminals win.”
by Dave, South Croydon
Thursday, August 19 2010, 3:16PM
“This doesn't surprise me one bit. Croydon have been a joke in the MET for years and have already proven themselves woefully inadiquate on a number of levels from Burglary, Murder to Vehicle Crime.
More often than not Croydon officers will never follow up and visit 'victims' of crime, nor in most cases even bothered completing any paperwork and instead closing cases due to 'Lack of Evidence' in some cases when they have not even looked at evidence in thier posession.
Croydon as a borough must me investigated with great urgency, as they are such a joke even the criminals are 'commuting' to Croydon to commit crimes as they all know Croydon are so inept they wont ever get caught, we should count ourselves lucky that the surrounding areas are well policed as they are the ones who sucessfully close Croydon's open case logs.
It's a massive shame that any complaint is handled by Croydon themselves, so things are never sorted and ALWAYS swept under the proverbial carpet.”
by misterkipling, Croydon
Friday, August 06 2010, 8:49PM
“Sounds like theres never been a better time to be a car thief”
by Mike, Ex Croydon
Friday, July 30 2010, 9:35AM
“The trouble is often the police know who is likely to have committed many of the crimes but of course you have to have enough evidence to get to court.However if certain individuals are off the street for a while car crime drops and these are the names that the police often have in the forefront of their minds.
My nieces car was broken into along with others in her street, the police found some blood on her car and arrested the thief after a few days as he was known to them in fact he had only been out of prison for five days before he started re-offending.”