By Robert Farago
May 6, 2008 - 3,416 views
To say motoring-related police enforcement and green-justified taxation has driven a wedge between the average UK citizen subject and Her Majesty's government would be an excellent example of British understatement. Literally every day we hear news of another "us vs. them" story, whereby motorists face new charges and/or the police punish them for what is, let's face it, normal behaviour (a.k.a. speeding). To wit: one in three of all licensed UK drivers have points on the license. And the hits keep happening. The Daily Mail reports that "a leaked memo has revealed that rank-and-file officers in the Norfolk force have been told that incidents such as car vandalism should not be classed as an offence when there is 'no idea how it happened.'" From the memo: "We appear to be making things difficult for ourselves by 'criming' things which aren't actually crimes. One example is where a car window is found to be damaged, no entry to vehicle, no witnesses and no idea how it happened. This has been recorded as criminal damage, even though there is no evidence to suggest it fits the definition. If there is no evidence of someone intending to destroy or be reckless then there is no crime." In other words, Norfolk crime figures are getting a bit of Shiatsu. I know what you're thinking. "The Association of British Insurers said claims for criminal damage would not be affected if police refused to issue crime numbers." So, if a 'scrote pushes a tree onto your car in The New Forest, does your car really exist?
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May 6th, 2008 at 9:08 am
So if I break someone’s window I’m just being nice?
John
May 6th, 2008 at 10:14 am
In the UK you are apparently.
And apparently real crime is impossible for them to deal with, so they brush it under the carpet and say that speeding is a crime since they know how to handle that.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Well you don’t have to go to the UK for this type of “police activity”. I was told last week that it’s really OK to back out of a parking space without looking and T-bone the car that was driving past (me). The police just flat out refused to write a report or even come take a look.
Now speeding on the other hand…there’s a percentage in that deal.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I was in an accident several years ago while in college. The guy who backed into me out of his parking spot had a cell phone and called the police. They said that since no one was injured they didn’t have the time to send a policeman to issue an accident report.
However, I think the above story goes well beyond my experience with a low speed fender bender. If there’s a broken windshield with a chunk of concrete in the middle of it or gang symbols painted on the side of a car, it doesn’t take a blind leap of faith to reach the conclusion that somebody maliciously damged the vehicle.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:58 am
You know, very early on in their careers, law students learn a handy latin phrase: res ipsa loquitur. It’s usually translated as “the thing speaks for itself.”
When you walk up to your car one fine afternoon and see that a window has been shattered, what causes could possibly be behind it? Assuming there are no hurricanes, or rhinos escaped from the zoo, and that car windows don’t spontaneously self-shatter, the best guess is that someone did it. The very fact that there is a broken window proves that some person broke the window, unless you have evidence to the contrary, because people (we know from experience) are the number one cause of broken car windows. Are we further to assume that even if people did it, the damage was accidental and non-criminal? Please, baseball is not that popular in the UK, and at any rate, causing accidental damage and then not leaving a note it itself probably some sort of hit-and-run, and again a crime.
Unless the Norfolk police force has conducted a new study (using all those CCTV security cameras that are so popular in the UK) and found out that, in general, the number one cause of broken car windows really is something benign, they are just being stupid, or gaming the crime stats.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:40 am
The good people of Norfolk must be pleased that their taxes are being used so effectively at stamping out crime.
There was a time when I just thought the politicians were a useless shower of … but now it appears the police are trying to get in on the all spin no trousers approach.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
This acceptance of the unacceptable is an excellent example of what Patrick Moynihan called “defining deviancy down.” It does accomplish a reduction in crime statistics, however, which allows all of us (except for the victims) to feel better. As for me, I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s observation that there are “liars, damned liars and statisticians.”
May 6th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
So how far do we let things go before the citizens revolt?
May 6th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
If they’re able to redefine enough types of crime as non-malicious coincidence Norfolk may become the safest place in the world!
May 6th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
This kind of thing isn’t new, and apparently happens everywhere. 6 years ago, the driver’s door window of my pickup truck was smashed on Christmas eve and my portable MP3-discman and good headphones were stolen.
I drove to the police station to file a report. The cop on duty basically said, “Why bother, we’ll never catch them.” I replied that my insurance company might want a report filed, so he reluctantly took my statement.
Then I phoned the insurance company. They said, “Don’t bother to file a claim; pay to get the window replaced yourself. Your policy has a $300 deductible so you’d be paying for most of it anyhow, and you’d lose your rate discount for being claim-free.”
Why do we pay these people again?
May 6th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Mike66Chryslers :
May 6th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Why do we pay these people again?
We pay those people to chase after potheads and businessmen doing cocaine, instead of thieves, rapists, and murderers, of course!
(That is, if one eliminated victimless crimes, the police would have more time to chase after actual criminals.)
May 6th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Apparently those in the UK pay the Police to go after people caught mooning said speed cameras:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/7378695.stm
No worries - the driver won’t be charged, however they want to talk to the owner to find the mooner.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Whenever I think things in the People’s Republic of New Jersey are bad, these UK stories pop up and make me feel better.
Then I realize we’re only 10-20 years behind the UK in reaching these levels of crime and non-punishment.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I see nothing at all wrong with this. This is a simple matter of classification based on evidence. If there is no evidence that a crime occurred, the incident is not classified as a crime. If your window is broken, nothing is taken, etc, then it is possible something fell from a tree, etc. Any indication of vandalism would still be treated as such. Quite simple, and sensible.
Now I`m not about to start defending their traffic policies…