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SgWatchBaron
·Traded my VW Golf GTI for a second hand Jaguar XF-R in hope that it’ll better deter any would-be burglars. Alas, I had my car broken into over the weekend, first time this has ever happened to me. The burglar managed to disable my car’s alarm and made off with £250-300 worth of coins that I usually stash in the closed centre console of my car for street parking. He/she left my brand new £500 Garmin GPS unmolested, and a parcel containing a NOS 24teeth flat foot Omega crown for Speedmasters worth £400 was left sealed and intact.
Here are some pictures of the crime scene.
I found a bloody print and blood stains where my coins were once kept.
Subsequently I rang up the non emergency police hotline number and spoke to a lady officer. By the time I was done with giving my particulars, a queue was forming behind me. Apparently 4-5 other people’s car were burglarised as well. Some lost their work laptops, work phones etc. Here’s an excerpt from my phone conversation..
Me: Would anybody be coming down to investigate?
She: 5000 cars are broken into every weekend in the UK in total. We can’t attend to every case.
Me: Can you send a team to dust for prints?
She: We don’t do that for non serious crimes. Sometimes we don’t even do that for murders, as testing can get very expensive. Furthermore, most car burglars use their long sleeve or socks to cover their hands from leaving any fingerprints.
Me: As a police officer would you agree that every crime is unique?
She: Yes I agree.
Me: well in this unique case, they left prints and blood in my car.
She: well we are not coming down to test it.
Me: didn’t Theresa May pledge that she would increase the policing budget?
She: no comment sir.
Me: I really do need somebody to come down to investigate. I’m not asking for me, but for the other people who had irreplaceable stuff stolen from them. And my car is the only one with prints and blood, which may lead you to the perpetrators. Also, some of the other people had the wires around their steering wheel column severed and their cars cannot start.
She: hopefully somebody will be down within the week.
Me: this is a really urgent matter as 4-5 cars were burglarised. Not just one.
She: I’ve seen 6-7 cars burglarised at one car park. I personally had my own personal vehicle carjacked and taken away from my home last week. None of my police officer colleagues came down to investigate either.
Me: so what recourse do I have? Can I pay for the fingerprint and blood testing?
She: I wish we could take your money but we unfortunately we can’t. Please wait for a phone call later today with your crime incident number.
Guess what! She never called back!
Feeling unsafe and rather vulnerable. I decided to have the broken window replaced the very next day, and told the window fitter to use gloves so as to not touch the side panels where there were visible fingerprints.
With the new window fitted the next day of the crime. I decided that enough was enough and drove to the nearest police station. I went in and stated my intentions and concerns. Alas, after an hour of back and forth, I was finally told that no incident report was ever filed! The lady officer/operator screwed me over again!
Eventually I had my report filed and made sure to repeat myself countless of times that there is blood in my car and that should warrant DNA/blood testing done. Exhausted and out of sorts, I was then told to wait for a possible phone call from the CSI team only if they are interested in my case. I was told that the chances were 50/50. Was also told that the phone call could come the next day or a week or even a month later. I then started complaining and said it’s disgusting to be driving around with blood in my car for weeks or a month. They finally politely asked me to leave the station.
Luckily a phone call came the next day morning! 8:00am! And here are some pics!
Car was shifted to a newer more secure car park.
Dusting for fingerprints.
Breaking out the blood testing kit.
Reactive test came back positive for blood and DNA!
Was finally told that IF there was a match in the database for the DNA/Blood found, they would phone me and ask a series of questions. Such as “does Mr. ? have access to your vehicle?”, “do you know Mr. ?” Etc.
Was also told that it is very difficult to find a person guilty of burglary without catching him in the act, as he could simply say that the car was already broken into. And all he did was to lean into the car, accidentally hurting his hand on broken glass, but ultimately did not take anything from said vehicle.
Advice to other drivers in UK or elsewhere:
1) keep ziplock bags in your car to keep your coins. And every time you exit the car, keep those coins in your trunk/boot of the car.
2) remove all GPS and any valuables and keep it in the boot/trunk. Boot/Trunk is the safest!
3) Invest in burglar proof/ bomb grade security film for your windows. This would deter the would-be burglar, as they usually give up after 2-3mins. Also, motion activated in-car cameras should help!
4) DO NOT visit Liverpool, UK.
Here are some pictures of the crime scene.
I found a bloody print and blood stains where my coins were once kept.
Subsequently I rang up the non emergency police hotline number and spoke to a lady officer. By the time I was done with giving my particulars, a queue was forming behind me. Apparently 4-5 other people’s car were burglarised as well. Some lost their work laptops, work phones etc. Here’s an excerpt from my phone conversation..
Me: Would anybody be coming down to investigate?
She: 5000 cars are broken into every weekend in the UK in total. We can’t attend to every case.
Me: Can you send a team to dust for prints?
She: We don’t do that for non serious crimes. Sometimes we don’t even do that for murders, as testing can get very expensive. Furthermore, most car burglars use their long sleeve or socks to cover their hands from leaving any fingerprints.
Me: As a police officer would you agree that every crime is unique?
She: Yes I agree.
Me: well in this unique case, they left prints and blood in my car.
She: well we are not coming down to test it.
Me: didn’t Theresa May pledge that she would increase the policing budget?
She: no comment sir.
Me: I really do need somebody to come down to investigate. I’m not asking for me, but for the other people who had irreplaceable stuff stolen from them. And my car is the only one with prints and blood, which may lead you to the perpetrators. Also, some of the other people had the wires around their steering wheel column severed and their cars cannot start.
She: hopefully somebody will be down within the week.
Me: this is a really urgent matter as 4-5 cars were burglarised. Not just one.
She: I’ve seen 6-7 cars burglarised at one car park. I personally had my own personal vehicle carjacked and taken away from my home last week. None of my police officer colleagues came down to investigate either.
Me: so what recourse do I have? Can I pay for the fingerprint and blood testing?
She: I wish we could take your money but we unfortunately we can’t. Please wait for a phone call later today with your crime incident number.
Guess what! She never called back!
Feeling unsafe and rather vulnerable. I decided to have the broken window replaced the very next day, and told the window fitter to use gloves so as to not touch the side panels where there were visible fingerprints.
With the new window fitted the next day of the crime. I decided that enough was enough and drove to the nearest police station. I went in and stated my intentions and concerns. Alas, after an hour of back and forth, I was finally told that no incident report was ever filed! The lady officer/operator screwed me over again!
Eventually I had my report filed and made sure to repeat myself countless of times that there is blood in my car and that should warrant DNA/blood testing done. Exhausted and out of sorts, I was then told to wait for a possible phone call from the CSI team only if they are interested in my case. I was told that the chances were 50/50. Was also told that the phone call could come the next day or a week or even a month later. I then started complaining and said it’s disgusting to be driving around with blood in my car for weeks or a month. They finally politely asked me to leave the station.
Luckily a phone call came the next day morning! 8:00am! And here are some pics!
Car was shifted to a newer more secure car park.
Dusting for fingerprints.
Breaking out the blood testing kit.
Reactive test came back positive for blood and DNA!
Was finally told that IF there was a match in the database for the DNA/Blood found, they would phone me and ask a series of questions. Such as “does Mr. ? have access to your vehicle?”, “do you know Mr. ?” Etc.
Was also told that it is very difficult to find a person guilty of burglary without catching him in the act, as he could simply say that the car was already broken into. And all he did was to lean into the car, accidentally hurting his hand on broken glass, but ultimately did not take anything from said vehicle.
Advice to other drivers in UK or elsewhere:
1) keep ziplock bags in your car to keep your coins. And every time you exit the car, keep those coins in your trunk/boot of the car.
2) remove all GPS and any valuables and keep it in the boot/trunk. Boot/Trunk is the safest!
3) Invest in burglar proof/ bomb grade security film for your windows. This would deter the would-be burglar, as they usually give up after 2-3mins. Also, motion activated in-car cameras should help!
4) DO NOT visit Liverpool, UK.
Edited:
