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The Interface between the Scottish Police Service and the Public as Victims of Crime: Victim Perceptions
CHAPTER FOUR: FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS
INDIVIDUAL VICTIMS
Reason for reporting the crime
In the first section of the schedule respondents were asked to comment on the reasons for them making the decision to contact the police. Evidence suggests that the majority of the respondents contacted the police almost as a gut reaction when they discovered that they had been a victim of crime. Comments included:
"I don't think I made a conscious decision. I realised somebody had been in our house, got my husband to inspect it and the first thing I did was pick up the phone. I think it was almost a gut reaction as opposed to deciding why, I don't think I actually stopped to think about it." (Domestic housebreaking)
"I don't think I made a conscious decision. I thought a window had broken and I couldn't understand it and then just realised, because I felt air when I came in the door and I thought the window's broken and the first thing we did was dial the police." (Domestic housebreaking)
"I don't know really, it was my gut reaction I suppose when I realised that my house was done." (Domestic housebreaking)
"It's what you do isn't it? You don't think about it…. you just do it." (Vehicle related crime)
Respondents were then asked if they called the local police station or if they used the emergency services 999; why they chose to report the crime in the way that they had; and if they knew of any other way that they could have reported the crime to the police. There was a general reluctance to contact the emergency service unless the situation was regarded as an emergency. However, two female victims of domestic housebreaking felt that 999 was the best option in their situation. One respondent who had used the emergency service commented that: " I live in Peterhead. I could have gone to the police station but I suppose it was the quickest option" (Domestic housebreaking) while another who used 999 stated that: "I wanted to get someone here as soon as possible". (Domestic housebreaking)
Some respondents were more vague about how they had contacted the police:
"I can't remember if we dialled 999 or actually phoned the police station" (Domestic housebreaking)
"I'm not familiar with how the police were contacted because we're out in the country." (Domestic housebreaking)
"Do you know, I can't remember it was so long ago." (Domestic housebreaking)
Other respondents expressed their reluctance to call the emergency services.
"I think we actually looked up the directory; we didn't dial 999." (Domestic housebreaking)
"I called the local station, 999 is only for emergencies." (Vehicle related crime)
"It was the local police; you know you can't just call the emergency services." (Vehicle related crime)
"Well, it's not like they could do anything quicker if I called 999, besides it wasn't really an emergency." (Vehicle related crime)
"You're kidding, 999, they would have laughed at me if I called 999." (Vehicle related crime)
Response times
Respondents were asked about the police's response time and about the importance of the response time for them. Although it was not universally positive, overall the respondents gave generally positive feedback in relation to the services that they received from the police, both in terms of the response time and of the level of professionalism demonstrated by individual contact officers. However, the response times varied in different areas.
There was also a difference in response times in relation to the type of crime, with victims of domestic housebreaking receiving the quickest response time. Times recorded ranged from 10 minutes to a few hours. However, one female victim of domestic housebreaking had waited for several hours for the police to attend. Many victims of motor vehicle related crime reported a response time ranging from a few hours to a few days in some cases.
However, it is interesting to note that many of the respondents who had commented that the police response time was slow were also quick to defend the police by offering some other justification for the slow response. Some comments follow:
"I would say it was probably ten, fifteen minutes on both occasions. It probably felt longer because you were hanging about, you couldn't touch anything, and you couldn't do anything." (Domestic housebreaking)
"I wouldn't have complained about their response time at all. They are very busy." (Vehicle related crime)
"Na, they came as soon as they could, I don't even know how long they took but I wasn't bothered either way…the deed was done already." (Vehicle related crime).
"Well they arrived in about half an hour the second time; I was surprised at the speed of the response. In the past I have had to wait for hours." (Repeat victim: vehicle related crime)
"Mine weren't that quick because they were actually dealing with a traffic accident when we phoned and we don't have that many policemen wandering about the area. I think the glazier arrived before them, so they were at least an hour." (Domestic housebreaking)
"It felt like ages, but I suspect they were very busy that night, but I was quite anxious about the time… yes." (Domestic housebreaking)
Response received from the police
Respondents were then asked what was the police's response to the call and what were their thoughts on the way that the police had responded. Overall, there was a generally positive view of the police's initial attendance and response, with comments like:
"Yes they were fine, they were nice, they were friendly, helpful and just looked round. They said it would be a drug addict and that they would have been in the house a few minutes and then gone. This made me feel more relaxed." (Domestic housebreaking)
"The officers were very helpful and really put me at my ease." (Domestic housebreaking)
"The police at the station stayed on the phone with me for twenty minutes until the other officers were able to get to my home. This was very reassuring for me because at that time I was not sure if the burglar was still in my house." (Domestic housebreaking)
"The officers answered all of my questions… and although the crime happened on a bank holiday and there was a shortage of police on shift, they never once made me feel that I was wasting their time or that they were in hurry to go elsewhere." (Domestic housebreaking)
"The constable gave me his card and supplied me with a crime number to quote when making any enquiries. I had contact with this officer throughout the case…if I called to speak to him he would always return my call as
soon as he was available…This was very reassuring for me." (Domestic housebreaking)
However, the positive comments were not universal. Two female respondents commented that the police acted very insensitively with them. One commented that:
"We looked to the officer for reassurance but the officer told me that I could expect the criminal to return…he was right, the same person has returned and has tried to break-in again. For a long time I was very scared to leave the house." (Domestic housebreaking)
while another observed:
"I was told it would be another unsolved crime and they will be back. The way they've left your house they will definitely be back, that's one thing I can assure you. This time I was a gibbering wreck and my husband was giving it, do you think you need to tell her that? And I said, well there was no point in you coming. He said, oh but there was, you needed the police reference number for your insurance claim. And I was like, oh, I wasn't very impressed. I mean, I know they can't lie to you." (Domestic housebreaking)
One female who had been a repeat victim commented that:
" I think we were quite lucky the first time that they had actually got somebody in custody before we reported it. The second time they had to get forensics in and of course, they couldn't get fingerprints, they couldn't get anything. And they were actually called away five minutes after they'd arrived to another break in, another alarm had gone off somewhere, but the second time I was more gutted than I was the first time."
Three victims of vehicle related car crime expressed the view that they had been subject to "victim blaming" from the police. Two respondents expressed the view that the police had dealt with them in ways which made them feel embarrassed about the age or make of their vehicle. For example, one respondent commented that;
"I felt that I had to explain to him that I live alone and that I have to hold down two jobs in order to keep the car on the road, I was not in the position to buy a new car… I felt totally demeaned and embarrassed." (Vehicle related crime)
This respondent also reported that an officer commented on the state of her car and made remarks about her personality, which together upset her more than the crime itself. In this particular case the respondent had used a chain to secure the gate to her driveway, and claimed that when the police officer entered her home after inspecting the damage to her car he was holding the chain in his hand. The respondent stated that " he [the officer] said 'it's not surprising' [that her car was stolen] and he dropped the chain [she had used to secure the car] on my floor."
Another respondent stated that:
"My car had been broken into so many times that I felt embarrassed to report it to the police…on previous occasions when I did report the crime I was made to feel that it was my fault for not securing the vehicle properly…. The car was in my driveway and the gate was padlocked…. I don't know what else I could have done." (Vehicle related crime)
Similarly, another respondent commented that;
"My husband and I were away at the time of the break-in and my father-in- law was keeping an eye on the property…. The burglars had opened the valves on my radiators upstairs which had flooded my front room…when my father-in-law entered the house and saw the water, he had assumed that we had a burst pipe, therefore he didn't contact the police immediately. When he did contact the police and explain what had happened, the police made him feel very guilty that he had not acted sooner to report the crime. He still feels guilty to some extent." (Domestic housebreaking)
One respondent who was the victim of repeat crime commented that the police in a case of vehicle related crime
"had a good laugh at my expense… apparently a Vauxhall Astra is the easiest car to break into… one officer said to me, 'You would have been better to leave the keys in the car… that way your locks wouldn't keep getting busted… and we wouldn't have to keep running back and forth here to hear the same old story."
Progress of case / information and liaison
Respondents were asked about the progress of their case and about the service that they had received from the police i.e. feedback or liaison. The majority of respondents were issued with either a named contact officer or with a crime report number to enable them to receive information about the progress of their individual cases; many victims of domestic housebreaking were issued with both options.
Respondents were asked if they had been given any information about other services that were available to victims of crime, such as Victim Support, Crime Prevention etc. Again the responses varied with crime type. The respondents who had been victims of domestic housebreaking were more likely to have been given further information about services that were available to victims of crime. However, it is difficult to gauge the exact percentage of respondents who had been supplied with this information as in many cases the crime was committed a considerably long time ago and the events of the incident were no longer very clear to them.
"No, I never got offered that. I got a pack telling me to light up the house and cut my hedge down and all that kind of stuff but not any actual support". (Female victim of domestic housebreaking)
"No, I'm not really sure but I think they did mention Victim Support and I wasn't really interested." (Female victim of domestic housebreaking)
"I think they must actually contact Victim Support because I got, they actually phoned me the first time, they didn't the second. We got the pack the second time." (Female victim of domestic housebreaking)
"I never got the pack and they were supposed to have, you know, those pens in it and there was no pens in our pack and he said, oh I'll get back to you, I'll get back to you and months afterwards I actually went to the police station and put my hand out and said, pens." (Female victim of domestic housebreaking)
"No I don't think so…yes they did, they did …one officer asked me if I wanted to speak to someone … I think about counselling or something…I'm not that sure to be honest." (Female victim of domestic housebreaking)
Scenes of crime officers
Respondents were asked if they had been kept informed about the progress of the case, and about how the police would proceed with their enquiry such as evidence gathering, the broader criminal justice system and so on. Again there seemed in several cases to be some confusion about the information that the respondents had received from the police at the time of the incident. For example, one respondent commented that " we had a finger prints man came the next day" while others stated:
"Well it was night-time but they {the police} were busy, so we weren't allowed to move the stuff overnight, like tidy away some of the stuff that they thought they might have touched. I think that was for fingerprints and stuff." (Domestic housebreaking)
"…. but the guy said [fingerprints] there's no point doing any of your furniture, any of your stuff, because actually the powder that they use would ruin your furniture. He said, you've been broken into, there's no point me coming now and ruining your furniture as well, you know, add insult to injury. So he did the window and he got trainer prints, it could be anybody. There was nothing, he was obviously wearing gloves." (Domestic housebreaking)
"They did get the fingerprint from our window the first time but they couldn't pick anything up the second time." (Domestic housebreaking)
One victim of vehicle related crime (car theft] commented that there was a great deal of confusion about whether and when any forensics had been done. It took a considerable amount of time to have his car returned to him. It transpired that when his car was returned to him forensic tests had not been conducted. The respondent subsequently discovered a pair of shoes in his car that belonged to whoever had stolen the car.
Similarly, another victim of vehicle related crime (car theft) commented that he was very confused by the conflicting information that he had received from the police with regards to how the police would proceed with their enquiry and how they would gather evidence. The respondent stated that when the police informed him that his car had been found the investigating officer could not give him any information on the current whereabouts of the car. After the respondent carried out his own detective work, with the help of his insurance company, he discovered that the car had been towed to a scrap yard in another town forty miles away. This man expressed his frustration about the whole ordeal and had felt a sense of disempowerment, firstly by the theft and secondly by the treatment that he had received from the police and from his insurance company.
There was also a difference between the information that female victims received and the information that was given to the male victims. Female victims were more likely to have been given less technical information that may have been intended to offer some comfort, whereas the male victims were more likely to have been given much more formal and technical information with regards to police procedures.
However, two female respondents expressed the view that they were very satisfied with the information that they had received from the police. Both had been given very detailed information about police procedures in relation to the crime that had been committed against them. One of the women commented that:
"By the time the officers left my home I was in no doubt about how they would proceed….I had no other questions… they [the police] were very honest and direct with me…although the officers didn't offer much hope of catching the perpetrators, It was a realistic assessment of the events as they saw it… this was very reassuring for me." (Domestic housebreaking)
Male victims also seemed to welcome this directness:
"Yes, the officers were very helpful…they explained everything to me… they were very honest and no bull." (Male victim of domestic housebreaking)
"I was satisfied that the police would do everything possible to find the ones that were responsible for the crime, but the officers explained that there wasn't much hope of getting a conviction, It's drugs here…big incident rates of drug related crime in this area. But they did get the person who was responsible the very next day." (Male victim of domestic housebreaking)
Victims of vehicle related crime were less likely to have been told about other services that are available to victims of crime, however many of them commented that they did not think that this kind of information would have been of much use to them in their individual situations.
Closure of the case
Respondents were asked about the final outcome of their individual cases. Many had no idea whether the case was ongoing or whether it had been closed.
"Mine was two years ago, a year past January, I haven't heard a thing."
"A year past March and two years past January. Well they don't really tell you."
"No, you didn't hear anything back."
"We never heard another word about it."
"I think it was done, I mean someone was caught… but I don't know if the case was closed, the officer on the phone told me to check the local news paper to see the result…there was nothing in it."
"Well…I suppose it would be asking a bit much of the police to tell everyone about the outcome of the case…but it would be nice to know if the case was still open or what."
Respondents were asked if the case ever went to trial and, if so, what was the outcome. Again, there was some confusion about how the case had progressed. This had caused some confusion and frustration for the respondents:
"Well I don't know because the bloke that they got has got convictions in it but the crime reporter had disappeared at that point and I phoned and asked the police and they said they didn't know, to phone the sheriff's officer. And I phoned there and I never really got an answer from anybody because I didn't even know the man's name to ask, you know, because the case never came, so I couldn't say, was so and so convicted. I did hear that he'd been sent to a young offenders' wherever it was but that was the police thought he'd been sent to a young offenders'. I suppose once they've finished in court they're not really interested in what happens to them." (Female victim of domestic housebreaking)
"Mine was closed so, well I think it was because I wasn't really sure. I mean yours could be closed because they just got the boy to say he did it and that way they can just tick you off and say, that's your case closed so they don't have to follow up about anything else."
"I mean I don't know how long they'd keep a case open but I can't think for that sort of case, where it's not a murder, it's what they'd call a petty crime I suppose, that they're going to worry about it often, six months or something."
Many respondents commented that they were not really interested in knowing the offender's name or personal details, but added that it would have given them some reassurance if they knew that the offender was no longer committing the same offence in their respective geographical locations. As one respondent commented, " I sometimes wonder if he'll come back" (Female victim of domestic housebreaking).
However, many respondents acknowledged that the police were under considerable strain due to lack of resources. One respondent observed that "the police can not be there all the time", and continued: " I think that probably, if it hadn't been the guy that was caught it would probably have been somebody else" (Female victim of domestic housebreaking).
When asked if they would have found it useful to have been informed about the outcome of the case the majority of respondents said that it would have been very useful.
Gaps identified in the service
Respondents were asked to identify any gaps in the service that they had received from the police. The majority of the respondents made comments about the lack of communication with the police after the event, and the difficulties this created in terms of achieving a sense of closure, as the following quotations demonstrate:
"It would just be the follow up I think in terms of what happened to them, what they're actually doing and how long they'll keep it open, they'll probably never close it until they convict somebody. To keep you informed about what's happening."
"But I imagine with the amount of crime that's going on, it would be very hard and time consuming to keep everybody informed, just telling you like, we've no news…but maybe it would make you feel better."
"I don't think they're very quick in telling you, especially not negative news, they'd probably never ring and say we haven't caught him yet."
"You would like to hear what was going on…is it closed or what?"
"A wee phone call wouldn't hurt…just to tell you that the case is closed…even if they didn't get anybody."
Two respondents commented on what they had perceived as insensitivity from the police in relation to the court appearance:
"No, they seemed all right. The only time I didn't like the police was when I was waiting at Peterhead and all the police officers were in the witness room and they were so macho and I just thought, God, because the girlfriend of the boy who was being tried for my case was in and she was obviously a drug addict, she was shaking, I don't know, I just felt, I don't know, I mean I didn't feel any antagonism towards her but I felt it must have been an awful environment for someone to come in because I mean, she didn't commit the crime and the policemen seemed very macho and laughing along with themselves and stuff and, I mean I know they're bored because they're sitting there for hours and hours and hours and that's their day off I discovered, that's what they do on their day off."
"I don't know if they get overtime, they're called in on their days off and they sit there for hours but I didn't like them then. I felt, I suppose they are insensitive but I know the policemen and I know they're not sensitive, a lot of them. I suppose from their point of view they just think, oh there's been a break in, what's your name and it just seems to be, that's the kind of impression I got, you know, it's like another unsolved crime, they'll need the number. It's just routine, you know, we'll do this today, we'll do it tomorrow."
Examples of good practice
Respondents were asked to identify any examples of good practice from the services that they had received from the police. The majority of the respondents made reference to the levels of professionalism, response time or the individual personality traits of the attending officers.
"The police at the station stayed on the phone with me for twenty minutes until the other officers were able to get to my home. This was very reassuring for me because at that time I was not sure if the burglar was still in my house."
"The officers answered all of my questions… and although the crime happened on a bank holiday and there was a shortage of police on shift, they never once made me feel that I was wasting their time or that they were in hurry to go elsewhere."
Some people speculated that it was all down to good training, or to the age of the officers. For example:
"I got a young policeman, came round to ask, I think maybe he was a bit more sensitive than maybe an older policemen. He was quite new and I think he might have been, they might get better training about being sort of more, feel that folk would be, feel violated in some way... But maybe, he was quite nice that policeman, he was quite sympathetic. As I say, he was quite young."
"I think maybe it could have because I imagine now, because there's so much, the thing about the victim or there's more emphasis or trying to be more emphasis on the victim that maybe they are trained a bit better to at least look sympathetic even if they don't feel it, some stupid people having glass in the back door. But they were nice enough."
"The young bloke who came to me was spot-on…he was dead friendly and he was dead straight with me…saying there is little chance that we will get person that did it."
There was a difference between the levels of professionalism demonstrated by individual officers in relation to the type of crime. In general, victims of house breaking expressed a more positive image of the treatment that they had received. Victims of house-breaking were more likely to be told about how the case would progress and were more likely to have been given information about other services that were available to victims of crime (Victim Support etc.).
Overall satisfaction
Overall the respondents expressed satisfaction about the services that they had received from the police. Interestingly, even the respondents who had expressed dissatisfaction about the service that they had received subsequently commented that they had received the best possible response in relation to the perceived 'limitations' that the police faced. For example:
"Their hands are tied." [in relation to repeat young offenders]
"They do the best with the resources that are available to them."
"The police go to the bother to make the arrest…the court lets them [the accused] walk the next day."
"The police can do very little about young offenders."
However, it became evident that there could have been a connection between the victim's satisfaction and the victim's prior expectations of services from the police. There may also be a link between satisfaction rates and the levels of crime in the areas where the victims live. Respondents who had been subjected to repeat victimisation had lower expectations about the services they would receive from the police. The majority of respondents expressed some frustration about the criminal justice system in general.
Positive features of the police response were identified as including friendly, sensitive and reassuring officers. Respondents generally commended the professionalism of the police officers they dealt with, though perceptions of professionalism were coloured, to some extent, by the individual's prior expectations of the services that they would receive from the police. There were also positive reactions to having a designated named contact officer. Response times were considered acceptable (or as expected) in the majority of cases. Many respondents suggested that the police are under funded and that service provision is limited by lack of resources.
Victims frequently complained about a lack of communication about the progression of the case. Respondents were not normally told about the outcome of 'their' court case and there was often a substantial, unexplained delay in getting back personal belongings after the case was closed. In cases of theft of or from motor vehicles, some respondents complained of a lack of communication between police, insurers and victims leading to failure to secure forensic evidence. There were some examples of what was perceived as victim blaming words or behaviour by the police, which in some cases led to feelings of loss, frustration and a sense of disempowerment. A number of examples were given of police officers apparently underestimating levels of individual loss both in practical and emotional terms. For example, an older respondent who had had his bicycle stolen on at least two occasions felt that the police trivialised his loss to some extent. He commented that 'if I had lost a BMW the police would have taken me seriously'. Similarly, another man commented that the police had shown little interest when he reported that his car had been stolen. However, when another police department caught the criminal trying to use the victim's Visa cards they acted immediately. This man felt that the police were more interested in crimes against the Visa card company - and that his personal loss was ignored.
CORPORATE VICTIMS
This section looks at the responses given by individual victims of corporate crime.
Reason for reporting the crime
As with the individual victims, respondents were asked to comment on their reasons for contacting the police. The responses demonstrated that although the respondents reported the crime to the police as a standard company procedure, there were considerable differences in the actual reporting procedures, as stipulated by individual company policy.
The evidence from this small-scale focus group would suggest that there were three major reasons why the crimes were reported to the police:
1. Where a crime was committed and the victim has the evidence and is holding the perpetrator, company policy is to prosecute.
2. Where a crime has been committed and damage or loss has occurred as a consequence. The victims do not know who the perpetrator is but they do know the modus operandi and wish to raise police awareness of the issue in the hope of having more police resources to address the identified problem area.
3. Where a crime had been committed and the victim does not know who is responsible but feels it is important to notify the police in the hope of alerting them of a potentially bigger problem.
For example:
"Obviously, I think it's very important. If the police don't know about it there's not a lot they can do about it. With my manager, we had two break- ins at our garage within the space of two weeks."
"To report the crime, when I did talk to the police it highlighted that it wasn't just ourselves it was other dealers within the area that were getting targeted as well. So it was a two-way communication thing, so it kind of highlighted to me that there was a problem going on."
"Our situation is actually damage to the cars that are parked in the forecourt. And in a week some nights, there was about fifteen, sixteen cars damaged, which is about five, ten thousand pounds… just throwing bottles and bricks and everything…. Security guards were scared to be in the area in case they got hit… for their own safety as well. So we always have to work fairly close with the police to try and get the path patrolled."
It emerged from the discussion that some crimes go unreported. This can be attributed to several factors such as the location of the property, the type of crime, and the absence of a known perpetrator as the following demonstrate.
"I think from our experience it tends to be that we'll report it if we've got something definite to give them. Like, if we've got the shoplifter apprehended or if it's been something really serious. Whereas, if we've just had somebody do a runner, we lose a lot of product that way, but we'll not necessarily report it because there's just nothing that we can necessarily give them that would help it. So I mean, I would say that there would be a lot of unreported."
"We can only call the police when we have apprehended someone who has been caught shoplifting…it's not enough to suspect someone… we have to catch them and stop them at the door."
The same respondent commented that " there could be any number of incidents where we've had somebody go out and we haven't necessarily reported it because we don't know what's gone, we don't know what they've taken, we don't know who they were".
Response times
Respondents were asked what was the police's response time and about how important a quick response time was for their particular situation. Response times were reported to have varied and the speed of the response was determined by several factors, including the time of day, the geographical location of the premises where the crime was committed, the seriousness of the situation, and whether anyone was in any immediate danger. It emerged from the discussions that:
1. None of the respondents used the emergency services because there was a general acceptance that the situation was not an emergency and that the crime was not committed against an individual.
2. There was general acceptance that response time will vary considerably.
3. A practical implication of this is that some crimes regularly go unreported because it would involve a further drain on the business's resources in terms of staff levels etc.
The following quotations emphasise these points:
"I think with us, because we're only calling the police when we've got the apprehension already, we don't dial 999. We actually call the station and the response time, it can vary considerably. I mean sometimes it will be a couple of hours before we get an officer down, sometimes it will be like 20-30 minutes only. It just depends on the time of day and how busy it is but, like I say, we're not using the 999 services."
"I'm just the same, it just depends on the day whether they're busy or not. Sometimes it doesn't matter if we have got somebody and they are quiet and they accept that they are caught… but we do get ones that are rude and quite disruptive. So it can be dangerous sometimes, we have three or four people in the office just to sit with this one person."
"Because sometimes we haven't phoned the police just for the fact that if we wait an hour, we've got to have three people off the shop not working for the sake of 10 or something; it's cheaper for us to let them go."
"Well we're only about half a mile from the police station, we're on the same road actually and I think the response time depends on the time, we don't phone 999, we just phone station but I suppose the strange thing for us is when you're actually watching these stones coming over, the police just never come quickly enough and half an hour sometimes is a lot of money [respondent from garage which had suffered criminal damage by stones being thrown over a wall]."
However, there was a general acceptance from all respondents that the police's response time was very much determined by other more immediate priorities as the following comments demonstrate.
" I suppose the thing is it's not an emergency. For them I suppose priorities are different… there are a lot of things like accidents or somebody being murdered or something I suppose they would attend to that first. I would say sometimes very quick, sometimes it can be thirty minutes, an hour."
" I don't think retail crime is particularly much of a high priority it seems but I mean, when you've got other stuff going on in Glasgow, it's pretty much fully understandable really."
Response received from the police
Respondents were asked about how the police responded. Again there was a general satisfaction that the police responded professionally and appropriately. As one respondent stated:
"I thought it was very good. I mean they're very much there to support the store team and I wouldn't say they're deliberately intimidating the person that was apprehended but it is very much that they're working with us, they're working for us to help take this person away."
Similarly, another observed:
"They have been very keen following up, they've been very keen to push hard target, I think it's hard target or something like that, that the retail crime unit's doing whereby they send somebody in to talk to staff about how to pick out suspects and how possibly we could deal with it. It's not something we've actually taken up yet, we're going to put it through the management team and the supervisors first but they have been pushing that quite a lot."
It is interesting to note that what some individual victims of crime had perceived as 'victim blaming' or unsolicited advice from uniformed officers was, in the case of the corporate victims, often interpreted as advice on crime prevention or crime deterrence. This suggests that the police should perhaps adopt a higher level of sensitivity when they are dealing with victims of crime against the individual.
"I mean they're saying that, of course, if we had the guards on the doors we wouldn't have half the problems that we do have. We know that but, of course, it's head office that's controlling the budget."
"Exactly the same with us as well. He pointed out a large number of problems; I mean a lot of sort of small common sense things but however I found that very useful."
"Yes it feels professional. I think that the view, I think they have a high expectation level of their chances of catching the people and I think they felt the same way, they were going through the motions, their fingerprints etc and looking for evidence, etc but I think they were being honest and saying that the likelihood was that they wouldn't apprehend these people. So it was more a case of crime prevention, to think about that now, rather than trying to apprehend criminals."
Progress of case / information and liaison
Respondent were asked what had been their experience of communication and liaison with the police in terms of progress reports etc. It became clear that respondent's reactions to the police follow-up or lack of said, was coloured entirely by their prior expectations of the services that they would receive from the police. There was a degree of sophisticated realism regarding the police follow-up with the majority of respondents having little or no expectations of continued communication or liaison between themselves and the police. However, although respondents expressed appreciation about the information about crime prevention, some respondents acknowledged that the implementations of the recommendations were often outwith their control.
"We had the crime prevention officer from the local police station come along the following day and he took time to go round the whole building and point out advice for security and even recommend where to go to etcetera to get things done and that was very helpful to me. He phoned me up about a week after just to see if there was anything that I needed assistance with etcetera, talk about. I found that very helpful."
"Well our situation is that they've never caught anyone. So there's no case, so we wouldn't and haven't heard anything after the event…. Obviously, we're always in the hope that they're going to catch somebody …And the police know it's probably a waste of their time as well to chase them and catch them."
"I haven't had a follow up apart from the crime prevention and to be honest, I don't expect, I would like them to come back with how they're getting on with it but I realise there's probably more serious issues and I just feel that they're probably stretched enough without having to waste their time chasing after the likes of large organisations, small crimes against large companies etc"
In some cases, the respondents expressed surprise at the lengths to which then police had gone in their efforts to solve particular crimes:
"The circumstances are always horrendous, you know, keys left in the car and there was just one opportunist chap just walking about the car lot and sees a car with a set of keys in, so he just gets in and drove off and the car was away for eight or nine months now. After eight or nine months you think they're never going to get it back and you've told the insurance company and everything, the police got it back and there wasn't much damage with it. We re-sold it, the car was fine. In a case like that, I suppose we thought after, you always expect you'll get it back within the first couple of weeks and after a couple of weeks you think the thing is going to be burnt out or torched or something. Well they obviously had it on a database and they must have been, they were tracking if for months before they got it."
Gaps identified in the service
Respondents were asked to identify any gaps in the services, or areas where they thought needed some improvements. There was general consensus that the police were doing the best job possible given the resources that were available to them. All respondents commented that it would be better if there were more police officers on the streets. However, it was also identified that a bigger police presence would only act as a band-aid measure, and that petty crime was the end result of much wider social issues.
"What to do in the future, how to improve things. I think there has to be more money and more police on the street, to let them have more time to do the things that they need to do."
"And I think probably just the sort of message that comes over is that there's just not enough resource or budget, I suppose there must be more crime year on year it must be more and more. I don't know whether there's more and more police being recruited but there's crime and drugs. The more police that hang around the better, has to be for everyone."
Some respondents highlighted what they saw as a need for radical changes to the social justice system. One respondent commented that:
"I think it's higher up than the police that has to see some changes… to be honest because I think you could go down with a bus in Glasgow Central and pick all these people that are dealing with drugs and stuff but what are they going to do with them? They will be back out next week."
Other respondents said:
"A lot of the crime that we get is for that, [drug related]) so it would be better if they would have a resource to deal with that. …rather than trying to mop up the loose ends …. the effect or the result of it would probably be better."
"A member of staff was threatened with a needle, we got the bloke…the next day he came back into the shop…It's a no win situation."
The same respondent commented that:
"They can put them into these hotels and, again, it just causes trouble. So I think it's that that has to be dealt with first."
Another said:
"I think it's pretty much the system that needs to be looked at. I mean, how can we get more of the police out and about and how can we stop just letting people out to do it again the very next day? I think a lot of it's geared to looking after the bad guy than helping us."
There was often an acknowledgement of joint responsibility for crime prevention between police and victims of crime. For example:
" So it's, who does take responsibility for it? And I mean, we can say that we'd like to see more police on the street to deal with the people that are coming into the stores and taking from us, and they can say well, you've got all these people coming into the stores to take from you, what are you going to do about it? And they're right and we're right and it would be great to see more police on the street dealing with what's happening out there and they're right in saying that we should be more proactive about stopping it getting in."
There was general agreement that petty crime against corporate victims put a large drain on the already stretched police system. As this respondent commented:
"I'd prefer the police to be concentrating resources on preventing drug pushing and things like that. I understand that if I was going to get a choice in the likes of that, that would be first on somebody's mind."
Overall there was a general agreement that the police have exhibited and maintained a high level of professionalism when dealing with corporate crime.
Overall satisfaction
Respondents expressed a high level of overall satisfaction. There was a unanimous acknowledgement that the police offer the best possible service under the circumstances. However, there was also a unanimous agreement that services could be improved by a larger police presence. Good practice was measured in terms of resources available and the associated limitations. None of the respondents were critical of the services received from the police, however criticism was directed at specific aspects of the criminal justice system.
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