I was burgled while out for a meal on saturday night, they took a few random bits but had been all over the house.
they took Digital SLR + bags + lenses, tripod etc... 3 laptops, and ipod touch, all my winning scratch cards (about £30 worth, i save em till I have
a reasonable amount then go buy a load more at once), a gucci watch and some random jewellery.
now strangely I have a dog its only a Lab but tbh he wouldnt harm anyone, im sure he barked at them but as soon as they said hello he would be their
best friend (hes a sucker for strokes)
anyway i get home and call police (local number not 999, didnt seem like an emergency), they arrive in a few mins and check over the house with me
take a few statements and bugger off.
sunday a forensics bobby comes and takes some finger prints and foot prints he found, takes mine and the girlfriends finger prints and off he goes.
then a bloke from CID appears and starts quizzing us like we are criminals (my girlfriend was quite upset) but i took it as him having a job to do and
getting on with it.
he then turns up later on the sunday night and puts it very blankly that hes sure this is insurance fraud and his reasoning behind it is that a year
ago I was pick pocketed with £750 of cash in my pocket - i point out to him that I didnt claim as i was only covered for £500 cash and it raised my
premium by £400 that year.
he then tells me he is dubious to my story etc...
now without sounding like some sort of millionaire which im not, I live in a £400k house, have 3 cars im building a kit car, the house is decorated to
a very high standard and the the most expensive part of my claim is repairing my hand made cedar windows which is going to be a right bleep on! so for
a claim that will let me purchase around £4k - £5k worth of stuff i have the hassle of sorting a window and door!
what annoys me is the complete lack of empathy and people skills this bloke possessed, hes obviously not the brightest bulb in the box I do believe
that any fool could tell its not worth the claim and if i wanted to do insurance fraud i could have picked much better items (the £6.5k tv on the wall
for example, or the £8k worth of hifi equipment).
im right royally fucked off!
just a rant really, not really sure weather to complain or not
Argh!
Lodge a complaint.... Innocent until proven guilty! Crazy that you do things by the book, and that is how you are treated. I would go back and discuss with the officer concerned, and mention the upset he has caused. If he can not find a soltuion to stisfy you, then lodge a complaint with the IPCC (the police complaints group, not the climate change panel!)...
Without a doubt you need to take it up with them and resolve it to your satisfaction that your not logged on any database for fraud etc. They (the
police) have to back up allegations and prove you're in the wrong don't forget.
You don't want to get refused insurance in the future over this!
It's obvious the Police have very little to do around your area. In Leeds they don't turn up, they just give you a crime number for the insurance.
Definitely complain. As soon as possible, write down everything you can remember about all the conversations/meetings you have had (including dates and times, and names/numbers of any police officers) so that you can refer to it if necessary. Stick to your guns. No way you should have to roll over because they are too lazy and/or incompetent to do their job properly.
If you dont agree or didnt like his attitude then ring his boss and speak to him or else if you want him under a formal investigation put an official
complaint in. I would suggest the first course in this instance. These are only people at the end of the day just like the window cleaner and if he
did a bad job then you'd follow it up I expect. Just give them a chance to correct themselves if they wish and ask for their reasoning.
Are you sure it was CID by the way? You wouldn't get them out to a burglary around here for love nor money.
Anyway, that's my advice which I hope is reasonable before all the police haters come out telling you to get a lynch mob and burn the station
[Edited on 9/11/10 by mistergrumpy]
It is exactly that kind of behaviour that gets the police a bad name. What ever happened to the friendly bobby?!
That is horrendous 
Tho the reason for the Police reaction is probably due to it being easier for them to accuse you than go and find the real criminals, means they can
close the case alot quicker etc...
Makes my blood boil when things like that happen to folk who obviously worked hard for what they have( you), yet the scumbags that do these crimes if
ever caught get a slap on the wrist & told "don,t do it again" what a joke
Lodge a complaint as suggested by others.
cheers
andy
I wasnt planning on going down the formal route immediatly.
First port of call is to calm down a little and then speak to his supervisor (ive calmed down a lot since sunday)
its unbelievable it really is
I presume you have started looking for your stuff on ebay, Cash converters etc?
Would be handy if you could go to the police with evidence its not you
Sue the lazy, useless tw@t for slander!
quote:
Originally posted by Confused but excited.
Sue the lazy, useless tw@t for slander!
what the hell. id be raising a complaint as well, bet if you'd accused him of being bent and on the take he wouldnt of like it either. I mean if your going to commit insurance fraud you would do it for more than 5 grand and wouldnt give yourself a window to repair. HIS NAME ISNTT CLOUSEAU IS IT??
I can see why you would be upset att he behaviour of this one policeman, but not sure why you would title the thread The Police....
quote:
I presume you have started looking for your stuff on ebay, Cash converters etc?
hmm, so he comes up with that, its a closed case for him, he get a pat on the back, and screws up you life. not cool.
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
hmm, so he comes up with that, its a closed case for him, he get a pat on the back, and screws up you life. not cool.
call him back and suggest he's part of the gang and is covering up for the guy that broke in.
[Edited on 9/11/10 by graememk]
I'd just go and get a lynch mob and burn the station 
Dont mess about, just write a letter of complaint to your areas Chief Constable
No messing about with speaking to his supervisor, they'll just close ranks. Make a complaint to the IPCC, read this leaflet on how:
www.ipcc.gov.uk/htmac_leaflet.pdf
I'm in the 'speak to his supervisor first' group. I had a very similar thing happen many years ago. Broken into in London, various
goodies taken, called police, brief look about and as leaving , one of them turns round and says - " looks like it's an insurance job"
and off they went with me speachless at the door.
I phoned the station straight away and spoke to their boss - we weren't even insured - and they were back in minutes doing some serious
groveling. Hated being made to feel like I was the criminal....
We really do need a Rant section!
You definatley need to speak with higher ranking officers, as this could impeed your claim
I had a garage fire earlier this year, and no mention of "fraud" was mentioned by any of the firemen, insurance loss adjusters, But when the
cleaning team turned up to do a deap clean, whole house took 2 Ladys one day, yet my single garage took 2-3 blokes 3 days, one of the guys was talking
about the damage we had had, and said some people set fire on purpose, so they can claim, Yet fire is not somthing you can stop !!
Well untill the blue lights start flashing on your driveway
The lad had told me they had been to a couple of dodgy house fires to clean up were possible, and one distraught owner said " i never new it
would cause so much damage" and admitted he did it
I wonder how his claim progressed
Steve
It appears to me the first contact with the police was that of recording whats happened ?
The second contact was with soco ?
You dont appear to have a beef with them ? They appear to have done what is required , ie recorded the crime and checked your home for evidence ?
If they were impolite or unprofessional then you can take this further by contacting your local duty inspector to discuss the matter.
Complaints of any sort, whether informally done by you ringing and speaking with the Inspector (or any supervisor) are not swept under the carpet, and
they will look into the matter for you.
If you wish to make a formal complaint then again the local inspector can commence this process for you, whatever the biffs on here say about the
police, when it comes to recording complaints, either informally and locally resolved , or formally to your satisfaction these matters are taken very
very seriously.
The police are very good at recording these incidents, they will not sweep under the carpet, they wont start stopping you in your car and harrassing
you, or grass you up to insurance companies.
Your beef appears to be with the guy accusing you of stealing your own property , or at least pretending to ?
If this has happened in the manner you desrcibe, I can see why your frustrated. I very much doubt the assertions made are based solely on you losing
£750 last year, seems ridiculous to me.
I would ring the local Inspector to start with and have a chat , you will find the course of action will be very much lead by yourself and how you
would like to see it resolved, and not as suggested here involve police cover ups and rank closing, that is total nutsack spoken by people who think
they know what they are talking about.
That aside if your burglar left no evidence in your home, nobody saw him doing it, and he didnt walk into the local nick and admit it, then your
burglary is unlikely to get detected. That is not the fault of the police or your neighbour, but you are most certainly entitled to professional and
polite service, if you have not had that , then consider my earlier suggestion.
Good luck.
Maybe you might want to add a result if you get one.
bad luck there 
tbh i am amazed you even got the coppers round at all,
standard response round my way is a crime number and little else.
maybe you should get a big angry dog friend for the lab would like to see any burglar get past my collie x
Unacceptable, I'd definitely complain. It's not about whether they solve it or not, it's about the attitude.
On a much more pleasant note I have to say that the Greater Manchester bobbies that dealt with me when my car was broken into a couple of weeks ago
were very very helpful and useful. Came over within 30 minutes to have a look at the car and record everything. Forensics gave me a call the following
morning to bring my car in for analysis.
Don't expect a result from them, but definitely didn't cause more unnecessary stress or aggravation.
Pavel
Had my flat broken into a couple of years ago when I was away with work. When I got back I went through all the processes with the police and scene of
crime officers. They were all very helpful and very was never any hint of suspicion (maybe because 5 other flats had been broken into that night). 6
months later they even phoned to tell me they had caught someone from another burglary who had done mine too, of course nothing was retrieved, but was
nice to know.
Its a horrible time and a friendly helpful policeman/woman/person can make things alot better. God know what I would have said if I had been accused
of pulling an insurance job.
Good luck with your complaint and sorting your house out, hope you get some decent results.
My missus works for our local Police Authority and says you should complain to the Professional Standards Department at your force's
headquarters.
Details should be on your local police force's website.
Good luck, post any results you get.
Neil
Threatening to sue for defamation does seem to get them to actually do something. If you do they'll have to prove to a court that it was you doing an insurance fraud and will thus have to investigate it propperly.
Just to clear a few things up here as I appear to have opened a can of worms..
The initial policeman and police lady attending the house were professional and did what they needed, I have no issues whatsoever with them.
The finger print policeman was a nice guy and I pretty much left him to it bar making a cup of tea for him.
but the the guy that reckons hes from CID (yet wears a uniform (I don't know much about the police but i though CID wore civvys) hes a complete
buffoon.
anyway having thought about it some more and read through the posts on here. Tomorrow I will draft a letter to whom ever is in charge at the branch
he is based at and depending on the reply I get may send a second complete the IPCC
Thanks for the advice guys.
someone asked why I called my thread the police, there was no intent to have a go at the police as a whole, however I see how it would look like that
if just reading the title. it was a rant more than anything and sadly as he works for them they get the blame. same as if I went to b&q and the
advice i received from 1 person in the shop was rubbish. not really a go at the police just a random little chubby man