Police – Crime Consideration & Cooperation?

Zeki Ibrahim reported his car stolen at about 6am claiming he had last seen it at about 5pm the day before. He still had both keys.

The good news: the police had already located the vehicle.

The bad news: it was embedded in a tree.

Provided a crime number, Mr Ibrahim submitted a total loss claim to insurers.

I do not expect the police to investigate every vehicle theft but a failure to ‘profile’ or consider some is worrying and, ironically, likely fuelling allegations of the crime. A rule of thumb:

? keyless theft + driven + quickly found + damaged = CONCERNS

A crime number is no longer evidence a theft occurred. A police reference confirms someone phoned a constabulary, told their story, was asked some ordinary questions, many likely to determine what social groups they fit for management information presentations. The reporting call probably ended along the lines of ‘we will add your VRM to the PNC LoS register and check ANPR’ (maybe they will do this).

Constabulary staff reading this, silently experiencing agreement to rage … please relax. I know you are well-intentioned, that officers (small ‘o’) at the sharp end are sympathetic and wish to help victims, not be duped by the dishonest.

As for Mr Ibrahim, disciplined, logical enquiries were promptly progressed at Claims Management & Adjusting Ltd (CMA). The collated evidence was packaged & presented for the police to review. Unsurprisingly, the crime report was re-opened. Upon invitation, Mr Ibrahim attended the station where CMA’s findings were disclosed. He confessed; there had been no theft.

There are many facets to the vehicle theft environment. Over the next weeks, I will attempt to raise several issues in bite-sized pieces and explain these from various perspectives. But more about Mr Ibrahim’s encounter with CMA and some of the considerations can be found in Car Dealer Magazine , read more here.

A few of the stark statements:

? A keyless vehicle theft generally indicates professional criminal involvement. Wrapping the asset around a tree suggests quite the opposite.

? A crime reference number is not a golden ticket to a guaranteed payout.

? Historically, up to 30% of vehicle theft claims were found to be tainted by fraud in some respect

Simply advertising a new era of cooperation could reduce the number of false allegations …what have the police to lose?