Leatherhead Matters

There are an estimated 35,000 suppliers of car number plates in the UK. Yeah yeah yawn…so what you may say.

A car registration number is supposed to be a critical part of a vehicle’s identification and perhaps more importantly, a key piece of data to identify the owner. However, the police estimate that there are at least 20,000 cars driving round the UK with cloned number plates I.e. a duplicate of someone else’s car plates. This is nearly always to try and avoid detection by police use of APNR.

The British Police Service are world leaders in the application of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology, a technology that was invented in the United Kingdom. Whilst use of ANPR technology in its first twenty years was largely restricted to counter terrorism purposes, there has been significant development in the use of ANPR in a wider policing environment in recent years.

But advances in APNR have spawned a number of responses by the criminal class:

1. Existing car registration plates are subtly modified to a different number by the application of black adhesive tape
2. Legal looking plates, using any number, can be purchased to order from web sites like THIS
3. Reflective plates are illegally fitted to fool APNR, purchased from sites like THIS
4. Showplates (like the this one ) are illegally fitted. These can be supplied to the purchaser’s specification, no questions asked, from sites like THIS 
5. Or, increasingly car plates are stolen from the cars of legal owners. Usually the stolen plates are transferred to a car of the same make, model & colour….which completely fools ANPR

Ok Ok I hear you say but, what’s all that got to do with the 35,000 suppliers, most of whom ask no questions…know what I mean guv? The surprise is that the Government don’t appear to have asked themselves the same question. The huge number of suppliers is an indication how large the market for false plates has become. So why doesn’t the Government licence 2-3 bona fide suppliers  & require them to cross check with DVLC on car history & owner details. All other suppliers could be outlawed.

Sure some illegal suppliers would continue by going underground or, going offshore Perhaps there would be an increase in stolen plates? However, the UK does appear to be unique in allowing this huge trade in illegal plates.

All suggestions on how to clean up the number plate industry…..on a post card to Gordon Brown please.

The postcard below was distributed by the Tayside police in Scotland to promote awareness of the force’s new telephone number. Perhaps like me your reaction is “Aaww…nice puppy”, which I’m sure is the intended reaction.

But, in “modern” Britain it produces another reaction. Outrage from the local Muslim community! Dogs are perceived to be “unclean” and therefore offensive.

( I might add as an aside that I lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, home of the most conservative form of the Muslim religion. Although there appeared to be no custom of keeping dogs as pets, there were packs of feral dogs all over the city and the wealthier locals kept - hunting dogs)

And the response to this Muslim outrage? …..a public apology from the Tayside police force and an admission they forgot to consult the forces “Diversity Advisor”.

The Government is encouraging this sort of nonsense by its inaction to the creeping application of Shari’ah law within communities. In the meantime while the police are having to spend time pacifying a politically motivated segment of the Muslim community , knife crime is spiraling out of control.

H/T Daily Mail

Petrol & Diesel prices are now so high that some people are selling their bodies in exchange for fuel!

Read more HERE

The huge rise in petrol & diesel prices is causing an epidemic of “fuel theft”

At service stations, drivers are increasingly filling up and driving away without paying. The so called “drive aways” have prompted an increasing number of garages to deploy “stinger” type devices (called a Drivestop) which are deployed at the exit to the service station. The cashier can automatically deploy the device when a customer does a runner. Drive aways are also linked to stolen car number plates, making it difficult for the police to track down the thieves.

Diesel thefts from farms have risen by 30 per cent nationally in recent weeks and in some areas of the country fuel thefts in general have risen by 75 per cent. Fuel theft has  already caused the death of a farmer’s wife. Rosemary Dove, 68, collapsed after calling police to the scene of the attempted raid. Meanwhile her son James chased the intruder as he drove away, and was knocked into a ditch, suffering a double hip fracture.

A spokesman for NFU Mutual, which insures farmers, said rising fuel prices had made it “very tempting” for thieves to target farms, which was “adding to feelings of fear amongst the rural community”.

There has also been a spate of thefts of oil from chip shops, which can be used to supplement diesel fuel.

When Labour came to power they promised a kinder, gentler society. Only the criminals are now singing “It’s a Beautiful Day”!

Update: Now thieves have progressed to stealing petrol directly from the service station tanks. Read more HERE

Surrey Police were the top performing County police force in the country in 2007. They ranked high on all the government targets. But, Surrey Police’s Acting Chief Constable Mark Rowley said:

 It is more important to ensure the public is satisfied with his force’s service than the Government be satisfied with its target performance.

 Surrey, Staffordshire, W.Midlands  Cheshire police forces have all confirmed that they now plan to focus on “sensible” policing rather than, as in the past, be driven by government targets

The Government’s “big idea” for policing has been to introduce “Targets!”. Police officers are expected to reach a certain number of ’sanction detections’  each month, by charging, cautioning or fining an ‘offender’.  Police Commanders are incentivised to achieve the Government imposed targets through performance-related bonuses of between £10,000 and £15,000 a year for police commanders.

The targets don’t differentiate between serious criminal offences and minor misdemeanours or, anti social behaviour. So what do police now focus on? You guessed it in one! They focus on the easy, soft targets which require less police time plus the unavoidable, heavy duty, media focused crimes.

Civitas recently published a report highlighting the impact of police targets:

The report highlights how the government’s target regime  leads them to put pressure on frontline officers, to make arrests for the most minor misdemeanours. This focus on easy targets results in more cautions for minor offences - such as a child stealing a Mars bar. Crucially, the targets imposed on the police by the government don’t differentiate between minor & serious crimes! For example, the chocolate theft ranks as highly as catching a killer. Many citizens, in particular teenagers, are now being criminalised for very minor offences and finish up with a criminal record for the rest of their life.

Officers,  who were interviewed by Civitas, said that towards the end of each month, there was increased pressure to hit their monthly target  and they would pursue young men as the most likely ‘offenders’. One officer was so concerned he told his teenage son to be careful at the end of each month.

“Offences” pursued by the police have included:

• children scrawling a name on a bus stop in felt-tip or playing ball games in the street and drawing with chalk on the pavement
• One officer told how he was pressed to charge children playing with a tree with ‘harassment’.
• The same offence was used against a drunken student dancing in flowerbeds, who aimed a kick at a flower

The consequence of this distorted set of police priorities is that in 2006-7, there were 29,637 complaints - the most since records began 17 years ago….. a consequence of the government forcing police to focus on the trivial at the expense of the serious. 

Earlier this week Melanie Phillips (Mail Online) wrote an excellent article on the epidemic of youth, knife crime & the deluded response from the Children’s Commissioner, Sir Al Aynsley-Green.

The outbreak of knife attacks by teenagers is just the tip of the iceberg. What it confirms is that carrying a knife in many urban areas has become common place. The solution to the problem is crystal clear to all, including the Government. It’s “Stop & Search”. The liberal, left will scream but, they offer no alternative.

We now live in a world of “health & safety” where both national & local inspectors roam the land banning all sorts of activities because there may be some minor health & safety risk. Insurance premiums for all sorts of previously normal activities have rocketed because of a surge in compensation claims.

And yet, the Government sits on its hands while youngsters are assaulted & murdered with knives on a weekly basis.

The police have been politicised by this government so, they can’t unilaterally initiate  “stop & search” without a nudge from the government.

How many more teenagers have to die before the government stop posturing & take effective action?

The Government’s last big idea to curb anti social behaviour, ASBOs (anti social behaviour orders) haven’t worked.

The number of ASBOs issued in England and Wales has fallen by a third, according to Home Office figures. In all 2,706 orders were granted in 2006, the most recent period for which statistics are available, compared to 4,123 in 2005. The number of breaches of ASBOs is also increasing and has reached a staggering 49% suggesting the perpetrators do not perceive an ASBO as an effective deterrent.

So what does an unpopular government do for its next big idea to curb anti social behaviour?

Youths who persistently misbehave and intimidate others in their communities should be “harassed themselves”, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said today. She said she wanted police to “turn the tables” on those who were violent and disruptive and who would not “live by the rules that the rest of us do”. This could include repeated home visits and checks to identify benefit fraud or council and road tax non-payment.

So we have a government which wants the police to actively “harass” a section of the community. This sound like the old SUS Law, which was abolished after the Bristol race riots in the early ’80’s but, without any legal framework”. This law was abolished because it gave police unfettered power to harass one section of the community (young black males).

I’m not a lawyer but, it seems to me our Home Secretary has given individuals, who may be subject to the  harassment, a perfectly legal defence under the Human Rights Act:

Article 7: No punishment without law

1. No one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence under national or international law at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the criminal offence was committed.

2. This Article shall not prejudice the trial and punishment of any person for any act or omission which, at the time it was committed, was criminal according to the general principles of law recognised by civilised nations.

Instructing the police to harass citizens is not law. So what we have is another stunt by a tired government. Talking tough gets a cheap headline but, this proposal will do nothing to curb anti social behaviour. Notice there is no mention of a much more effective deterrent…..temporarily depriving them of their state benefits. This latest gimmick may have something to do with countering a proposal by David Cameron earlier this year. He wants to introduce a law which would enable the police to stop & question  a citizen but, without having to fill in the subsequent 20 page monitoring report introduced by New Labour.

Read more at BBC NEWS | Politics | Harass young thugs, police urged

Very odd. When I scanned the headlines in Reuters I thought there was a wave of fountain pen snatching. But, click on the link and it  may make your eyes water: Penis theft panic hits city…

In case you were looking for something else we are definitely talking about queen bees here!

Last weekend a truckload of beehives toppled on California Highway 99, leaving 440 colonies strewn across the freeway.

The commuting colonies and their queens, were released when the truck flipped over on an exit ramp, toppling the palletes carrying the hives. The bees had been pollinating the almond Orchards of California’s central valley.

Read more in THIS local news report.

A student in Portsmouth has fallen victim to the classic potato PC scam, parting with £600 for nothing more than a bag full of spuds, the Portsmouth News reports.

The unnamed 27-year-old was shown a bagged Sony laptop by a “man in the back of a car” parked at the rear of Debenhams in Slindon Street, Portsmouth, on 6 March. He agreed to cough the cash, and was given “an identical laptop bag”. He later discovered it contained merely organic material suitable for conversion into chips, rather than the silicon variety. He clearly wasn’t interested in a receipt, warranty cover or, ever needing to return the goods!

PC Allison Fraser of Fratton Police cautioned: “I would advise members of the public to refrain from buying high-value goods from people out of the back of cars or vans. If you do choose to make a purchase, ensure that you have the goods before you hand over any money.”

The heist was perpetrated by two ne’er-do-wells: the salesman, described as white, British, between 40 and 50 years old and 5ft 6ins and 5ft 8ins in height, and with grey hair; and the car’s driver, “of Asian appearance, between 20 and 30 years old, 5ft 6ins, with short-black hair and wearing a green top and jeans”.

Portsmouth News has further details, including police contact numbers, here.

Long-term readers will, of course, be familiar with the laptop tuber ruse. Back in 2005, the Met warned South London students to beware of another pair of miscreants who were targeting Southwark unis and colleges with £200 PCs.

H/T Registry