Many constabularies do not have a stolen vehicle squad! The expertise is gone, SPoC’s do not exist and a theft of a vehicle worth tens of £1,000’s see little or no investigation. As a career choice, an armed robber might think this alternative line of work less risky and more lucrative than pointing guns at terrified members of the public.
In 2012 (updated 2014), it was reported that the MPS almost lost theirs; ‘Stolen vehicle squad saved’ , the article commented:
‘One of the country’s last remaining police stolen vehicle squads has been saved from closure. The Met’s stolen vehicle unit, which has worked to jail organised bike thieves with undercover stings and long-running investigations, had been earmarked for closure in police budget cuts.’
Yet in some instances, most likely with newer, more expensive vehicles, this is organised crime (link: Organised crime in the UK is bigger than ever before. Can the police catch up?) :
- In the cities, ex-military eastern European and Baltic state gangs are behind a spate of thefts of prestige cars stolen at night, driven to the ports and dispatched overseas before the owners wake up
How organised does crime need to be to avoid a ‘disorganised’ categorisation? Stealing by use of juveniles, conveyed to chop-shops and parts disseminated, appears to be a business model far from a shambles. A slide from a 2009 presentation we gave highlights that the simplest of organisation can confuse and outpace our constabularies.
Which constabulary does what? Which constabulary WANTS to do anything?
Perhaps this crime model was so successful that it has now developed into the ‘County lines’ drugs routes? The warning is that if the Police do not become concerned with the ‘minor’ criminality, at some point the minor criminals graduate into highly organised crime, taking advantage of the fragmentation and uncoordinated strategy of our Police forces (services?).
If marijuana use is believed to lead to use of ‘harder’ drugs, is it unreasonable to believe minor criminals will progress to more organised criminal activity?
As an aside, I would ask whether AVCIS / NAVCIS count as a ‘stolen vehicle squad’ or are they so closely aligned to finance-related crime that ‘theft’ is of less interest? There was a time when AVCIS received substantial funding from recoveries, a bounty system … that likely saw priorities shifted toward vehicles with an agreement against them – non-payment or falsely obtained?
‘NaVCIS is the bridge between the police service and the vehicle finance sector’. [2019] Their ‘news’ page is … blank.