van thief pictures

[roywathen]

Can anybody tell me why West Midlands Police say that you must not post pictures on face book of a person who stole 2 vans, and if you do they will arrest you? My sons partners car got broke into and my sons van keys were inside. The thieves discovered from the contents of the car where my sons partners house was. His van was on the drive containing £4000 worth of tools, they had that away and a day later from a different address stole another van that he had purchased as he was about to employ somebody to work for him. Both addresses recorded security camera footage clearly showing the same person getting in and driving away the vans.
West midlands 'dropped' the case after a solid 8 hours of doing nothing. I would have thought that it would be in all tradesmen's interests to have a 'heads up' to a likeness of the thief just in case their vehicle was his next target.roy

 

[Sideways]

One for the local MP ! Bloody ridiculous.
Has he got a police & crime commissioner in that neck of the woods ... ?

 

[MikeG.]

Have you asked them why not? If not, try that first. If you get no joy, ask your MP to write to the chief constable for an explanation. That should concentrate their minds.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My neighbour (a kitchen/bathroom fitter) told me an acquintance of his had his van done recently with a few grand's worth of gear nicked. He went to the police with perfectly clear footage of the thief grinning directly at the camera while sticking his middle finger up. The police gave him a crime number and told him to claim off his insurance, because there was nothing they could do as the "image wasn't clear enough". Knowing some of the builders around here they've probably identified and maimed him by now.
There's been a spate of it near us over the last few weeks.

 

[Tasky]

Can anybody tell me why West Midlands Police say that you must not post pictures on face book of a person who stole 2 vans, and if you do they will arrest you?

Not taking sides here, just addressing the 'why' part:

Firstly, because in this country we do not (yet) conduct Trial By Social Media.
Secondly, because everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Thirdly, because you Roywathen Esquire are not The Court and thus empowered to pass legal judgement upon a person, such posting could therefore be considered slanderous and Libel, for which you can be charged.
Fourthly, because a 'likeness' of an alleged thief (or even a hi-res photo clear as day) can still look like a dozen other people, who might then suffer the consequences of mistaken identity.

And probably a dozen other reasons, some of which may just be examples of why the law is an ass, but are nonetheless the laws which we must abide and by which we must abide.... and if you're ever on the opposite side of such things (especially that fourth one), you'll be flippin' glad such legal rights are afforded you!!

TBH, this may well end up being something you guys take to a civil court yourselves, if the Police won't do anything.

 

[DTR]

Can anybody tell me why West Midlands Police say that you must not post pictures on face book of a person who stole 2 vans, and if you do they will arrest you?

Not taking sides here, just addressing the 'why' part:

Firstly, because in this country we do not (yet) conduct Trial By Social Media.
Secondly, because everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Thirdly, because you Roywathen Esquire are not The Court and thus empowered to pass legal judgement upon a person, such posting could therefore be considered slanderous and Libel, for which you can be charged.
Fourthly, because a 'likeness' of an alleged thief (or even a hi-res photo clear as day) can still look like a dozen other people, who might then suffer the consequences of mistaken identity.

And probably a dozen other reasons, some of which may just be examples of why the law is an ass, but are nonetheless the laws which we must abide and by which we must abide.... and if you're ever on the opposite side of such things (especially that fourth one), you'll be flippin' glad such legal rights are afforded you!!

TBH, this may well end up being something you guys take to a civil court yourselves, if the Police won't do anything.

But on the other hand, by what law is it illegal to post a photo of any person on social media? The only usual caveat is that you need permission from the landowner to take photos on their property.

 

[Rorschach]

It's not illegal to post the picture of the person, what could get you in trouble is what you say alongside it.

I know for certain the identity of a thief who stole from my mother, but I cannot post his name or picture as I will be the one who gets into trouble.

 

[finneyb]

But slander and libel are Civil offences NOT Criminal offences so don't come within the Police role.

It could be interfering with a Police Investigation ie they are looking into more serious matters concerning the same individual.

Brian

 

[Rorschach]

Slander and Libel are civil, but harassment, and violent repercussion as a result of what you said, even if someone else does it could get you in criminal trouble.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A guy who once did some groundworks for me had his whacker stolen from his truck in the daytime while he was working. He saw and recognised the vehicle as it had history, and knew it came from a local travellers' site. He also knew the plod would do nothing, so (no shrinking violet ) he followed the truck back to the site. Driving up to a rather nice Mercedes he jumped out carrying a fourteen pound sledge, held it over the screen and shouted at one of bystanders - you've two minutes to put my f***ing whacker back, or I start here and continue with anyone who gets in my way. Three minutes later he was driving down the road. :lol:
I had a near new four wheel 750kg trailer stolen in the middle of the night. A hitch lock and wheel locks made no difference - a gang picked it up lock, stock and barrel and threw it on a low loader.
I was told by a builder working across the road of a pickup seen casing the properties around me the day before and I passed the details to the police.
They didn't follow it up. I spoke to an old friend, a retired police officer, and he asked what the vehicle details were. I told he him and he said you know, it's things like this that make me glad I'm out of it. That description would narrow it down to about ten vehicles in the Country - I know, it used to be my job. They're no longer bothered.
The main problem around here (and probably most other areas as well) is that the law more often than not know perfectly well who's doing it, but it serves no purpose to chase them - they'll plead victimhood or prejudice and get a small fine or a suspended sentence when caught.

 

[Trevanion]

The police are really selective in what they want to investigate.

A few years ago, one dark morning I was driving to work (Only 18 at the time and had just passed the driving test about 6 months prior for context) I had somebody with no headlights on decide to pull out in front of me on a junction with literally less than 8 metres between myself and him (Built up village, going about 30mph without anywhere to swerve), I slammed on my brakes and if I was a couple inches further down the road I would've smashed right into the side of his little van. I'm a very much live and let live kind of person so I just shrugged it off and continued on my way with him in front of me, but he for some reason decides to take some sort of imaginary offence or something to me and randomly starts slamming on the brakes erratically while I'm behind him. So I decided to overtake him just for my own personal safety more than anything because either this guy wanted to crash or he was drunk, It was a very clear place to overtake as the roads were extra wide but it was a 20 mph speed limit which will be my downfall later in the story. So after overtaking the odd acting gentleman, he took it upon himself to properly tailgate me for 10 miles on rural roads before getting bored and turning off.

Later in the day I got a text asking what had happened in the morning as I had been reported to the police by the guy for overtaking him in a 20mph zone and my numberplate, a photo of my car and a photo of the side of my head were posted on facebook (Taking a photo behind the wheel is illegal in of itself) by the man in an "Appeal" for information about me because of my "dangerous" driving. Needless to say, the police came around the house in the day and were harassing my parents for where I was and that they wanted to visit me where I work "to teach him a lesson". Luckily they didn't say where I was working and they ended up coming in the evening and I explained my side of the story but they still didn't want to believe me and gave me a warning. I felt really criminalized for something so petty, to be honest.

What really annoys me though is my sister is a barmaid and was working a late shift one night and was trying to remove a drunk and disorderly individual from the premises to which he replied with a shove to the ground and a hard kick in the ribs, which was all caught on CCTV plain to see. She wanted to press charges as he later threatened to stab her over Facebook and took both the CCTV and Facebook evidence to the police. The police ended up talking to him dropping the case because he "Couldn't remember anything about it because he had drunk too much"

The police around here are a joke.