PHIL JAGIELKA HAS CAR STOLEN AT KNIFEPOINT

A Premiership footballer has been confronted by knife-wielding burglars in a terrifying raid on his home.

Injured Everton star Phil Jagielka, 27, was watching his team on TV when three men burst into the mansion in Knutsford, Cheshire.

The married star, a father-of-two, was threatened with a knife and forced to hand over jewellery and the keys to his Range Rover.

A spokeswoman for Cheshire Police said: "Three men gained entry to a house in Knutsford.

"The homeowner was threatened with a knife and forced to hand over jewellery and the keys to his Range Rover car.

"Fortunately nobody was hurt during the incident and the car was found abandoned a short distance away."

The robbery took place at around 8pm on Wednesday as Everton were playing Hull City in the Carling Cup.

Jagielka is the latest in a growing list of footballers whose homes have been targeted by raiders.

Last month the Blackburn Rovers midfielder Vince Grella was also held at knife-point when thieves smashed their way into his home in Wilmslow, also Cheshire.

Other players to have been targeted in the past include Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and Tottenham striker Robbie Keane. Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

Six Arrested In Cash For Crash Insurance Fraud

"Cash For Crash Arrests" News release from the Insurance Fraud Bureau

On Monday 14th September and Wednesday 16th September, Lancashire Detectives and Uniform Police executed dawn raids on a number of addresses in the Nelson area in Lancashire resulting in six arrests. Three local men have been charged with conspiracy to steal from insurance companies and money laundering whilst the remaining three remain in custody assisting detectives with their enquiries. Further arrests are anticipated.

To see the full release click here

The Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE . . . .

Crime is most often a serious subject, but to prove there are lighter moments, we thought we'd share this one with you . . . .

BEST COME BACK LINE EVER


In summary, the police arrested Patrick Lawrence, 22 year old white male, in a pumpkin patch 11:38 p.m. on Friday night.

On Monday, at the Gwinnett County (GA) courthouse, Lawrence was charged with lewd and lascivious behaviour, public indecency, and public intoxication.

The suspect explained that as he was passing a pumpkin patch on his way home from a drinking session when he decided to stop; 'You know how a pumpkin is soft and squishy inside, and there was no one around for miles or at least I thought there wasn't anyone around'; He stated in a telephone interview.

Lawrence went on to say that he pulled over to the side of the road, picked out a pumpkin that he felt was appropriate to his purpose; cut a hole in it, and proceeded to satisfy his alleged need. 'Guess I was really into it, you know?' he commented with evident embarrassment.

In the process of doing the deed, Lawrence failed to notice an approaching police car and was unaware of his audience until Officer Brenda Taylor approached him.

'It was an unusual situation, that's for sure,' said Officer Taylor. 'I walked up to Lawrence and he's just banging away at this pumpkin.'

Officer Taylor went on to describe what happened when she approached Lawrence .

'I said, 'Excuse me sir, but do you realize that you're having sex with a pumpkin'?

'He froze and was clearly very surprised that I was there, and then he looked me straight in the face and said...

'A pumpkin? Shit .... is it midnight already?'

This was in the Washington Post...the title of the article was 'Best Come Back Line Ever.'

The Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

Car stolen in man's final hours

A cancer patient had his car stolen from his Birmingham home while his family members were at his side during his final few hours, police said.

Thieves entered Scott Wright's home and took the car keys and his mother's handbag as the family gathered at his bedside on Wednesday night.

Mr Wright, 26, of Holliday Road, in Erdington, died the next morning.

To read the full story click here Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

POLICE AND CRIME IN THE UK

• The team at Nice 1 Ltd, providers of Theft Protect replacement vehicle solutions, are delighted to announce the blistering launch of their new site "The Thin Blue Line", whose aim is to support the front line police officers of the UK. To visit the new site click here
• The site collects valuable experiences about real life crime and policing issues, and combines them with the crime analysis efforts of our sister site "Car Crime UK" to raise consumer awareness about the true picture of crime.

To see a few of the new articles posted on The Thin Blue Line click the link(s) below :-

• Crime Statistics Hide The Truth - click here
• Focus report on police resources - click here
• Recent articles by police from the frontline - click here
• Police strength disputed - click here

Please feel free to visit the sites and share your thoughts about crime and policing.

Kind Regards

The Crime Analysis Team

Nice 1 Ltd

Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

CRIME STATISTICS HIDE THE TRUTH

Click on image to enlarge

BRITISH CRIME SURVEY OR RECORDED CRIME - WHICH IS RIGHT?

We have been looking at the crime statistics released by the Home Office.

Despite having trawled through the guidance notes that accompany the Government statistics, we are at a loss to account for the massive disparities that exist between the British Crime Survey and Police recorded crime.

The Home Office clearly place great importance on the British Crime Survey (BCS), as this quote from the Home Office website confirms :-

"The BCS includes crimes which are not reported to the police, so it is an important alternative to police records. The BCS is a particularly important survey because it can provide a more complete picture of crime than police recorded crime statistics alone. The BCS includes crimes which are not reported to, or recorded by, the police and is therefore unaffected by changes in recording practices. It can provide the best guide to long-term trends in crime".

The crime statistics that tend to hit the headlines are the ones that can most easily be manipulated.
As the above report shows, the tried and trusted BCS figures, reflect a crime rate double that reported to the police. The supporting document goes to great lengths to describe why so many offences are not reported to the police. To download a copy of the report click here

Reports from front line officers, of ridculous levels of bureacracy and procedure confirms what many of the public already suspect, that their effectiveness is severely impaired. This results in a lack of public confidence, not in the bobby on the beat, but in the system of policing in the UK.

The report shows the BCS comparable count and the actual recorded crime for key offences.
It suggests that violence is twice that reported and robbery 5 times the police figure.

5 YEARS ON - NO BETTER

Five years ago, a letter was sent to the London Evening Standard, by PC Norman Brennan, serving as Director of Victims Crime Trust. The letter is reproduced below :-

Crime statistics hide the truth

IT is rare that front-line police officers speak out, but I feel the public has the right to hear us.
When I joined the police service in 1978, there were only 13,150 recorded robberies in England and Wales. Most robberies were reported because of public confidence in the justice system.

Last year, this figure had risen to a massive 101,195 recorded robberies, and the British Crime Survey, the Government’s preferred method of measuring crime, which made your front-page last week (22 July) will show the true figure to be at least double or triple this number.

Murder is at its highest rate since the Second World War. The only reason it is not many times higher is because of the skill of our surgeons.

Although police chiefs are loath to admit it, there are parts of our cities that are, in effect, no-go areas. My colleagues joined the police service to protect and support the public, but they are prevented from doing so now because of huge amounts of political correctness and red tape. We are given so many targets we almost stand still.

Politicians can make statistics look as good or as bad as they want, but the police and the public live in the real world and know the truth. I am amazed even in the latest British Crime Survey, the

Government omitted crimes of murder, sex offences, fraud, crime against commercial premises and, more important, crimes against children under 16, who make up a significant proportion of victims of crime.

I believe the situation on law and order is so bad that, to borrow a medical term, it is on a life-support machine. In my personal and professional opinion, the criminal justice system is in crisis. It is not just criminals we should be putting in the dock, but the Government. Mr Blair, you can fool some of people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.

PC Norman Brennan, director, Victims of Crime Trust, Twickenham, Middlesex.

From Blair to Brown, five years later, little has changed, as the report above shows.

Crime is still significantly higher than the authorities would have us believe.

Front line police officers are still discouraged from speaking out about the lack of resources and being buried in paperork and bureaucratic "protect the backside" processes that prevent them performing more effectively.

Politicians still have too great an influence over policing in this country. Having two sources of crime statistics enables politicians to manipulate headline to read exactly how they want, with their own reasond for doing so.

As one officer put it "The police service is living and telling lies at the moment just like MP’s expenses. Someone is going to get caught out soon, but they just don’t get it do they!"
Enough said.

Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

FOCUS REPORT : POLICE RESOURCES

To see the latest analysis report from Nice 1 Ltd, visit the post at our sister site "The Thin Blue Line", by clicking here

The post looks in detail at the scant resources of UK police forces to deal with crime and policing.


The Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Ltd Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

"CASH FOR CRASH" - TOP 20 HOTSPOTS

Staged Car Crashes Cost the UK £200million

Cash for crash car insurance fraudsters are endangering the lives of innocent UK motorists and costing the industry over £200million a year. Furthermore, this cost is directly passed on to car insurance customers, bumping up the average car insurance premium by an estimated £50.

Working in organised crime rings, these fraudsters are netting hundreds of millions of pounds a year at the expense and risk of the innocent road user.

The gangs use the proceeds of their crimes to fund drug trafficking, gun running, immigration fraud and even, it has been suggested, to finance Muslim extremist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Sue Baker, head of the Insurance Fraud Bureau, the body charged with investigating these cases, said: "This is not just a crime where greedy people are lining their own pockets and driving around in flash cars and buying nice houses. It's the more sinister uses to which the money is being put."

Police warn that vigilance is needed as this wave of potentially fatal criminal activity spreads across the country. Whilst arrests and convictions have been made, the law enforcement agencies have barely cratched the surface.

Typically, fraudsters will drive to a busy road junction then perform unexpected and dangerous emergency stops, designed to cause the innocent motorist to crash into them. Claims are then made to the innocent motorists' insurance company, frequently including several fictitious injury reports from members of the criminal gang. Often, they will claim for injuries relating to people who weren't even present and use each others names to do so. Another common trick, is to remove the brake lights of the offending vehicle, making it even more likely that a crash will occur.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau

Since its formation in July 2006, the IFB has been instrumental in helping the police make nearly 300 arrests of people endangering the lives of motorists in their attempts to defraud insurers. Three police operations resulted in 29 convictions and combined prison sentences of over 20 years. These efforts are pleasing, but only represent a fraction of the this growing problem.

The IFB currently has 25 active joint police operations spread across 13 UK police forces.

John Beadle, Chairman of the IFB comments:

"The criminal gangs targeting honest motorists are ruthless. Innocent lives are being put at risk and fraudulent insurance claims add approximately £40-£50 to every premium paid by honest policy holders each year. Left unchecked these criminal networks grow rapidly, split and even franchise smaller networks which in turn grow prolifically".

"We must continue to take a rigorous approach to dealing with this significant national problem which is impacting on many towns and cities across the UK. Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime, criminals must be brought to justice. We urge anyone with information on insurance fraud to call the Bureau's free and confidential Cheatline on 0800 328 2550 or report online at

http://www.insurancefraudbureau.org/report

Reprinted below is the IFB top twenty areas of the UK affected by "Cash for crash" crimes.

The Bureau also produce a useful free leaflet which gives advice to the UK motorist on how to protect yourself from these fraudsters.


To download a copy of this leaflet click here.


Nice 1 Limited conduct analysis of vehicle crime in the UK and employ former police officers with many years of experience in accident investigation and vehicle theft. For more information, please contact us from the details in the contact panel or read more of our articles from the archives on these pages.


The Crime Analysis Team
Nice 1 Limited Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

NICE 1 PRESS RELEASE VIA PR LOG ISSUED

View press release by clicking this link :-

http://www.prlog.org/10311862-car-crime-uk-going-up-not-down.html Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN

CAR CRIME UK - FREE Car Security Checker

FREE ONLINE CAR SECURITY CHECK

The team at Nice 1, providers of Theft Protect Replacement Vehicle Insurance, are delighted to provide access to a great new resource for UK motorists that is totally FREE.

Type a postcode and registration number into this free online tool, confirm the vehicle make and model, and you are then presented with a security rating for that car and the location it is kept.

This solves the age old mystery for UK motorists – how to get free access to information about how safe from crime their vehicle is, or how safe the vehicle they are planning to buy is, according to the area where it’s parked in and the type of vehicle it is.

CHECK CAR SECURITY NOW – CLICK THIS LINK

This unique tool also provides the ABI security ranking, and explains how that system rates male and female drivers according to age. Few people know that a female under 24 or a male under 30 will get discounts for driving vehicles between one and 20 ABI groups. Insurance will go up rapidly after ABI 20, and most insurers will decline above ABI 33. Females over 24 will get discounts for driving vehicles between one and 33 ABI and insurance will go up rapidly after ABI 33. Males over 30 will get discounts for driving vehicles between one and 33 ABI and insurance will go up rapidly after 33.

The security rating is an estimate based on government and industry vehicle crime data. The data is combined to take account of where the vehicle is kept overnight, the vehicle's theft desirability and manufactured security. Scores range from 'excellent' - nine stars or more - to 'extremely poor' - one star. An 'excellent' score has an approximate probability of less than 1-in-1000 chance of being stolen, broken into or vandalised over the year and 'extremely poor' has a greater than 1-in-10 chance."

The tool draws its data from the ABI and the Thatcham vehicle security site. Thatcham is the research and development unit owned by the UK insurance industry.

So, whether you are thinking of buying a new car, getting or renewing your car insurance, or you simply want to find out how secure your car is, click the link below or to the right of the page.

CHECK CAR SECURITY NOW – CLICK THIS LINK

Click the back button once you've done your check to return to these pages. Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0PTplKsFN