Police - PSD ignoring their own Investigation Policy - help!

[confusedSA]

On 16th April 2024, my car was taken without consent. The person who took it dumped my car, which is completely written off, in the car park outside our local police station. Which has five CCTV cameras covering the station, entrance to the car park, and my car. I called my insurer to get advice and they told me to report it to Dyfed Powys Police as a TWOC Offence.

I reported the crime on 16th April and was given a crime reference on 19th April. On 20th April the police call me to say it's a civil matter and they wouldn't be taking any further action. Not only that, their Police Communications Centre emailed my insurance company to inform them that this was not a police matter. So my insurance company cancelled my insurance claim.

So in a nutshell, according to Dyfed-Powys Police, TWOC - a form theft of a motor vehicle - isn't a crime on their patch. And even if there is a mountain of evidence literally right outside the police station, they won't investigate it. However, their own Investigation Policy details the process for dealing with Incidents - from getting the initial call, allocating a Crime Number, and then checking for footage (ie CCTV) and trying to identify suspect(s). It contains no mechanism for "no-criming" before those checks are completed.

So I sent a complaint to the PSD pointing out the officers hadn't followed their own Investigation Policy.

On 1st May 2024, the Professional Standards Department issued their response. They could see nothing wrong, upheld the officers' right to "no-crime" my case despite having CCTV and the car on their own doorstep, and the garage owner admitting to it. And despite their own Investigations Policy (which is three years out of date!) detailing how incidents should be investigated - with a whole section on gathering evidence including CCTV.

Not only that, the College Of Policing APP Guidance on Investigations - the latest version - requires ALL Incidents to have an Initial Investigation (this was brought in in August 2023 to put a stop to "no-criming" (ie when there is evidence but the police can't be bothered to gather it) and to build trust and confidence in the police force in England and Wales.

I intended to appeal to the PSD but they seem to think the latest APP doesn't apply to them or their officers. I tried to appeal to IPOS but they said they'd forward it on to ... Yep, you've guessed it, the PSD. So what would be the point?

Bedfordshire Police has already brought Misconduct charges against two officers for what my local police force did, under the new Regulations.

So does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do next?

[PallasAthena]

What is the "despite the garage owner admitting it" about, which you have just dropped in without explanation?

And what have the Bedfordshire police got to do with it?

I don't think you are giving us the full story here.

[confusedSA]

Well, that part of it is not relevant to the issue of the Police not following their own Investigation Policy or the APP, which is the point of my query.

But the background is just as bonkers. My car was hit by a lorry last September; my insurer sent it to an Authorised Repair Centre who repaired the visible damage but not the electrical faults (the OBD was damaged and most of the safety features like traction control, ABS, air bags and so on, failed. The Repair centre finished the repairs and returned my car just before Christmas 2023. On 2nd January 2024 all the electrics failed including the OBD and my insurer - because it was parked outside my house - said the recovery vehicle would take it to the closest garage to my house. As per my Lifetime Repair Guarantee, my car should have been taken to another Authorised Repair Centre but my insurer and their ARC (who was sold off on 1st March 2024) kept coming up with excuses not to send it. My insurer won't accept their own Guarantee, because when the ARC finished the work, they issued the Guarantee certificate in their own name, not the name of my insurer. And that ARC no longer exists (more on that in a bit). All that is a separate issue which is now with the Financial Ombudsman.

The local garage owner was asked - by my insurer - to send a condition report to my insurance company because it couldn't go back to the ARC. And offered to pay his storage costs. But he kept coming up with excuses, which drove both me and my insurer round the twist.

When the eight week deadline for my complaint ran out and they had STILL not had the report back from the garage owner, my insurer closed my complaint. Within a couple of hours, the garage owner had loaded my car up in a flat bed and dumped it outside the police station. And came to my house to return the keys and threaten me - and my insurance company - not to contact him ever again.

Last week, my insurer got back in touch to ask what the Police were doing (nothing). And informed me that the ARC had been sold off on 1st March so my Lifetime Repair Guarantee wasn't valid any more, so technically from March 1st my insurance was never going to do anything about the car. When I pointed out they had had three months to sort that out before the sale, they refused to comment.

All I want to do now is (a) let the Financial Ombudsman give my insurance company a right royal dressing down, and (b) challenge my local police force for refusing to investigate a crime - contrary to their own Investigation Policy. but the second bit is tricky given the Force I'm dealing with has a PSD that is as ignorant of that policy as their officers are. That's why I'm asking for advice.

[des8]

You could try a complaint directly to the Chief Constable, DR Richard Lewis, and when that doesn't produce any result other than "my guys have acted appropriately", you could then complain to our long standing Police& Crime Commissioner, Mr Dafydd Llywelyn, that the Chief Constable has failed in his duty to you.

It probably won't get you any satisfaction, but it will let them know someone knows of their existence ( our newly re-elected PCC didn't do any canvassing in my area and turn out was only 19% )and give them something to do!

[PallasAthena]

Did the police speak to the garage owner before deciding it was not a crime? Did the garage owner admits to the police that he had dumped the car in the car park? If so why would the police need to look at CCTV? There would be no dispute over who put the car in the car park.

You say the car is 'completely written off". Is this because of the original damage or because of it being dumped?

[confusedSA]

The police didn't do a thing. I reported the crime on 16th April (and the day before, someone already raised a Welfare Concern to the same police because of the intimidation and harassment I'd been subjected to even before the Incident). They never turned up for that, never turned up to interview me, didn't even log the Crime Number till the 19th April, then the next day they effectively no-crimed it.

Bearing in mind the car was dumped in the car park by the station (the flat bed had to pass the station to get into it!), it's completely bizarre that when the local officers received the incident details, they didn't just walk out the door, round the corner and see it for themselves. Then review the footage, then go have a word with the driver of that flat-bed. Their own Investigation Policy. They're supposed to do that BEFORE taking a decision whether or not they can build a case.

Dyfed Powys Police is sticking to its guns; "it's a civil matter" which is not only irrelevant if they read the APP (EVERY incident has to be investigated whatever type of incident was reported) - it's also completely nonsensical. The main crime is a Summary Offence that can only be tried in a Crown or Magistrates Court (TWOC - s12 The Theft Act 1968). It CAN'T be tried in a civil court. Therefore whoever made the original claim that it was a "civil matter, either lacks training or deliberately concocted this "civil matter" nonsense to avoid having to do any police work. Their decision has led to my insurance company cancelling my insurance claim for theft (not because they think it wasn't stolen - but because "Dyfed-Powys Police Failed To Properly Investigate").

The car, was already immobile at the garage (a complete failure of all the electrics) - but without a condition report, neither myself nor my insurer knew the extent of the damage or if it could have been repaired. When I say "total write-off" now, I mean it is worthless. It's not even safe to get in now because of the damp and mould.

One final point on this; even without all of that, "Professional Curiosity" (Code Of Conduct, and Code Of Ethics) should have kicked in. There must be a motive and it's every officers duty to ask questions: WHY was the car dumped? (Getting rid of evidence of wrongdoing, perhaps?). Why dump it near a police station (very odd place to do that!). Does it contain evidence of other crimes? When an officer stops you on the street with a faulty light bulb, they go round the car, check the vehicle is MOT'ed and the driver is insured... You may not have committed an offence whilst driving; it doesn't stop them checking you or your vehicle out. Yet a vehicle abandoned outside the police station, doesn't even get looked at. It doesn't track, does it.

I know this is a legal forum but I'd love to hear the tale from a police officer on this situation (hey, if you want to know, ask a policeman!).

[PallasAthena]

With every post you drop in more information - this time about a Welfare Concern report - and I'm less clear now than when the thread started.

You've also given us no information of what has happened to your car since. Who is arranging its retrieval and assessing it for repair?

Although you put much emphasis on the car park being opposite the police station is it also near your house? The nearest car park to your house perhaps?

Your focus on complaining about the police investigation seems misconceived to me. You appear to believe that your car was TWOC'd by the garage owner and so an offence has been committed under s12 Theft Act 1968. But I think it's unlikely any such offence has occurred and it is, as the police decided, a civil matter not a crime.

From your posts it seems the garage owner did not take the car away from you, they already had it (legally) in their care custody and control to prepare a report on. Your Insurers had authorised that, presumably exercising their claims control rights under your policy.

So I cannot understand why you reported this to insurers as a new claim for Theft (or TWOC). It is surely a continuation of the original claim from last September, when a lorry hit your car? The repairs following that accident have still not been completed because the electrics do not work and it is unsafe and cannot be driven.

Why aren't you insisting that your insurers take responsibility for returning the car to you fully repaired and roadworthy? There seems no reason for you to get into a dispute with the garage owner. If I've understood your posts correctly you did not commission the garage to report on the car, nor to have the car moved to the garage. Insurers did that so they have to sort out the current mess.

It is the failure of your insurers to deal with your claim correctly that should be your focus. Pursuing the police seems to me like a waste of time. Not only would any reinvestigation be unlikely to show TWOC had been committed but even if it did how would that help you get your car repaired and returned to you?

By your own account the car when taken to the garage was valueless and undriveable, so even if insurers accepted a TWOC claim under the policy the value of the car immediately prior to being dumped would be zero and they would pay you nothing!

[confusedSA]

Thank you Pallasathena, you're right on the focussing on the insurance company. Fortunately that is ongoing and I'm just waiting for the Financial Ombudsman to allocate a case handler.

As for the Police situation, it is Taking Without Consent because the garage owner was told by both Vizion Network and Hastings that the car must not be moved or tampered with, so the investigation would have the car as it was the day it broke down (and therefore if they found it had damaged to the chassis - which it does - the ARC couldn't then blame it on the local garage owner).

Also TWOC is a Summary Criminal Offence that cannot be tried in a civil court. Though it's a moot point given in August 2023 the College Of Policing APP on Investigations was changed to remove the "loophole" of police officers no-criming incidents before an investigation is carried out. And it doesn't matter if it's a criminal or civil Incident - the police MUST investigate it. And that was agreed by all 43 Forces in England and Wales, the Home Office, the Home Secretary and the Policing Minister.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/p...lve-more-crime

APP was updated and most police forces have implemented the new Guidance and amended Regulations. HMICFRS can put a whole Force into Special Measures if they don't comply (Nottinghamshire Police has been moved into Engage in March this year). My reasoning for going through that appeal is, maybe the officers on the ground don't even know they're now committing a Misconduct if they no-crime an incident without first investigating it, and would definitely not know the rules changed so it's irrelevant whether that incident is crime or civil related. It has to be investigated, regardless. That's in their APP.

I don't expect to get anything out of this, but that's not my motivation anyway. I simply want to stop other people going through the same misery I am.

[PallasAthena]

I still can't see there's anything to support TWOC here. The garage was legally in possession of the car and then returned it to you - they handed you the keys personally and told you where they had left it.

The guidance you link does not say "... it doesn't matter if it's at criminal or civil incident". It expressly refers to investigating Crimes, not civil disputes. I would guess the police reviewed what you told them and concluded that what you described was a civil dispute not a crime. I would agree with them.

I have nothing more to add to this thread. I hope it eventually gets sorted out