Intrigued. Confused. I have no idea what the hell is going on. All of the above. Jenny Murray recently wrote in her newspaper column that she was nearly a victim of a finance scam. She had answered a call from a ‘No Caller ID’ named Dan who told her (in his perfect English accent) that he was calling from her bank. He told her he had to check she was the right person to talk to and took down her particulars, i.e. name, address, date of birth and the last four digits at the end of her credit card. Oh yes, and she also gave him her customer number. The proverbial penny dropped when she realised something shifty was afoot. That being the case, she called the bank, who assured her it was not them calling and assured her that her money was safe and well.
Next, she called 999. Police, please. This is where things get interesting. Very interesting. Ms Murray states that ‘a charming young woman took details and said she would send two officers round to check [she] was safe’. Say what?
Wait a minute! Send two officers round? Has Ms Murray been assaulted? Has she been a victim of a burglary? Was she robbed and attacked in her street or home?
As you readers know, I have written about the police a few times. The police who say they don’t have time or resources to attend shoplifting offences, leaving shopkeepers and their workers open to assault and loss of revenue.
Victims of burglaries and assault cases don’t even warrant a visit from the police these days. It has come to light that the police have failed to solve a single burglary in half of the country’s neighbourhoods in the past three years.
Then there was the recent case in Somerset, where Stephen and Jennifer Chapple were being murdered in their own home by Collin Reeves. The police were called. By the killer. Avon and Somerset police dropped everything and raced to the scene. Not! They sat on their behinds for over 20 minutes doing a ‘risk assessment’. I even hear that several police forces have a system whereby officers can carry out inquiries without leaving the comfort of their sofas. I have spoken of my own experience when our property was criminally damaged. I promptly called the police who told me they would ‘swing by’ at some point. Like Diana Ross, I’m still waiting.
Yet the police could find ‘two officers’ to attend to Ms Murray’s nearly online scam. And it gets worse. The two officers ‘quickly arrived’, according to Ms Murray. They sat on her sofa and made a fuss of her dogs. God almighty! The two officers were ‘so sweet and reassuring’ about her fear of being scammed and if she was ever concerned, said to call the police again and they would come at once! They even had time to compliment her on how fast she had called them in the first place to report her experience. Her experience, mind you, not a ‘crime’.
I am certainly not making light of Ms Murray’s experience, as I too have had similar phone calls and worse, where money was actually being taken out of my account whilst on the phone to the scammer. At least she kept her money. But what bothers me is how fast the police, with their limited resources and manpower, were able to respond to what is being described as an ‘experience’ in a way that they are not able to respond to crime.
