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Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Eleven Pound Notes Issued To Police

Just read this funny story on the UK police news site.

You've heard the phrase 'as bent as a nine bob note', here's the modern day version!

Eleven-pound notes have been given to every constable in West Midlands Police to remind them to look out for false reports.

False reporting of any crime is an offence in itself and wastes hours of officers' time investigating alleged offences that don’t exist.

People make false reports for a variety of reasons. Some falsely report their mobile phone stolen in the hope of an upgrade or replacement. Others falsely report the theft of insured goods in the hope of falsely claiming off their insurance policy.

Some people are embarrassed about the fact they have lost something and report it stolen to cover up their own carelessness.

In an attempt to raise officers' awareness to the trigger points for recognising a false report, special 'aide memoires’ in the design of an £11 note have been produced and issued to frontline staff.

The £11 notes are part of a force wide internal ‘Spot the Fake' campaign, which also includes doctored posters of the Mona Lisa.

The penalties for making a false report range from a fixed penalty notice for wasting police time to attempted deception and, in more serious cases, such as when the false report leads to someone being wrongly arrested, a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

A wide variety of methods are used to detect offences including cctv, witness accounts and media appeals. These methods can also prove that a crime report has been a knowingly made false report.

Superintendent Neil Evans said: “While we treat all crime reported to us seriously, we do look out for false reporting and anyone found to be making such a report will be charged accordingly. False reports not only waste time and money, they stop us time on solving real crime.”

For further info check out the West Mids Police website.

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