No point reporting criminals any more

12:46pm Wednesday 18th June 2008

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AFTER a serious assault on a member of my family recently a neighbour dialed 999 at about 9.21pm.

When I found out what had happened I also rang 999. The officer asked my address which I told her.

She repeated it and said XYZ Lye. I said, "No Stourbridge several times before she eventually found out where I lived". After 20 minutes there was no response from the police. I rang again in a calmer fashion. I was told that Stourbridge police had been informed and were dealing with it. I asked ,When?". The officer couldn't tell me only that when an officer became free they would call.

The officer couldn't tell me which day would be likely. I called my local councilor but all he could offer was that Stourbridge Police were probably dealing with something else in the High Street. After an hour plus we called again and said that we couldn't wait any longer and went to the hospital. An officer who had just come on duty eventually called and came to the hospital to take a statement.

I had little confidence in the police before, not even bothering to report a ladder being stolen from my house a couple of weeks ago but now have virtually none at all. I did report two intruders a couple of months ago on our roof and discovered the next day that they had been stealing lead off a neighbour's roof. The neighbour had lead stolen from several roofs and reported it. It was logged as two separate incidents and the PCSO's who came to interview me a few days later had not connected the two together. What a state this country is in! Gordon Brown tells us that crime is down. Don't tell me that. People just don't bother to report it any more.

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