Photo: APU
A new UK study reveals that up to 30,000 annual car thefts, worth over $335 million (229 million pounds), are not investigated by the police because they are “not worthy.”
The new research, conducted by Accident Exchange and its fraud investigation team, APU, found that around 700,000 car thefts happened between 2009 and 2014 in Great Britain. In these six years, no less than 117,000 cars were stolen in the UK per year, of which 59,000 are lost entirely, and more than a half are not worthy of police investigation. The average recovery rate in these cases is 49.6%.
The cause of this situation is thought to be the continuous cuts to police budgets.
The business sector suffers a big hit because police often classify the theft of fleet or courtesy cars, worth over $31 million (229 million pounds), as “civil crime” and they don’t automatically open a case if a car is thought to have gone missing.
The figures presented here are likely to be higher in reality because most recovered cars are damaged or sometimes even burnt.
According to Neil Thomas, APU’s Director of Investigative Services, the police explain their judgment by saying that the business has allowed someone to use its cars, and that’s why they are considering it a “civil crime.”
Thomas believes that because of the continuous pressure put on police forces, they don’t have enough time to investigate and retrieve stolen vehicles, and so, the Police, insurance firms, law enforcement agencies and private companies must work together to solve this problem.
APU is an anti-fraud unit specialized in motor fraud and provides accident investigations to solicitors, insurance companies or credit hire organizations. It is working with police forces throughout the UK as well as international crime-fighting organizations, and its main goal is to reduce the fraudulent automotive activity.
Because of its actions, somewhere around $500,000 (350,000 pounds) were saved in the past year only from stolen vehicle recovery or false insurance claim prevention.
The cause of this situation is thought to be the continuous cuts to police budgets.
The business sector suffers a big hit because police often classify the theft of fleet or courtesy cars, worth over $31 million (229 million pounds), as “civil crime” and they don’t automatically open a case if a car is thought to have gone missing.
The figures presented here are likely to be higher in reality because most recovered cars are damaged or sometimes even burnt.
According to Neil Thomas, APU’s Director of Investigative Services, the police explain their judgment by saying that the business has allowed someone to use its cars, and that’s why they are considering it a “civil crime.”
Thomas believes that because of the continuous pressure put on police forces, they don’t have enough time to investigate and retrieve stolen vehicles, and so, the Police, insurance firms, law enforcement agencies and private companies must work together to solve this problem.
APU is an anti-fraud unit specialized in motor fraud and provides accident investigations to solicitors, insurance companies or credit hire organizations. It is working with police forces throughout the UK as well as international crime-fighting organizations, and its main goal is to reduce the fraudulent automotive activity.
Because of its actions, somewhere around $500,000 (350,000 pounds) were saved in the past year only from stolen vehicle recovery or false insurance claim prevention.
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