INSANE BRITISH POLICING

The decayed British cops of today don't care much about anybody or anything -- but woe betide you if you try to help yourself!

After police showed little interest in investigating a burglary at his home, Dr Otto Chan decided to take action himself to retrieve the stolen property. He pinned up posters around his neighbourhood offering a reward for anyone who returned the computers, Christmas presents and priceless family photographs. So the 50-year-old radiologist was astonished when officers threatened to arrest him – for attempting to buy stolen goods. Police said he had breached the Theft Act by promising in the posters that there would be ‘no questions asked’.

Dr Chan, who has never been in trouble with the law, said last night: ‘It is ridiculous. ‘The police couldn’t even be bothered to send an officer to see me about the burglary but as soon as I try and get my own property back they are straight on the phone warning I could be prosecuted.’ The ordeal began when Dr Chan, a father of six, returned from a two-week holiday in France on December 30. In the early hours of New Year’s Eve as the family slept, thieves smashed through the back door of his home in Belsize Park, North London. They grabbed three computers worth more than 3,000 pounds and a pile of unopened Christmas presents. The heist was especially heartbreaking because the laptops contained hundreds of precious photographs of his wife Zaide, 35, their children and his grandchild, as well as the text of more than 150 lectures on radiology.

Dr Chan said the Metropolitan Police did not send a single uniformed officer to investigate the crime, although a forensics expert paid a visit to dust for fingerprints and DNA evidence. But when he started putting up the posters, he claimed the police suddenly developed an interest in the case. He said: ‘When my wife and I discovered the burglary, we rang the police and they didn’t want to know. ‘Five hours afterwards, after complaining, they sent a single forensics expert round, but they said no police officer was available to investigate thefts or break-ins. ‘I was astonished because we are close to three police stations. ‘The forensics person was very nice but they effectively told me, “I wouldn’t hold your breath for your belongings”.

‘I didn’t hear anything else from them and I was appalled. ‘I have lost ten years of family photos and 20 years of work. It has been heartbreaking. ‘I put out an advert offering a reward on railings, in streets and even on trees locally. ‘I was offering a huge reward, no questions asked. ‘Then a couple of weeks later I got a phone call from the police warning that I could be prosecuted for trying to buy stolen goods.

‘I said that they had not done very much to get my things back. ‘They said that they had everything under control, but I pointed out to them they had not even come round to take the serial numbers of the computers.’

Under section 23 of the Theft Act 1968, it is illegal to advertise rewards for return of goods stolen or lost using words to the effect that no questions will be asked. Anyone convicted faces a fine of up to 100 pounds and will get a criminal record.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Police explained that any reward should be organised with police liaison to ensure no offences would be committed inadvertently by the victims. ‘Forensic officers have attended the venue and we await the results of this visit.’

The Mail revealed this month how the Met was refusing to send officers to burglaries if the culprit had fled the scene – instead dispatching civilian ‘scenes of crime’ staff to examine for signs of a break-in. Senior officers claim this actually improves detection rates because potential clues such as fingerprints or DNA evidence are retrieved sooner.

Dr Chan’s case is the latest in a series of bizarre police investigations. A pub landlady from Somerset was investigated by police last June for inciting racial hatred. Her ‘crime’ was to devise a St George’s Day celebration featuring children throwing homemade arrows at the dragon on a Welsh flag. In early 2006, the crown prosecution service was forced to drop public order charges against an Oxford University student for calling a mounted policeman’s horse ‘gay’. A police spokesman later said that the remarks had been ‘offensive to the policeman and his horse’.

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