"David Hill" wrote in message
...

I haven't reported it to the police. The field is isolated down a long
lane, the shed was not locked and I hadn't been near it for a week.
Insurance wont pay out for those reasons and the police are hardly going
to arrest or question everyone in possesion of a Qualcast 30 push mower.

On the other hand, it was obviously someone on the field - they very
carefully put the brick holding the door shut back, which outside two
legged vermin would not have done, as well as leaving other tools. I
have made my feelings known to the field committee.

The point of this is that if people don't do this, the statistics are
skewed and do not reveal the true level of crime in an area if a crime
is recorded as merely an incident.
I'll mention it to our local PCSO and see what she has to say.


Why not put a notice on the shed door asking for your mower back when the
person who "borrowed" it has finished with it.


I've thought about that. I'm thinking more along the lines of the communal
hut and the back of the field gate. Everyone has to stop to unlock the gate
to get out, so notices there tend to be read.

--
Kathy

That second point is important. I've reported damage at the nature reserve that we manage, and been given an "incident number" by the police call centre. But I've only recently found out that it remains an "incident" until the police have phoned you back and have "crimed" it, whereupon they give you a different "crime number". And it's not until it's been "crimed" that it feeds through to police priorities, and you get a chance of a patrol in the evening to deter the people who think it is amusing to light a bonfire using planks from the bridge that local people use in the day time as a traffic-free route through the town.