POLICE are sending bouquets of flowers to victims of burglaries and muggings - crimes they often have difficulty solving.
POLICE are sending bouquets of flowers to victims of burglaries and muggings - crimes they often have difficulty solving.
They claim the gift helps "soften the blow", but it can also be accompanied by a note explaining that officers are closing the case for lack of evidence.
The policy has divided opinion among victims – some saying they feel "fobbed off’ and others praising the "lovely thought".
London's Metropolitan police regularly send bunches to victims of burglaries. But rates of detection can be as low as 12 percent in these areas.
Met police officers have given out around 300 bouquets since the initiative began in November. Most have gone to elderly women living alone.
Sarah Miller, 55, received a bunch of flowers from Met officers in Barnet following a burglary at her home.
She had two laptops, a camera and other valuables stolen two weeks ago and police sent a crime scenes officer to dust for fingerprints the following day.
Later that day, they sent a card saying: ‘Sorry you have been a victim of crime, unfortunately in this case there is insufficient evidence to proceed and investigation into your crime will now be closed.’
The following day, a $40 bouquet of flowers arrived by courier along with a voucher for £5 off future purchases from the florist who donated it.
Mrs Miller said: "It was nice to receive them, but the thought that went into that could have gone into solving the burglary, like putting pictures of the things that were stolen in the local paper in an effort to recover them.
"I’d rather they’d had sent a community support officer to comfort me after it happened rather than being fobbed off with flowers."
A Met spokesman said victims usually took the gifts as a positive gesture and as a sign of support.
伦敦警方正在给那些盗窃和抢劫案的受害者送花束——盗窃和抢劫经常难以破案。
伦敦警方称，这一礼物有助于“缓和打击”，但也许随之而来的还有一张纸条，解释说警方将由于缺少证据而结案。
受害者对于这一政策意见不一——有的人说他们觉得“被糊弄了”，有的人则称赞“这个想法很可爱”。
伦敦都会区警察局经常给盗窃案的受害者送花束。不过察觉到警方此举的民众在该地区只有12%。
自从11月份开始执行这一提议以来，都会区警察局的警察已经分发出约300束花。大多数花束送给了独居的老年妇女。
55岁的莎拉•米勒在家中发生了一起盗窃案后，从伦敦巴尼特的都会区警察局那里收到了一束花。
两周前她有两个笔记本电脑、一台摄像机和其他值钱物品被盗，第二天警方派了一名犯罪现场调查官过去采集指纹。
当天晚些时候，他们送来了一张卡片，上面写道：“很抱歉你成为犯罪行为的受害者，不幸的是，在这起案件中没有足够的证据能让我们着手，因此你这起案件现在将终止调查。”
第二天，快递员送来了一束价值40美元的花，连同一张价值5英镑的代金券，可以在下次向捐赠此花束的花商购买鲜花时使用。
米勒太太说：“收到花很开心，但是用在这上面的心思本来可以用在侦破盗窃案上面的，比如把被盗物品的图片登在当地报纸上，以求能重新找回失物。
“我宁愿他们在事发后派一名社区服务警察来安慰我，而不是用一束花把我打发了。”
都会区警察局的一名发言人称，受害者通常把这一礼物看作一个积极的姿态和一种支持。