In a surprising move for UK police, forces across the country are reportedly issuing a 'mea culpa' for their failure to solve crimes by sending bunches of flowers to criminals’ targets.
Victims of crimes are regularly given bouquets of flowers by
Metropolitan and West Mercia police forces, The Sunday Telegraph
says. In the London borough of Barnet, the Met has sent out some
300 bouquets since last November.
Barnet resident Sarah Miller said she received the flowers, along
with a card from police apologizing that it seemed unlikely that
her crime would be solved. Her house had been robbed of valuable
items, including two laptops and a camera.
“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 card allegedly read.
The following day, a bunch of flowers was delivered.
A Met spokesperson said that giving someone flowers “helps
soften the blow and shows we are there to support them.” The
bunches are either donated by wholesale firms or paid for using a
police community fund, gathered from proceeds from unclaimed
property sales, voluntary contributions from officers and staff and
donations from the general public.
“I'd rather they'd have sent a community officer to comfort
me after it happened rather than being fobbed off with
flowers,” Miller told the Telegraph.
Miller had her own suggestions on how the local police force could
make a better use of their time: “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.”
Last year, only 436 of the 3,405 residential burglaries in Barnet
were solved – a 12.8 percent success rate.