Larceny: A Police Point of View
| Published date | 01 April 1948 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834801200210 |
| Date | 01 April 1948 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Larceny
A
POLICE
POINT
OF
VIEW
A
constable
is much concerned
with
the
law relating
to
larceny
and
in particular
with
the
offences covered
by
the
Larceny Acts of 1861
and
1916. There is every reason
why
he should be because
the
latest
Criminal Statistics
show only too clearly
that
larceny predominates over every
other
type
of crime. Thus in 1945,
out
of 478,394 crimes
known
to
the
Police no less
than
544,830 were larceny,
receiving,
and
"kindred
offences" as
the
Act of 1916
describes them. The figures for 1946
and
1947 will show
the
same
trend
and
if
it
were only possible
to
arrive
at
an
estimate of
the
crimes known
to
the
public
the
predomin-
ance of larceny would be even more marked.
The
number
of larcenies committed every
year
but
never reported
to
the
Police
must
be
an
astronomical figure. A few examples
will give point
to
this
statement. The annual value of
the
goods lost on
the
British Railways, largely
due
to
some
form of misappropriation,
has
always been ahigh figure
and
in 1947 exceeded £4,000,000. Only a small proportion
of
the
total
is reported
to
the
Police for
the
simple reason
that
it
is impossible in
many
cases to
say
at
what
point of
a
transit
involving ajourney of several hundred miles
the
actual
theft
occurred
and
it
cannot be recorded as a crime
by
every Police Force through whose jurisdiction
the
goods
passed. Besides,
the
Railway Police
have
a
tender
regard
for
the
detected crime
returns
of
the
City, County,
and
Borough Forces
and
do
not
report a
transit
theft
unless
the
precise location
has
been satisfactorily established.
Thousands of railway larcenies, therefore, are
not
included
in
the
official returns. Asimilar situation exists with
regard to
theft
of goods
at
docks
and
harbours,
and
the
total
value of
the
pilferages of shipping traffic is comparable
with
that
placed on railway losses.
Further,
the
number
of thefts which occur in factories, stores,
and
warehouses,
and
are
not
brought to
the
notice of
the
Police,
must
be a
very
high figure.
In
January
this year, Mr. E. R. Guest,
213
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