Recovering stolen car

[Bigends]

iDrive said:

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

It is unlikely to get that far. Once the forensics people realise that the vehicle has been entered/worked on since it was in the thieves possession they will either not bother or do a token minimal amount of work on it. Either which way it will all be a waste of everyone's time.

Or, as they are trained, they will ask the mechanics about how the car has been worked on, and check the areas that offenders are most likely to have touched.

The Cops will be more interested in the Burglary than the car theft in most parts of the country (most forces won't forensicate* just for a car theft) but the CSI RealWorld are very good at their job, CSI Internet less so.

• Hateful word

Police will also need to get full details of everybody involved in the repairs to eliminate them in the event any marks/samples are recovered.

[iDrive]

Bigends said:

Police will also need to get full details of everybody involved in the repairs to eliminate them in the event any marks/samples are recovered.

Why so?

[surveyor]

It’s unusual for the insurance company to recover a stolen car, normally it’s the police when then release it to the insurance company.

It’s all a bit upside down and seems as a minimum to make extra work for the forensics team.

While I agree with the precautions on replacing keys and ECUs, perhaps this is vehicle dependent. My brother’s car was stolen with key and recovered. The insurance company arranged for the missing key to be deactivated and replaced.

[LesXRN]

Did the cops do any forensics at your house, seeing as you were burgled?

[Bigends]

iDrive said:

Bigends said:

Police will also need to get full details of everybody involved in the repairs to eliminate them in the event any marks/samples are recovered.

Why so?

Because if Bill Smiths prints are found in the car and Bill Smith was one of the mechanics that worked on the car then his prints can be disregarded and Police neednt waste time tracing and interviewing him as they already know he had legitimate access to the car.

[WatchfulEye]

Had some long chats with the police, insurers and repairers.

It appears that the force which found the car (not my local one) released it to the insurer and failed to contact my local force. The insurer's recovery agent had to break in because he didn't have a key, and had to secure loose objects, release handbrake/gears, etc. so evidence was damaged right from the start.

I did contact my local police once I heard it had been found, but the message was passed through routinely, and didn't get acted on as the investigating officer was off. Finally, they decided that given so many people had been in the car, it is doubtful that any forensic results could be relied on, and they have decided not to proceed.

The insurer has written off my other cars. The police have advised, that if I get any update about these cars, that I call 101 and explain the situation and make sure that the matter is referred for urgent investigation, so that the local police can recover the cars themselves.