Bedfordshire Police is reminding residents of the dangers of making false allegations and wasting police time.
During December, detectives have investigated three separate robberies which turned out to be false claims. Each of the incidents required officers to take statements, undertake door-to-door enquiries and view hours of CCTV footage before the truth was discovered.
On Thursday December 15, a 49-year-old woman claimed that she had been robbed of money and her mobile phone after visiting the Post Office in Shortstown. Officers attended the scene and carried out an area search for the two ‘offenders’ but when detectives later questioned the woman, she revealed that she had made the allegation up.
At around 10.30pm on Friday December 2, Bedfordshire Police received a report that a man in a wheelchair had been robbed in Goldington Avenue, Bedford. The man claimed that three teenagers wearing hooded tops and carrying a knife had stolen £200 from him. Detectives carried out a large search for the offenders, but again the crime report was found to be false. The same applied to a report from a 14-year-old boy who claimed that he was assaulted and robbed of his mobile phone on Monday December 5.
Detective Sergeant Gary Maxey of the Serious Crime Investigation Team at Bedfordshire Police, said: “We always take any report of robbery extremely seriously and will do all that we can to capture the offenders as quickly as possible. Unfortunately we have seen a number of incidents this month where people have purposefully made up claims and wasted quite a considerable amount of police time.
“I’d like to remind residents that making false allegations – whether they be robbery or any other crimes - and wasting police time is a serious offence which could result in the person making the claims being prosecuted. In these cases we quickly established that stories just weren’t adding up and were able to warn the claimants about their actions.”
To report any crime please contact Bedfordshire Police, in confidence, on 01234 841212, the non emergency number 101, or text information to 07786 200011. Alternatively contact independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111, or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.
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