I think generally police morale in England is low. I know they have quotas to fulfil. The reference to TICs means 'taken into consideration'. So if someone is arrested for, say, burglary, and he has previous convictions and intends to plead guilty to the burglary he's been arrested for, and there are a number of other unsolved similar burglaries in the neighbourhood, the police will persuade the burglar to agree to have these 'taken into consideration' whether he has done them or not.

So he'll be charged and go to court on the one burglary he's been arrested for, and the police will also tell the court that another, for example, 18 burglaries are to be 'taken into consideration'. He won't get any more of a sentence for them, and, on paper, it looks as if the police have 'solved' these other 18 burglaries, whereas all they've done is removed them from the statistics of unsolved crimes.

This happens across the board, with everything from car theft, muggings, criminal damage...

I can't remember the last time I saw a police officer round here.

Thanks for your response. I had the impression that management-by-goals-and-statistics had taken hold. And with it, as anyone who has ever had to fulfill weekly metrics on their job knows, there are fiddles that are done to get the numbers to come out right.

Also, I will bet that if the quota is not only met but exceeded, then a new, higher, quota will be set. "Don't arrest that man, we have already done our three."

Good day to you, and let's be careful out there.

Sounds like the Chief Constable is on the take.

I bet an ASBO would shut those whiny cops up! *shakes fist*