Is Sussex The Safest Place To Live?

[Victor Meldrew]

I reckon it must be. The serious crime squad have so little to do, they've decided to reopen the case of a girl who disappeared in 1926!

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7867412.stm

Det Ch Insp Trevor Bowles said:...."I am keen to hear from anyone locally who may recall the disappearance of Emma.

I may not have a degree in stating the bleedin' obvious, but I would like to point out to this Detective Chief Inspector that anyone locally who may recall this disappearance is either pushing up daisies, or they would be in a mental state where a court wouldn't even allow them to handle their own affairs, let alone being able to provide reliable witness statements.

[Libby]

Victor, there is no time frame for a murder case. New information and potentially new evidence has come to light, so it is the polices' responsibility to investigate. Also the family want closure.

Having witnessed how hard Sussex Police work firsthand and experiencing how supportive they are, i have nothing but good words to say about them. I assure you they are constantly investigating, patrolling our streets, and battling crimes in the area. Your comments are a little naive.

[Victor Meldrew]

Libby, I know there is no time frame for murder cases.

However, a comment such as "A number of local people have already assisted us and have been able to fill in some of the many gaps which exist." seems very strange. We're talking about a disappearance which occurred 83 years ago. Now they've had a number of people assisting with their enquiries? Why have locals sat on this information for so long? Surely this assistance must have come from descendents of people who were living in the area in 1926, most, if not all of them, now dead? Why didn't the people who claimed they knew what happened and relayed this information to their children/grandchildren give it to the police some time between the time the incident occurred and, say, the outbreak of World War Two?

All police forces would admit they have a shortage of resources, Sussex included. The most recent figures I can find show that Sussex Police's violent crime detection rate was around 55%. That's 45 out of every hundred violent crime offenders, for offences investigated by this serious crime squad, still walking the streets. Surely it would be a better use of their resources to concentrate on these crimes. I'm sure they do work very hard, as do all police forces, but they admit they failed to achieve their targets for violent crime detection. Diverting officers away from investigating current unsolved crimes in favour of attempting to solve a 1926 incident seems very strange. If it happened in my area, I'd be asking a few questions.