ALERTING neighbours about nocturnal thefts (Shuttle, July 4) is laudable, as is reporting incidents in the expectation that something will be done. My local councillor also promptly publicised a spate of local incidents in a recent newsletter.

The response of the police, though, has been underwhelming.

Reporting the theft of credit cards, mobile phone and various items of sports equipment was handled efficiently but thereafter little was done to even begin to solve the crime.

Hearing nothing for a week, I re-contacted the police to determine progress but was told the case had already been marked unresolved.

My enquiry as to why no fingerprint checks had been made revealed that forensics staff will not visit the scene to check for them unless there was additional evidence available. But exactly how they determined that there was no additional evidence without visiting the scene is still somewhat of a puzzle.

As regards tracing my mobile phone’s location I was told that this was not as easy as it appears on TV since various orders and permissions needed to be obtained and, you’ve guessed it, they were not going to get them.

So, by all means play the good neighbour, but unless the police treat such incidents seriously, the scumbags are going to continue to get away with it.

D JONES Granville Crest Kidderminster