oticeboard For trading standards, the lack of a nationally adopted denition of what constitutes rogue trading or a recognised crime code, or ag by which to identify offences in police databases, creates a considerable barrier to effective partnership working with police. In one example alone, (see table, page 28) in the Thames Valley Police area it was necessary to trawl through 3,798 records to identify just 23 rogue-trading Academic research your letters crimes, which occurred in one three-month period in 2013. These gures are staggering enough, but compare that with just 21 records being analysed to identify 16 incidents of distraction burglary which does have a nationally adopted denition and you can begin to understand why so little hard evidence is held about this psychologically destructive crime. As we know, rogue traders get everywhere, and often operate under a cloak of invisibility. Posing as legitimate tradespeople and taking advantage of low rates What the lack of a police crime code means for rogue trader ELEPHANT IN THE Words. Tim Day Images. Shu erstock 26 victims and trading standards of reporting, professional criminals prey on older and more vulnerable members of our communities often repeatedly. Rogue traders are known to ply their trade across borders not just local authority boundaries, but also nationally, and sometimes internationally sharing information about victims and, in some cases, grooming them for repeated fraud and nancial abuse. The lack of a nationally recognised denition and the absence of a crime code or ag by which to record ROOM incidents hinders both trading standards and the police in being able to judge the extent of the activity and form a joined-up plan of action. With the political backdrop of continued austerity, the introduction of the Care Act (2014) and the increased responsibilities placed upon local authorities this brought about the need to pool resources and increase effectiveness in this area is paramount. August 2016 27 Tap into old boys network Congratulations to Tim Day for highlighting rogue trading in this months TS Review. I am a retired member having hung up my notebook seven years ago but, occasionally, I still play a part in the local community by meeting with neighbourhood police and advising local residents and neighbours about consumer protection issues. Fishy fish sellers are one particular problem in this area of Tyneside. I seem to recall attending an annual conference some years ago at which a retired senior police officer gave a very interesting seminar on the subject of doorstep crime. Unfortunately, I cannot recall his name, but what struck me was the thoroughness of his research he had even informally interviewed convicted doorstep criminals about their activities while they were guests of Her Majestys Prison Service. Retirement finds me socialising and working on a project with a couple of retired police officers, both very clever guys, who have a great deal of respect for our profession, and who are very unhappy about the seeming death by a thousand cuts of trading standards. I used to tweet occasionally about the merits of our profession, but have stopped, sick of being the butt of ill-informed comments by a couple of trolling buffoons, who seemed to think the loss of public sector jobs was a cause for rejoicing, and that trading standards officers are merely red-tape carriers. My police officer friends reminisce about the times when not with their blessing the police hierarchy tended to regard rogue traders and their scams as a civil matter. Fortunately, in the later years of my professional career, that blinkered attitude disappeared. Tim might be interested in the work and research of the retired senior officer previously referred to so if anyone can recall his details, it would be worth passing them on to him. Peter W Skevington, LLB, ACTSI East Boldon, Tyne and Wear GOT AN OPINION? We want to hear it. Email tstoday@tsi. org.uk or visit CTSIs forum page to add your voice to the discussion. We reserve the right to edit letters.