'Hyenas of criminal world' tracked down by police database

Known as 'distraction robbers' and described by the police as the "hyenas of the criminal community", they travel vast distances to find their elderly and infirm victims.

They target the most vulnerable by seeking out tell-tale signs of neglect like untended gardens, flaking exterior paintwork, and dirty curtains.

"They are quite literally the hyenas at a water-hole, looking for the tell-tale signs of the weak and infirm before they pounce," said Detective Inspector Pat Parry of the Derbyshire Police. "They even have women members who specialise as social workers and unlike other criminals this is their sole occupation, exploiting the elderly."

These crimes can net the criminals vast sums - £50,000 is not uncommon from one robbery. In one case, police found over £3.5m in bank accounts belonging to one gang.

They usually work in teams of three, with one distracting the victim while the others slide through the open front door and search the house for cash.

In an attempt to shut down the operations of the crime families, eight forces have combined to create a database capable of tracking the gangs' activities.

"With this system we can get instant fingerprint information, virtually instant everything," said Parry.

The system was built by Nottingham-based software specialists ABM in conjunction with the forces of Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands.

The initiative is being closely watched by the Home Office and the National Crime Squad with a view to extending it nationwide to round up the 2,000 'distraction thieves' operating in the UK.

Its success depends entirely on the pool of information being created with cross constabulary co-operation.

Until recently the families have evaded detection by frequently crossing police boundaries to mask their activities. But by analysing data on the methods used by the criminals, the descriptions they're given and the sophisticated photofit technology built into the system, police have been able to pin crimes onto faces and start making arrests.

Some of the information is entered using palm-tops from the scene of crime itself. This dramatically cuts data entry overheads, allowing the police more time to interrogate the database.

This data should enable officers to identify patterns in the gangs' movements, and will also provide them with a detailed time-line that can be used in court - evidence that is already starting to deliver sentences of over ten years.

Programmers at ABM are optimistic that the system may even enable them to predict where the gangs are likely to strike next, giving the police the ability to warn the elderly in that area.