The warnings came through. He was sure they were accurate. A duo of criminals were making their way to the UK. They’d stopped off at their usual hotspots. These were friends houses, eateries, and even churches. It was likely they were setting up a run.
The habits were part of a pattern. They did it to set themselves up for a few weeks of lawbreaking in another country. It didn’t make sense to investigators at first. They thought it was part of holiday-making. What it turned out to be was very sinister.
Incoming
Their arrival into Heathrow raised a few eyebrows. They were also known for a few financial crimes. They were mediocre misdemeanours but it meant something nonetheless. It also suspiciously coincided with a convention on financial products.
He felt scared. He was worried. He’d heard they stole documents, studied the victims, and extorted them remotely. It was actually a horrifying sort of crime. It ruined people without friends around them knowing why. It was a feared scenario by many people.
He needn’t of. They were scoping out a prepared list of targets. The people they visited before were contacts who made it. They would help if a difficulty arose. He wasn’t on the list. He just needed to do something to keep himself off it. He thought it odd advice.
Breaking ground
He discovered the reason in the course of the short visit. They were scoping out volunteers, social workers, and other ‘helpers’ in communities. The idea was to remove from “Play” the people they didn’t want to be seen doing it. It’s social cleansing of a kind.
He was a student of policing. He didn’t know what career he wanted in future. He didn’t know if he’d keep to it. However, he found the learning experience to be helpful. It taught him to target the criminal, and not make a scene himself. The issue was settled.
Outcomes
The simplicity of policing surprised him. It wasn’t a threat to think of crime anymore. He could see violent, disturbing people were dealt with all the time. It made sense how a large number of people are affected by criminals. It just involved a lot of hard work.
It also fell into view how it’s all accounted for if the outcomes are separated from the perpetrator’s actions. It made a need for police forces ever more apparent. It also brought home the nature of its work. He didn’t go into policing, but it got into him anyway.