The Assessor Winter 2026 PDF - Flipbook - Page 34
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Prior to this six weeks weeding crime
reports are also reviewed by the force
contact centre in preparation for
allocation to an investigating of昀椀cer
who will/should con昀椀rm its LOS status.
** Police National Database (PND)
holds two billion searchable records
and captures data from 220 different
systems from 53 contributing police
forces and law enforcement agencies.
Failure to send this message and
con昀椀rm the report of an LoS on
PNC can result in the ‘uncon昀椀rmed’
PNC circulation being auto-weeded
(deleted) from the system and the
LoS marker removed after a six-week
period, with any opportunities to
investigate and recover the vehicle
being lost.
© Thatcham Research
*Niche is an operational database
of crime, intelligence and non-crime
occurrences available to all police
of昀椀cers and staff.
© Thatcham Research
This selected of昀椀cer has the
responsibility for updating the PNC
and adding subsequent references
on NICHE* which must be done
by the submission of a Lost/Stolen
Vehicle Message Switch (MSS) to Data
Bureau**.
recovery, irrespective of any payment
received from your insurance company
for its loss, seems normal. Clearly
it is not and it’s a conversation that
current owners need to have with their
insurers.
Accordingly, any enquiries received
regarding the vehicles Vehicle
Registration Mark (VRM) will reveal ‘no
record’ of the stolen status and appear
‘clear’ of police interest.
Also, if your car is stolen, its useful
to keep tabs on the investigation by
ensuring that when you report the theft
to the police you receive not just an
appropriate crime reference number
but a telephone number and/or email
for the of昀椀cer investigating your crime
together with a note of the force and
station where they work.
PNC bureau staff also perform weekly
Vehicle On-Line descriptive searches
(VOD’s) to check all stolen reports
for any human errors and ensure
con昀椀rmed reports will remain on the
system for six years.
A periodical contact with the of昀椀cer
to 昀椀nd out the current status of the
investigation would be not just for
your own interest but it’s shown as an
‘activity’ on the crime report, which
should keep it live.
At each annual anniversary of a theft
marker, the police force in question will
be noti昀椀ed of the impending deletion
one month in advance by way of DAF
that there is a LOS con昀椀rmed marker
for the force to con昀椀rm.
Those who have suffered the loss of a
motor vehicle, however long ago, may
take comfort in knowing that the law
decrees that you still own it!
Should a force wish an entry to remain
on the system beyond this six-year
period, a fresh entry of the original
details is required to be submitted.
Recommendations are that this is done
selectively, rather than routinely for
all vehicles, following a review of any
individual circumstances.
This process, whilst comprehensive,
is still volatile and clearly human
errors can and do occur for a variety
of reasons. It does however explain
why some victims of theft never 昀椀nd
out what happened to their cars and
motorcycles
In 1987 a stated case (R.W Jones v
National Employers General Insurance
Ltd) the Court of Appeal decided that
‘a subsequent purchaser of a stolen
vehicle does not acquire any title to
it, even though it has passed through
several hands and was purchased in
good faith, without knowledge of the
theft.
That said and being realistic those
thinking of using this ruling for the
return of their vehicle may well need a
solicitor to assist them.
who are all informed of the above
‘uncon昀椀rmed’ reports and may hold
still information that the PNC and the
DVLA do not have.
It’s true that whilst your car may have
been sold in a Middle Eastern trade
free zone, or some of its component
parts are now on a taxi in Minsk the
answer may well be less elaborate and
more likely, closer to home.
The Police National Computer will
no longer exist as of August this
year and its functions and content
will be consumed by the new Law
Enforcement Data Service (LEDS).
The main functions of the new
LEDS system relate to police and
law enforcement agencies bringing
offenders to justice, preventing crime
and protecting vulnerable people.
It pledges to use plain language in
order for the public to be con昀椀dent
in understanding how data can be
appropriately used to support the
prevention, investigation, detection
or prosecution of criminal offences,
to protect the public and to safeguard
vulnerable people. Members of the
public should feel reassured that the
Code reinforces speci昀椀c safeguards
for the use of personal data by law
enforcement to help to protect their
data and privacy interests.
We await to see if it eliminates the
aforementioned problems with human
interaction.
JOURNAL
Dr Ken German PhD
(Law – International Vehicle Crime)
AFIAE, is a retired detective from
the Met Police Stolen Car Squad
and currently director of the
International Association of Auto
Theft Investigators.
Whilst it seems quite odd to mention,
wanting to be noti昀椀ed of your vehicles
Nevertheless, anyone researching the
history of a stolen car may 昀椀nd help
with any of the public-facing registers
and data handlers such as Experian,
HPI, Retainagroup, Vehicle Information
Services, NaVCIS and even Interpol
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THE ASSESSORS JOURNAL | WINTER 2026 | www.iaea-online.org/news/the-assessor
