XPost: 24hoursupport.helpdesk, alt.politics.scorched-earth, uk.politics.misc   
   XPost: uk.legal, alt.politics.uk   
   From: burfordTjustice@tues.uk   
      
   LOL no wonder crime is NOT prevented.   
      
   More than £45,000 ($55,000) of taxpayers’ money was spent on the cell   
   phone bill    
      
      
   More than £45,000 ($55,000) of taxpayers’ money was spent on the cell   
   phone bill of a criminal who was given the device by police.   
      
   The phone was used to run up enormous data charges after being handed over to   
   a burglar in Anglesey, North Wales, while he was out on bail.   
      
   The unnamed crook had been given the free device as part of a scheme to help   
   officers keep track of suspects.   
      
   But before he was put on trial, and subsequently jailed, he gave it to   
   friends, who kept using it.    
   According to The Daily Post newspaper, it took six months for police to   
   realize that usage fees for the device were costing them almost £2,000   
   ($2,500) a week.   
      
   It later emerged that police thought the criminal had been given a   
   pay-as-you-go phone, and would need to top it up himself.   
      
   In fact, the device had been included on the police force’s overall service   
   plan, and the balance was automatically paid in full every month from the   
   police budget.   
      
   The police attempted to charge the two men who were given the phone with theft.   
      
   But, according to the Post, they had technically done nothing wrong, since   
   there were no usage conditions attached to the phone.   
      
   The blunder took place in 2014, but only emerged this week after a freedom of   
   information request brought the figures to light.   
      
   A spokesman for North Wales Police said they have now changed their policies.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)