When It's Right to Target the Usual Suspects

Summary

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AGROUP of boys is lined up on the pavement in the rain opposite my house looking at my parked scooter. This cannot be simple admiration because the Vespa is bottom of the range and its engine sounds consumptive. I watch them for a few minutes, then walk past them to the shops to buy supper. When I return, 15 minutes later, the bike has been moved, the front panel removed and the steering skewed to the right. I surmise that someone has tried to start the engine by looking for wires, wrenched the bike about a bit and left it in disgust.

I have followed every part of the excellent Criminal Justice series on BBC so I know things aren't always what they seem -- but I wonder whether the group of boys might possibly be connected to my scooter. So I run down streets in search of them and find them looking into car windows, darting in and out of a food and wine store, and winding their way towards the main road.

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When It's Right to Target the Usual Suspects

Craftily, I phone the police from a vantage point nearby. The efficient phone operator asks me if ...

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