New police drive to catch muggers

Police forces across England and Wales are to use squads of unmarked cars with blacked-out windows to allow robbery victims to tour the streets in search of their attackers.

Officers have devised the plan after finding that street robbery victims were often frightened of being seen in the presence of police by the people who robbed them.

The idea, originally developed by the Metropolitan Police, will be circulated to police officers across the country as part of an internet-based manual on street robbery, launched by the Home Office today. The manual, known as a "knowledge map", will be available to tens of thousands of patrolling officers in 10 big city forces.

The new Centre for Policing Excellence (Centrex) has devised the internet-based guide to spread knowledge about effective techniques.

Andy Humphreys, head of operations at Centrex, said: "Street robbery is a very young crime and lots of victims are reticent about being seen getting into a police car and looking for the perpetrator. They are worried about retaliation."

He said the use of cars with blacked-out windows had led to an increase in identifications of robbers in the London area.

The "knowledge map", which will be launched in London today by the Home Office minister John Denham, was made available to officers in Thames Valley Police last month and is being spread to nine other metropolitan forces.

Similar initiatives are being planned to help investigation of sex attacks and management of public protests.