Know your local crooks

An interesting story in the Telegraph. Merseyside police employed statisticians to produce a list of its most prolific criminals, as well as the crimes they are most likely to commit. The report showed that some crimes are more likely to be committed by people with particular names. All very well, I think. It's always good to see a police force occupying itself with the prevention and detection of crime. Goodness knows that doesn't happen enough these days.

Somehow, the report leaked. The Telegraph reports that:

"the area's top 10 bad boys are named, in order, James, Michael, John, Paul, Stephen, Anthony, David, Thomas, Lee and Christopher.

Women most likely to find themselves in the cells are those called Lisa, Paula, Samantha, Natalie, Emma, Nadine, Sarah, Claire, Gaynor and Kelly."

Apparently, women called Lisa rate highly in the domestic violence stakes. And I howled with laughter on reading that Dionne is the most popular name for a fraudster.

I wonder what the results would look like if my local Lewisham Borough police were to carry out such a survey. Anyway, I would much rather they didn't just now. I have just looked at their website, and the 'News' items are enough to make one barricade the doors and never again set foot outside. Far better that they spend their time patrolling the streets on our behalf.