London police send flowers to victims of crime 倫敦警方送花給犯罪受害者

Police are sending bouquets of flowers to victims of burglaries and muggings - crimes they often have difficulty solving.

倫敦警方正送花束給竊盜和搶劫案的受害者——這兩種犯罪經常難以破案。

They claim the gift helps "soften the blow", but it can also be accompanied by a note explaining that officers are closing the case for lack of evidence.

他們聲稱，這種禮物有助於「緩和打擊」，但也許還會附上一張紙條，解釋警方因缺少證據而準備結案。

The policy has divided opinion among victims – some saying they feel "fobbed off’ and others praising the "lovely thought".

受害人對這項政策意見不一——有人說他們覺得「被耍了」，有的人則稱讚「這個想法很可愛」。

London’s Metropolitan police regularly send bunches to victims of burglaries. But rates of detection can be as low as 12 percent in these areas.

倫敦警察廳的警察經常送花束給竊盜案的受害者。不過這些地區的破案率只有12%。

Met police officers have given out around 300 bouquets since the initiative began in November. Most have gone to elderly women living alone.

自從11月份開始執行此一作法以來，倫敦警察廳的警察已經分發出約300束花。大多數花束送給了獨居老年婦女。

Sarah Miller, 55, received a bunch of flowers from Met officers in Barnet following a burglary at her home.

55歲的莎拉‧米勒在家中發生了一起竊盜案後，從倫敦巴尼特的警官那裡收到了一束花。

Mrs Miller said： "It was nice to receive them, but the thought that went into that could have gone into solving the burglary, like putting pictures of the things that were stolen in the local paper in an effort to recover them.

米勒太太說：「收到花很開心，但是花在這上面的心思本來可以用在偵破竊盜案上，像是把遭竊物品的照片登在當地報紙上，以找回失物。」

"I’d rather they’d had sent a community support officer to comfort me after it happened rather than being fobbed off with flowers."

「我寧願他們在事發後派一名社區服務警察來安慰我，而不是用一束花把我打發了。」


新聞辭典

fob off：片語，（用虛偽的諾言等）哄騙，哄走（某人），搪塞（某人）。

（crime）detection rate：破案率。例句：Perhaps most urgent of all is a need to improve detection rates. （也許眼下的當務之急是提高破案率。）

in an effort to：片語，為了要。例句：President Obama met with Congressional leaders from both parties in an effort to find areas in which the sides can work together.（為了尋找雙方能夠合作的空間，歐巴馬總統與來自兩黨的國會領袖見面。）