Tracking Kidnappings in London: Offenders, Victims and Motives

Keith Surtees,Matthew Bland,Justice Tankebe

doi:10.1007/s41887-019-00036-w

Abstract

Research QuestionWhat was the nature of kidnappings in London during a fairly recent 5-year period in the kinds of victims, offenders, motives, types of violence used and levels of injury?DataWe analyse 924 reports of kidnap crimes recorded by the Metropolitan Police Service between 1 April 2006 and 31 March 2011. These data included free text information drawn from case notes.MethodsWe establish mutually exclusive categories of kidnappings by codifying all crime records, after examining case notes and populated fields from the Metropolitan Police’s crime recording system. Descriptive statistics are used to portray the patterns and nature of these crimes.FindingsThe application of a typology of mutually exclusive categories for these kidnappings shows that gangland/criminal/drugs-related cases comprised 40.5% of all kidnappings. Another 21% of all kidnaps were domestic or familial, including honour killings. Just over 10% were incidental to ‘acquisitive’ crimes such as car-jacking, whilst 8% were sexually motivated. Only 6% were categorised as traditional ransom kidnappings. About 4% were categorised into a purely violent category, whilst 3% were categorised as international/political.ConclusionsThe investigative and preventive implications of these many social worlds mapped out by this typology are substantial. Each social context may require investigators to possess expertise in the specific social world of kidnapping, as distinct from what might be called expertise in ‘kidnaps’ per se. Investigations and prevention might be re-engineered around targeted intelligence from these diverse social contexts.

Highlights

IntroductionAlix (1978) bases his entire typology study on reports of kidnap taken from the New York Times
His typology of kidnap is biased by the very nature of his source before he undertakes any form of analysis independently of that which the New York Times has already performed in selecting a report of kidnap for publication in a major daily international broadsheet
We found that 93% of the property stolen in kidnap crimes was valued at less than £500

Summary

Introduction

Alix (1978) bases his entire typology study on reports of kidnap taken from the New York Times. Alix only had at his disposal reports of kidnap deemed interesting enough by editors and reporters to publish, and he has little to no insight into the reporting procedures of the police at the time. His typology of kidnap is biased by the very nature of his source before he undertakes any form of analysis independently of that which the New York Times has already performed in selecting a report of kidnap for publication in a major daily international broadsheet

Methods

Results

Conclusion