As with any profession Dave you always get idiots and it would seem that clearly the people that dealt with your incident were idiots. However I think there is a fundamental issue with the law in general. Would you bother to pursue a crime if you knew that you were going to be bogged down in bureucracy for a week only to find that the criminal is sent home with a slapped wrist and a party bag!? The law needs to change and that is the job of the Government!