Although the kidnapping has taken place in Birmingham, the report has been made in Trentbridge and therefore the crime, if it is one, falls under their jurisdiction as procedure states it is the area where the report is made that is in charge.
Now all he has to do is obtain the information he needs from the girls’ father as prescribed under Section 3 of the FTAEI, The Fast Track Action and Early Investigation. It states you need to obtain:
Name, age, description of the person(s) and what they are wearing, where they have gone missing and the circumstances surrounding the event, and the name address and contact details of the person reporting the disappearance. The officer also needs to establish if the behaviour is out of character.
This is just the beginning. Like all police work, there is a ton of paperwork to deal with. The guidance material Eden was referring to went on:
• Is there any information that the person is likely to cause self-harm or attempt suicide?
• Is the person suspected to be a victim of a crime in progress, e.g. abduction?
• Is the person vulnerable due to age, infirmity, or any other factor?
• Are there inclement weather conditions which would seriously increase risk to health, particularly where the missing person is a child or elderly person?
• Does the missing person need essential medication or treatment not readily available to them?
• Does the missing person have any physical illness, disability or mental health problems?
• Is it believed that the person may not have the ability to interact safely with others or in an unknown environment?
• Has the person been involved in a violent, homophobic and/or racist incident or confrontation immediately prior to disappearance?
• Has the person been the subject of bullying?
• Has the person previously disappeared AND suffered or was exposed to harm?
Much of this is irrelevant but Eden needs to make a priority assessment. Given the circumstances, he decides, in this case to mark it as high risk.
Nowadays the job is all about risk assessment. Rather than call themselves a police officer, many joke their job title should be crime risk assessment officer.
Eden calls Francis Mitten to update him and explain how the police will get people into the house, even if it is being watched, which he says he doubts.
“You did the right thing in calling us and not trying to handle it on your own. Now let us deal with it.”
Eden makes some calls to assemble a team.
In his experience, this is a genuine kidnap situation. And it is every detective’s nightmare as you never know how it is going to end.
Eden won’t tell the parents but he knows 43% of kidnap victims never come back alive.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
At 7.30pm the Tesco food home delivery van arrives at the Mitten residence and drives to the front door. Nothing unusual about this, apart from the fact Mrs Mitten does all her grocery shopping at Waitrose.
The vehicle parks sideways with the passenger door very close to the front door entrance. For anyone watching this seems like a typical home delivery of groceries. Hopefully what they would fail to see is the additional bags of equipment and the two men who have been crouching down in the well of the passenger seats.
The driver unloads the groceries and drives away. He has six more deliveries to make before his shift ends and an exciting tale of helping the police to tell his family when he gets home. He can say he has done his bit. After all, every little helps!
As he drives to his next customer his two ‘passengers’ are inside the house unloading all their equipment after making sure the curtains have been closed and no shadows are visible outside from the lights inside the house.
They set up the recording and phone tracking devices, now all they can do is wait for the call from the kidnappers.
Sunset is at eight forty and under the guise of night two detectives and a police family liaison officer, all of them dressed in black, arrive via the back door. They have climbed over the wall at the end of the garden from a house in the next road that backs onto the Mitten residence.
They join the two members of the police technical crew already there to monitor phone calls.
According to the surveillance crew, they are pretty sure no-one is watching the house but it doesn’t mean someone has to physically be there. The kidnappers could have hidden cameras in a neighbour’s garden, in one of the trees or hedges that line the road or possibly hidden in a nearby vehicle.
After ensuring all the curtains are closed and no lights will give away the fact the household population has instantly more than tripled, the officers introduce themselves.
“Hello Mr and Mrs Mitten. I’m Detective Inspector Eden Gold and this is Detective Sergeant Tracy Archer. We also have Police Constable Rachel Nason who will be your liaison officer. She will be here to help you in any way she can. Let me start by once again assuring you we have a lot of expertise in these matters and we will do everything we can to ensure your daughters are returned to you safe and well. That’s our priority.”
“Thank you, detective. I’m Francis and this is my wife Diane. Of course we will do everything we can to co-operate. We just want them home.”
"I quite understand. First I have to ask. Can you think of anyone who might be behind this?"
"Certainly not. To start with we thought it was some kind of joke. But we are coming to terms with the fact this is real. Who would do such a thing? It must be someone who thinks we
