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

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.

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

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.

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

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

She had two laptops, a camera and other valuables stolen two weeks ago and police sent a crime scenes officer to dust for fingerprints the following day.

Later that day, they sent a card saying: ‘Sorry you have been a victim of crime, unfortunately in this case there is insufficient evidence to proceed and investigation into your crime will now be closed.’

The following day, a $40 bouquet of flowers arrived by courier along with a voucher for £5 off future purchases from the florist who donated it.

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.

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

A Met spokesman said victims usually took the gifts as a positive gesture and as a sign of support.

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(Source: news.com.au)