Love football, hate football violence

Help put a stop to it now

The Spaniards are a passionate race. We love good food, good wine and of course, good football. I love Barcelona and, like all football fans with good taste, was ecstatic with their Champions League win last year. The moment we toppled Man U in last year's final was amazing, words can't describe how ecstatic I was.

While I think the game of football is phenomenal, I don't like the violence that is sometimes associated with it. The majority of fans go to games to watch and enjoy them. A minority go to fight and cause trouble.

The West Ham v Millwall Carling Cup match on Tuesday 25 August at Upton Park was particularly rough. A 44-year-old male Millwall fan was stabbed in the chest outside the ground during large-scale trouble. Fathers were running from the scene with their kids and local shops shut to try and avoid getting caught up in the trouble.

If you're like me and love football, but hate football violence, now's your chance to help put a stop to it. Crimestoppers has published images of 66 people wanted in connection with violence at the West Ham v Millwall match. The charity is now appealing to the public to help identify them.

Why not have a look and see if you know any of them? By helping identify football hooligans you'll be helping send a message that most fans don't like, and won't tolerate, violence getting in the way of our sport.

Look at images of the wanted football hooligans.

Beware of the dog? Burglars don't think so

While Mask of Manuel's post about the woman that pretended to be a dog was funny, I still won't be putting a Beware of the dog sign by my front door. Ex-burglar Michael Fraser (of BBC's 'To Catch a Thief' and 'Beat the Burglar', as well as Channel 4's 'One Last Job') wrote a fascinating piece for Crimestoppers on deterring burglars and one of his tips is not hanging a Beware of the dog or I love cats sign by your door.

Michael argues that most pet owners don't have house alarms and some leave back doors open for their animals, so a sign like this could be attracting criminals as opposed to deterring them. You can read more of Michael's great tips in his article Adopt a burglars way of thinking on the Crimestoppers website.

Woman scares off burglar by acting like dog

I live in a fairly safe neighbourhood, but some people still use extra safety messages such as hanging up Beware of the dog signs by their doors. I've often wondered whether signs like these are actually effective at deterring criminals.

An article in the Athens-Banner Herald suggests that having a dog at your house, or at least pretending you do, might deter some would-be crims.

Over the weekend a lady in Georgia, USA, scared off a potential burglar by pretending to be a large dog. The woman saw through her window a man attempting to open her front door. The woman dropped to all fours by the door and imitated a dog. Exactly which dog-like characteristics she adopted has not been specified, but she must have been realistic as the man ran away.

Crime costumes and big decisions

It's Halloween this Saturday and I'm trying to think of a costume to wear. My superhero outfit is usually suitable for every occasion, but I feel like trying something different this year. Being passionate about crime-fighting, I want to stick to a crime-inspired costume.

I'm quite lucky - being a good looking guy means that I can pull off most costumes easily. When it comes time for Mask of Manuel to choose his costume, I can't image he'll have as many suitable options as me.

My first choice of costume was made by a Japanese designer who wanted to come up with an outfit that would allow wearers to avoid crime. It's got to be the ultimate disguise - a skirt that transforms into a life-size vending machine. I love the idea that crime has inspired such an ingenious and amazing costume. My only worry is how my legs will look in the red skirt and whether I can source one from Japan in time for Halloween.

I was also thinking of going out as Jack the Ripper. This time, my worry is that too much of my lovely legs will be covered up. I also am unsure about dressing as a criminal as I'm so passionate about catching them.

My third and final choice is dressing as the classic crime-solver Sherlock Holmes. The hat is a little old fashioned though and I consider myself a modern kind of guy...

Are you planning on dressing up for Halloween? If you are, would you consider a crime-inspired costume? I'm keen to hear which of my costume ideas is your favourite so be sure to let me know.

Happy crime-fighting

Where do you keep your ID?

I've been in the crime-fighting industry for a few years now, since well before tv or mobile phones were around. In my opinion, the introduction of the internet has changed crime-fighting immensely. The internet helps fight crimes, for example by allowing organisations such as the charity Crimestoppers to publish images of Most Wanted individuals, but it has also made others more common.

There's new research out today finding that in three quarters of burglaries, some form of identification is amongst what is stolen. In one in seven burglaries, ID is the only thing stolen.

Now I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want other people getting their hands on my passport or drivers license. The idea of someone else traveling or opening up bank accounts in my name makes me feel pretty sick. If my passport is going abroad, I certainly want to be going with it!

To reduce the value of your ID if it is stolen, make sure you report all stolen or lost documents as missing straight away. Insurance company LV suggests you store documents in secure but separate places in your home so if someone finds one document, they won't have them all. Check out the Crimestoppers website for some great tips that can help you prevent becoming a victim of identity theft.

Stay safe.

How to get arrested: Report your own drugs as stolen to the police

From April to September this year Crimestoppers received 25,517 pieces of useful information about drugs offences from across the UK. This information led to 2,421 drugs cases being solved. That said, sometimes law enforcement don't need our help to solve crimes - the criminals do it for us!

A 54 year-old lady from Brant Township in Michigan, USA called police to tell them that her marijuana plants had be stolen. Officers responded to the call and arrested the woman on drugs manufacturing charges.

Detective Sgt. Randy F. Pfau, who worked on the case, said that it was the first time he can remember someone reporting their stolen drugs to the police.

Leech solves serious crime!

Being Spanish, I visit the beautiful Tagus River whenever I get a chance. One of the only downsides about the region is the leeches. Except when they're being used for medical purposes, I find leeches annoying and hard to remove.

Today my respect for the humble leech increased a little after reading about one in the Metro that solved a crime.

The case in question sounded so tough that even I don't know if I could have solved it - an elderly lady in Tasmania, Australia was tied up in her home by two intruders in September 2001. The men stole the lady's money and fled.

Police were obviously keen to catch the culprits, but there was no forensic evidence left at the scene - except for one blood-filled leech! Suspecting the leech might have fed on one of the attackers, the police removed the blood from it for DNA analysis.

Now, over eight years later, Peter Cannon was arrested on unrelated charges. His DNA matched that taken from the leech.

Cannon pleaded guilty to the robbery and is being sentenced this Friday. He faces a maximum sentence of 21 years.

This is the first time DNA taken from an insect has been used to solve a crime in Australia and perhaps the world! Bravo - I love a happy ending.

Pretty amazing story eh? I hope the next leech I encounter is as useful. If you hear of any amazing crime stories, be sure to let my fellow amigos and I know.