UK police fail to solve most theft cases, reports say
UK police struggle to investigate most burglaries and car thefts, as multiple reports reveal that only a quarter of these crimes were solved last year.
According to an analysis by the Liberal Democrats, over 214,000 burglaries went unsolved in England and Wales last year. Only six percent of cases saw a suspect charged or summoned to court.
Around 76 percent of burglary and 77 percent of car theft cases (107,451 cases) were closed with no identified suspects. At the same time, the number of undetected crimes rose by six percent from the previous year.
Car theft cases also saw a 20 percent increase in unsolved cases, with only four percent resulting in a suspect being charged or summoned to court.
Overall, more than two million crime cases were closed without a suspect identified last year, a 10 percent increase from the previous year. This means that over 5,900 crimes went unsolved every day.
In another report from the Telegraph, over 48 percent of 30,100 neighbourhoods had no burglaries solved in the three years to March 2023. Out of those, 7,776 had ten or more unsolved burglaries.
“It is fair to say that in some parts of the country, there are some crime types – in this case, burglary – that have become decriminalised because there is absolutely no consequence to committing the crime,” said Rick Muir, director at the Police Foundation.
Police struggle to follow up
A Doncaster burglary victim faced delays when requesting police assistance, even when threatened by robbers with crowbars.
Rodney Broad had to call 101 after the robbers left, but it took 40 minutes to get through, and the police arrived over an hour later. Despite three follow-up calls within 30 hours, he received no response.
“I am grossly disappointed. They are just shocking. I would rate their response as one out of ten,” said Broad.
Previously, Home Secretary Suella Braverman ordered police to investigate every burglary with reasonable evidence, with the police chiefs pledging to investigate all crimes. However, the chairman of the Police Federation described such a promise as “unfeasible” and “not working.”
Steve Hartshorn, representing 145,000 police officers in England and Wales, made the remarks when responding to an address from Braverman during the Police Federation’s annual conference on 10-11 October.
“Forgive me, home secretary. While it’s a great standard, it’s not being done. Cops don’t have the time,” said Hartshorn.
Hartshorn also revealed that he had been a victim of a crime about a month ago. His car was broken into, but his force, the Metropolitan Police, didn’t follow reasonable lines of inquiry and missed the opportunity to gather forensic evidence from inside the car. He received a crime number and a phone call but nothing further. He blamed this on the lack of resources.
“It’s a great idea to follow all reasonable lines of inquiry, but it’s not working,” Hartshorn said.
Securing yourself when police are overwhelmed
There are a number of things you can do to try and aid the police in their enquiries.
You can start by reporting the crime you experience to the local authorities as soon as possible. Even if the police are overwhelmed, it is essential to report the crime so that it is on record. One should ask for a crime unique reference number (URN), and update the police regularly with any pertinent informaton you may gather.
You can also contact your local elected officials. Let them know you are concerned about the rise in burglaries and would like more resources allocated to crime fighting.
Most importantly, you should take steps to have an effective security plan in place for your properties which provides a high-degree of deterence to prevent them from being targeted in the first place.
Marengo conducts Property Security Reviews for corporate, high-profile, and HNW clients who have unique security requirements. We review, design, and implement bespoke solutions to secure people who have complex lifetyles. We also save our clients’ money by designing systems so that they require less unsightly hardware, and sanity check proposals from equipment providers to prevent them from ‘upselling’ our clients. We never take commission or introducers’ fees from equipment providers, and act soleley in the interest of the client.
We also provide discreet close protection operatives and residential security guards, to provide around-the-clock protection for our clients and their properties, respectively.
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Source:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/31/police-fail-to-solve-90pc-of-crime-figures-show/
