Police 'failed to solve a single burglary in nearly half of all neighbourhoods’ in past three years despite pledge
4 March 2024, 12:54 | Updated: 4 March 2024, 13:07
Police have failed to solve a single burglary in nearly half of all neighbourhoods across England and Wales in the last three years, new figures have revealed.
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The National Police Chiefs’ Council has been slammed for making an “empty gesture” after failing to meet their pledge in 2022 to attend all home burglaries.
New data from The Telegraph has revealed that forces across the country failed to solve a single burglary in 48% of neighbourhoods in the past three years.
It comes after police chiefs across all 43 forces in England and Wales promised they would attend all home burglaries in a landmark decision in October 2022.
Home Office figures show that in the year following their pledge, the number of burglaries resulting in a charge fell from 4.6% to 3.9% - equating to fewer than one in 25 burglaries.
In the worst-hit hot spots with areas covering up to 6,000 people, more than 150 cases have gone unsolved, prompting criticism from campaigners and activists claiming the offence has effectively become decriminalised.
Dame Vera Baird, the former victims’ commissioner, branded chiefs’ earlier pledge as an “empty gesture”.
She said: “What these figures show is that in half of the neighbourhoods, burgling somebody’s home is a free hit. The criminal can walk away with the proceeds and never look back.
“Burglary can be very very upsetting and traumatising; it can make people afraid to go out in case it happens again and afraid to stay at home for the very same reason. Why are there no arrests, no prosecutions and no deterrence in almost half of all these cases?"
Harry Redgrave, a former No 10 policy adviser and chief executive of crime consultancy Crest Advisory, said: “It is of real concern that despite the high-profile commitment to attend the scene of every burglary, the police do not appear to be improving the rate at which burglaries are solved and offenders brought to justice.
“Public confidence in the police will not improve unless victims believe reporting crime will make a difference.
“These statistics also reinforce the need for a cross-government strategy to deal with the minority of highly prolific offenders who are responsible for a large proportion of burglaries and theft more widely.”
In the worst-performing force, Hertfordshire, just 2.2% of burglaries resulted in a charge last year, working out to just over one in 50 cases.
Comparatively, the best force, South Wales, had a charge rate of 9.6%.
Nearly three quarters of police forces saw a fall in their charging rates for burglary in the past year. There was, however, a fall in the number of overall break-ins.
Just 12 out of all 43 forces saw a rise in charging rates, with North Wales, Bedfordshire and West Mercia reporting the biggest increases of over one percentage point in a year.
In Outer Rothwell in West Yorkshire, all 165 burglaries in the area went unsolved in the past three years.
This is followed by Bransgore and Burl, and Lower Quinton and Ettington in Warwickshire, which saw 137 go unsolved.
In ‘hot spot’ areas, defined as areas with at least 10 unsolved break-ins in the past three years, police are failing to solve more than one in four burglaries.
Deputy Chief Constable Alex Franklin-Smith, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for burglary, said the initial pledge was “only the first step” in improving detection rates.
He said: “The latest national data shows that nationally burglary incidents have once again reduced, following a five-year trend and while outcomes are still lower than we would want them to be, there has been a positive shift in the right direction.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Since 2010 our communities are safer, with neighbourhood crimes including burglary, robbery and theft down 48% and violent crime down 51% and with more police officers in England and Wales than ever before.
“We have been clear that police must take a zero tolerance approach to all crimes and get the basics right.
“We welcome the police commitments to attend the scene of every home burglary and to pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry to ensure more criminals are caught and justice is delivered for victims.”
