Analysis by Labour shows burglars and thieves are being let off
as 1,145,254 cases were dropped last year because the police
couldn’t find a suspect.
It comes as local police forces warn about the risks of burglars
taking advantage of the Christmas period and stealing presents
from under the Christmas tree.
On average domestic burglary costs the victim £1,400 in lost
property.
Labour has a plan to catch more criminals by putting 13,000 more
police on the streets funded by merging procurement for the 43
forces in England and Wales.
This will mean more neighbourhood officers embedded in the
community and more resources to solve crime.
The overall charge rate - the proportion of crimes which result
in a suspect being arrested and then charged - has fallen to a
record low of just 5.4%, down from over 15% just seven years
ago.
Over the past year, two million investigations were dropped with
no suspect identified, including over 300,000 violent
crimes.
MP, Labour’s Shadow Home
Secretary, said:
“This is disgraceful. Theft and burglary are awful crimes and
should be properly investigated not just left for the victims to
make an insurance claim.
“The Home Secretary has no plan to turn this around and is
instead obsessed with gimmicks rather than a serious plan to
catch more criminals.
“Labour has a fully-costed plan to put 13,000 extra neighbourhood
police on our streets, fighting crime at its source and
supporting communities.”
Ends
Notes
-
The proportion of crimes leading to
a charge has fallen to a record low of 5.4%, whilst the
proportion of crimes leading to an out-of-court disposal fell
to a record low of 3.5% (Table 2.3)
-
The total number of cases which
ended with an outcome code of ‘Investigation complete - no
suspect identified’ was 2,063,919.
-
This included 317,436 violent
offences, and 1,145,254 theft offences (including burglary)
(Tables 3.1 / 3.2)
