Police fail to solve single burglary in half of neighbourhoods in last three years
Police have failed to solve a single burglary in neighbourhoods across nearly half of England and Wales in the past three years, official data show.
An analysis of police data from 30,100 neighbourhoods found that in 48.2 per cent, no break-ins had been solved in the three years ending March 2023, prompting warnings that burglary has been decriminalised in parts of the country.
More than 80 burglaries remained unsolved over the three years in each of the three worst neighbourhoods in Hampshire, south Yorkshire and south-east London.
The figures come ahead of the annual report this week by Andy Cooke, His Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary, who has warned that the failure to stop burglars and thieves threatens the police’s bond of trust with the public.
The data include the time since England and Wales’s 43 chief constables pledged last October that their officers would visit the scene of every burglary, although most forces exclude outbuildings, sheds or garages.
The figures are unchanged since The Telegraph carried out a similar exercise last June.
Rick Muir, director at the Police Foundation, Britain’s independent police think tank, said they demonstrated police had a “long way to go” to restore public confidence after a collapse in national charging rates for burglary, down from one in 14 (6.7 per cent) in 2016 to less than one in 25 (3.9 per cent) in 2022.
“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,” he said.
“One thing you know about offending from the research is that the length of the sentence doesn’t deter thieves. They don’t think about the length of the sentence because they don’t think they will be caught.
“What is proven to affect the likelihood of offending is the chance that you may be caught. If you have detection rates so low, it means that there is not an effective deterrent to committing these crimes. That is a big problem.”
Dame Vera Baird, former victims’ commissioner, police and crime commissioner and solicitor general, said: “Every burglary that is not solved means it is going to happen again. Without any doubt, burglary is a serial offence. That’s what the police were always telling me.”
Deputy Chief Constable Alex Franklin-Smith, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for burglary, said the number of burglaries was at an all-time low.
“We will continue to prioritise preventing these offences, targeting repeat offenders and organised crime groups and solving as many burglaries as we can,” he said.
“All forces are now able to fulfil the commitment made last year by police chiefs to attend all residential burglaries. Many forces have dedicated burglary teams to identify links between burglaries and find the evidence that enables offenders to be charged.”
A neighbourhood is defined as having about 1,500 people or 650 households. Of the 30,100 analysed, 14,505 had no burglaries solved over the three years. Of these, about half – 7,776 – had 10 or more unsolved.
Of the 30,100, just 61 had reported no burglaries. The most burgled areas were Leeds city centre (446, 70.2 per cent unsolved), Fitzrovia West and Soho (405, 91.6 per cent unsolved) and Cathedral Quarter, Derby (353, 89 per cent).
The neighbourhoods with the highest number where no burglaries were solved were Lyndhurst and Minstead in the New Forest (84), Balby Carr in Doncaster (83), Greenwich Town and Park, London (82), Woodgate Valley, Birmingham (79) and Kensington in Liverpool (78).
‘It’s all nicey, nicey on the phone’
A New Forest resident in one of the worst areas had items she brought back from holiday stolen after burglars cut through the coach locks of her gate, waking her up terrified in the middle of the night.
After filling out an online form, she heard nothing from the police about her case.
“What’s to stop people from doing it? They know we have to restock and they can do it again,” she said.
“What is the deterrent? Electric gates, security lighting, stuff is padlocked away... and they still come for it.
“It’s all nicey, nicey on the phone, ‘do you want counselling?’ But when you’ve heard all your neighbours are being picked off one by one - you think, ‘no I’d rather just not be robbed’.”
Rodney Broad, 64, another victim, said he will never trust South Yorkshire Police again over the way they handled a £10,000 burglary at his garage in Doncaster.
Mr Broad, who lives behind the business, received a text alert at around 2am one Sunday that his alarm system had detected intruders.
He and son Liam, 32, dashed there barefooted and caught the burglars red-handed ransacking cigarette machines with crowbars
“I threw a lock at the other guy. I rang 999 but was told to ring 101 since they had left the premises,” Mr Broad said.
The cigarettes, valued at £10,000, were recovered but both burglars fled. They have never been caught and they caused £2,500 damage.
Mr Broad added: “It took 40 minutes to get through on the 101 number and the police did not turn up for more than an hour.
“Thirty hours later I had still heard nothing back from them despite ringing three times. If they turned up when they should have done they would have caught them. I am grossly disappointed. They are just shocking. I would rate their response as one out of ten.
“When you dial 999 you expect an immediate response - especially when they are still on site threatening us with the crowbars they had used to jemmy open the cigarette cases. They never contacted us once. There were no updates. I have absolutely no confidence in the police.
“I would think twice about ringing 999 because it falls on deaf ears and you might as well take the law into your own hands because the police will not help you one iota.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Home Secretary has already made clear to police chiefs that forces should attend all domestic burglaries and expects them to deliver on their pledge to do this, backed by an additional 20,000 police officers.”
