Criminal failings that shame police

999 callers wait weeks for officers Forces stop looking for 60,000 fugitives

THE shocking state of policing is laid bare in a damning report by watchdogs today.

Victims of serious crime who dial 999 can wait weeks for officers to respond, the analysis found.

Inspectors said the public was at ‘serious risk of harm’ because some forces were not dealing with emergency calls appropriately.

More than 60,000 suspects – including killers and rapists – were on the loose and forces had ‘stopped taking active steps’ to find them, it said.

Officers fail to carry out basic tasks such as house-to-house inquiries, identifying witnesses, checking CCTV or retrieving data from smartphones.

It means evidence from the ‘golden’ first hour of investigation risked being lost – jeopardising the chance of bringing the culprit to justice.

The report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said the 43 English and Welsh forces were under ‘significant strain’ after terror attacks and a rise in complex crime such as child sex abuse.

Watchdog head Zoe Billingham warned ‘cracks were beginning to show’.

But she said the issues were not solely down to budget cuts. Since 2009 forces have lost around 21,500 officers.

Last year campaigners warned victims were losing confidence in police as crimes such as burglary and assault were increasingly treated as minor matters.

That came as some constabularies were accused of bizarre stunts such as painting officers’ nails rather than focusing on crime. The report also found:

Forces wrote off too many crimes, including cases of domestic abuse;

Some 3,300 sex offenders had not been fully assessed for the risk they posed to the public; There was a national shortfall of 5,000 detectives, with one in five desks either left empty or filled with unqualified staff; Police bail use is down by 65 per cent after curbs were brought in to stop people languishing in legal limbo for months or years. Tory MP Tim Loughton, who sits on the Commons’ home affairs committee, said the findings on responses were ‘ completely unacceptable’, adding: ‘Following up a 999 call weeks after the trail could have gone cold is no way to protect the public from harmful criminals.’ The watchdog found instances where calls that should have had a ‘prompt’ response – within an hour, instead of the standard 15 minutes – such as sexual assaults and domestic abuse were left for hours, days or even, in some cases, weeks.

The average response time in Cambridgeshire was 15 hours.

HMIC said around a quarter of forces were ‘all too often overwhelmed’ by demand as the number of crimes rose to 5.3million – the highest for ten years.

Thousands of 999 calls were held in queues, largely as officers could not deal with them.

The report said: ‘We have significant concerns about the way some forces respond to people who contact the police.

‘It is more worrying that we came across occasions, when demand was highest, when some forces could not respond to victims at all, or did so badly.

‘In a small minority of forces, vulnerable victims are all too often not getting a timely police response. The lives of vulnerable people could be at risk.’

West Midlands, South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester forces were criticised most severely. Katie Ghose, of Women’s Aid, said: ‘It is shocking to see that when survivors report domestic abuse to the police they are not always provided with an effective response when they reach out for help.’

Sara Thornton, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said the report had found good service overall, but increases in demand were ‘impacting’ on the ability meet standards. One force was rated ‘outstanding’, 30 ‘good’ and 12 ‘require improvement’.

Policing minister Nick Hurd said it was clear that response needs improvement.