Burglary figures show only one in 25 convictions
ONLY one out of every 25 burglaries committed in West Yorkshire end with the burglar getting caught, according to new figures.
The police watchdog has said the public has “rumbled” that police are struggling to investigate so-called volume crimes, like burglary, and are less likely to report them.
Figures for West Yorkshire Police show the proportion of burglaries where someone is brought to justice is falling, with the number of crimes reported also down.
Analysis of the latest police figures shows 17,216 cases were closed by the police with no charges in 2018/19.
That is the equivalent of 96% of the total 17,948 domestic burglaries recorded across West Yorkshire last year.
That leaves only 732 investigations – 4% of cases – ending with someone caught for the crime. That was the lowest proportion since at least 2014, when it was 20%.
Out of 732 cases, 633 ended with someone charged or summonsed.
Of the other cases, nine were dealt with by a community resolution (an informal agreement between the victim and the offender), in 72 the offender admitted the crime and asked for it to be taken into consideration by the court, and there were 17 cautions, seven of which for young people aged under 18.
The 17,216 investigations closed last year without a suspect dealt with included 15,409 cases dropped because no suspect was identified and 11,428 dropped because of a lack of evidence.
A further 59 cases were dropped because the victim did not support further action.
Separate figures show the number of domestic burglaries reported to West Yorkshire police over the same period dropped by 5%, from 19,999 in 2017/18 to 19,063 in 2018/19.
Overall, the number of crimes reported in our area has instead increased from 43,563 in 217/18 to 43,246 in 2018/19.
Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary warned the public have low expectations of police being able to deal with some crimes, and increasingly aren’t reporting them.
A report by the inspectorate last month found policing was generally in good shape, but forces faced the twin pressures of rising demand and falling resources.
Matt Parr, HM Inspector of Constabulary, said: “I think these levels of volume crime resolution are corrosive for the long-term relationship between the public and police.
“If you are the victim of a minor burglary or minor assault or car crime, I think people have got to the stage where their expectations are low and the police live down to those expectations as they simply don’t have the capacity to deal with it.
“There are some worrying trends - victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault, where victims are no longer supporting the prosecution - is a more complex and worrying issue.
“But I think particularly in the volume crime area the public has rumbled that the police capacity to deal with this is extremely limited.
“There are some strikingly low figures about car crime resolution meaning most of the public give up reporting it as the chances of anything positive happening are so slim.”