2M CRIMES UNSOLVED
Labour blames police cuts for failures
TWO million crimes went unsolved last year – up half a million from when the Tories took power just two years earlier.
They included almost three quarters of thefts – 73 per cent – and 68 per cent of criminal damage and arson cases.
Analysis by Labour found almost half of all crimes now go unsolved, with detection rates dropping from 58 per cent in 2015 to 53 per cent last year. The figures follow the leak of a Home Office document revealing the link between police cuts and a rise in violent crime.
The number of unsolved cases of violence with injury rose by almost 10,000 in the two years to April 2017.
The latest report from the independent policing watchdog shows a nationwide shortfall of more than 5,000 investigators and detectives. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services warned the shortage represents a “national crisis”.
Home Office data analysed by Labour showed police are also closing unsolved cases more quickly than before – taking an average of just two days after the crime was recorded before writing off an investigation. Louise Haigh, Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister, said: “The Tories are starving the police of funding and it is the victims who end up suffering.
“You can’t do security on the cheap. Labour will invest in public safety by recruiting 10,000 officers to cover community beats.
“Unsolved crimes have gone up by a third in just two years, and yet Amber Rudd has the cheek to say the police have the resources they need.”