Minor crime victims should no longer expect a police visit

VICTIMS of minor crime should not expect a visit from the police, a chief constable has said.

Giles York, head of Sussex police, said it would be more convenient if the public interacted with the force online.

He doubted visits served any real purpose. “Is that really the best use of policing time and investigation time?” he told the Mail on Sunday, adding that time would be “better spent trying to find the offender”.

Police would still visit victims of serious crime, such as burglary, he said, but thought people would prefer to deal with police over the internet rather than wait for a squad car to turn up.

Mr York, who is also the digitisation spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, also favours victims composing their own witness statements rather than dictating them to officers.

Matt Webb, Sussex chairman of the rank-and-file Police Federation, backed his boss. “It is the reality forced upon us due to the crippling cuts imposed by this Government over the last seven years,” he said.