Police set targets to investigate less crime

POLICE are setting targets to investigate fewer than half of reported crimes, it has emerged.

One of UK’S largest forces has decided it should “screen out” 56 per cent of cases – the equivalent of 145,000 offences a year – meaning they are no longer investigated.

The targets are being set amid concern from police that they are being asked to handle more cases with a dwindling number of officers.

Last night, MPS accused police of “downgrading” serious crimes and said victims were faced with a “postcode lottery” when it came to whether their case would be investigated properly.

Previously it has been reported that forces are failing to probe a rising number of crimes, including theft, assault and burglary. However, West Yorkshire is the first force found to be using targets for “screening out” cases.

The force has seen recorded crime rise 11 per cent year-on-year, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics this summer. In July, it complained of “experiencing unprecedented levels of demand” and last year received an extra 23,000 999 calls.

The use of targets was revealed as chief constables warned that police face rising levels of “more complex” crime in coming years. Some cases are already being handled purely through computer algorithms to decide which merit investigation. Last night, a West Yorkshire Police spokesman admitted the force had determined an “optimal” rate of crimes not to investigate but insisted this was not the same as a target.

A Channel 4 Dispatches investigation to be broadcast tonight found that, across the country, nearly one million crimes were being “screened out” without investigation.

Official data obtained by Dispatches through Freedom of Information requests from 25 police forces – two thirds of all forces in England and Wales – showed that more than a quarter of crimes were “screened out” with “little or no investigation”.

Rates at some forces were significantly higher. Bedfordshire and Greater Manchester police both said their “screen out” rates were 40 per cent. In Warwickshire, it was 33 per cent.

The number of cases the Metropolitan Police chooses not to investigate is also rising. The force “screened out” 34,164 crimes on the same day they were reported in 2017, up from 13,019 in 2016. In the first five months of this year, 18,093 investigations were closed within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, more than 450,000 reported bank frauds were automatically dismissed by a computer system over the past three years, official figures have shown.

Tim Loughton, the Conservative MP who sits on the Home Affairs committee, which oversees the work of police, said: “Police forces should be doing more on crime, rather than