Police solve no burglaries in half of country

Alarming figures come despite forces promising to attend all domestic break-ins

POLICE have failed to solve a single burglary in nearly half of all neighbourhoods in England and Wales in the past three years despite pledging to attend the scene of every domestic break-in to boost detection rates.

A Telegraph analysis of police data shows that no burglaries were solved in 48 per cent of neighbourhoods – areas covering between 1,000 and 3,000 people – in the past three years.

In October 2022, all 43 police chiefs in England and Wales made the landmark promise to attend every break-in.

However, Home Office figures show that the proportion of burglaries resulting in a charge fell in the following year to 3.9 per cent (fewer than one in 25 reported burglaries) from 4.6 per cent in 2022. In the worst ‘hot spots’ – covering areas of up to 6,000 people – more than 150 cases have gone unsolved in the past three years, prompting warnings by victims’ campaigners and policing experts that burglary has been effectively decriminalised in parts of the UK.

Dame Vera Baird, the former victims’ commissioner, said the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s pledge to boost detection rates was “an empty gesture” in many parts of Britain.

“What these figures show is that in half of the neighbourhoods, burgling somebody’s home is a free hit. The criminal can walk away with the proceeds and never look back,” she said.

“Burglary can be very very upsetting and traumatising; it can make people afraid to go out in case it happens again and afraid to stay at home for the very same reason. Why are there no arrests, no prosecutions and no deterrence in almost half of all these cases?”

Harvey Redgrave, a former No 10 policy adviser who is chief executive of crime consultancy Crest Advisory, said: “It is of real concern that despite the high-profile commitment to attend the scene of every burglary, the police do not appear to be improving the rate at which burglaries are solved and offenders brought to justice.

“Public confidence in the police will not improve unless victims believe reporting crime will make a difference. These statistics also reinforce the need for a cross-government strategy to deal with the minority of highly prolific offenders who are responsible for a large proportion of burglaries and theft more widely.”

The Home Office data show that in the worst-performing force, Hertfordshire, only 2.2 per cent of burglaries – just over one in 50 – resulted in a charge last year compared with 9.6 per cent in the best, South Wales.

Nearly three quarters (31 out of 43) of police forces saw a fall in their charging rate for burglary in the past year although there was a fall in the overall number of break-ins. Just 12 saw the rate increase with West Mercia, Bedfordshire and North Wales registering the biggest rises of over one percentage point in a year.

The proportion of neighbourhoods where no burglaries have been solved has risen from 46 per cent in the three years to 2021 to 48 per cent – 15,371 out of 31,860 neighbourhoods – in the three years to both 2022 and 2023, according to the Telegraph analysis. Police are

failing to solve a single burglary in more than one in four (27 per cent) “hot spot” neighbourhoods, defined as those with at least 10 break-ins unsolved in the past three years.

The area with the worst record was Outer Rothwell in West Yorkshire where all 165 burglaries in the past three years went unsolved, followed by Bransgore and Burley, Hampshire (152 break-ins unsolved).

Rory Geoghegan, a former No 10 adviser on crime and the founder of the Public Safety Foundation, said: “The crime-fighting minority of chiefs are already well on the way to hunting down burglars in their forces. We need the rest to either follow their lead, or frankly step down to make way for those who can.” He added that “police and crime commissioners should be prepared to use their power to replace chiefs” who are failing to deliver.

Deputy Chief Constable Alex Franklin-smith, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for burglary, said the 2022 pledge on visiting crime scenes was “only the first step” in improving detection rates, pointing to new guidance for all forces to share good practice and “enhance” their capability to prevent break-ins.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Since 2010 our communities are safer, with neighbourhood crimes including burglary, robbery and theft down 48 per cent and violent crime down 51 per cent and with more police officers in England and Wales than ever before.

“We have been clear that police must take a zero tolerance approach to all crimes and get the basics right. We welcome the police commitments to attend the scene of every home burglary and to pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry to ensure more criminals are caught and justice is delivered for victims.”

‘The crime-fighting minority of chiefs are already well on the way to hunting down burglars’