Unsolved break-ins are a symptom of the police’s misguided priorities
SIR – I spent more than 30 years as a police officer, and am not surprised by your report (March 4) that “police have failed to solve a single burglary in nearly half of all neighbourhoods in England and Wales”.
Unfortunately the police force has become a tick-box organisation that thinks simply attending all break-ins achieves something. Attending is just the beginning – or should be – of an investigation, and only proper investigation can bring results.
Having your home broken into is traumatic. The police need to provide a better service to the public.
Doug Sturman
Woodbridge, Suffolk
SIR – To retired Metropolitan Police coppers like my father and me, your report comes as no surprise.
The mainstay of crime prevention used to be beat policing – targeted foot patrols, 24 hours a day – and local knowledge derived from it.
PCS took responsibility for a beat and the people living on it. They knew every criminal and their habits, and burglaries were solved pretty quickly on most occasions.
This all changed in 1997, when Tony Blair began the wholesale decimation of the police, with a terrifying reduction in recruitment standards and the inception of the woeful and toothless police community support officers.
Now one rarely sees an officer on foot; and on the very odd occasion one is spotted, he or she will often be dishevelled, unfit and fixated upon their mobile phone.
Simon Crowley
Kemsing , Kent
SIR – Is it a coincidence that police performance appears to have fallen since the introduction of police and crime commissioners?
Ray Cantrell
Colchester, Essex
SIR – Given that Britain’s courts are years behind, perhaps it is just as well that burglaries are not being investigated properly. Our first burglary was in 1981, and we have had two more since. None resulted in either a conviction or the recovery of stolen items. A crime number was issued to facilitate an insurance claim, and counselling was offered.
Our nearest detective is based in Harlow, and the only police we ever see are blasting through the village at high speed, so it strikes me as remarkable that prisons are so full.
C M Watkins
Brentwood, Essex
SIR – It’s not just burglaries. Shoplifting is rife, too. Only recently I saw a chap walk out of a shop without paying, and the staff could only watch.
Britain is plagued by people with no respect for authority and the rule of law. The police seem powerless, as do the courts.
Jonathan Williams
Sleaford, Lincolnshire