Yard failing to clamp down on burglary, warns Priti

SCOTLAND Yard is ‘failing to get the basics right’ on burglary, the Home Secretary warned yesterday.

In a letter to incoming Metropolitan Police boss Sir Mark Rowley, Priti Patel said the force was doing too little to tackle theft – causing ‘immense distress to the public’.

She wants the Yard to ‘set an example’ after a watchdog report last month warned that constabularies were letting down victims of burglary.

She wrote: ‘That report found that on too many occasions the Met, as a force, is failing to get the basics right when dealing with these crimes, which cause immense distress to the public. It is deeply disappointing and unacceptable that many police forces are falling short. You know my view that there is an essential requirement across policing to raise the bar on standards and to get the basics right.

‘As the largest force in the country, it is right for the Met to set an example in how to deal with crimes of this kind and also to beat crime down.’

The Home Secretary also said she expected the force to ‘move the culture away from organisational defensiveness’.