Police dropping cases on same day the public reports crime
Sexual assaults, arson and other serious offences have been ‘screened out’ by the Met over the past two years
THE Metropolitan Police has been accused of dropping tens of thousands of investigations into serious crimes, such as sexual assault and arson, within hours of them being reported by members of the public.
The UK’S largest force is reported to have “screened out” 34,164 crimes on the same day they were reported in 2017, compared to 13,019 in 2016. In the first five months of 2018, 18,093 crimes were closed in 24 hours, putting the number for the year on track to exceed last year’s total.
The figures, reported in The Guardian after a freedom of information request, show a growing number of sexual offence cases are being closed on the same day they are reported, climbing from 20 in 2016 to 49 in 2017, and 32 in the first five months of 2018.
The newspaper also found that 303 cases of violent crime had been screened out so far in 2018, compared to 290 cases in the whole of 2016. In 2017, 4,670 cases of arson and criminal damage were dropped on the same day they were reported, compared to 2,284 the year before.
Crimes are screened out after a primary assessment, and the figures come after the Met said in October last year that it would stop investigating cases where there was judged to be little prospect of identifying a suspect.
That move was labelled a “green light to thieve” by former officers, and critics say the new figures show the impact that cuts are having on the Met’s ability to properly investigate serious crimes.
Retired police officer Chris Hobbs, who spent 23 years with the Met, said that increased demand on the police, cuts to budgets and struggles to recruit in the criminal investigation department meant that crimes were “falling through the cracks”.
“It’s not just sexual offences, but all offences – what used to be regarded as serious offences, burglary for example. They have now slipped right down the ladder. All sexual offences are heinous crimes but a detective who has a considerable caseload will have to prioritise what they are dealing with in terms of solvability and the seriousness of a crime,” he told The Guardian.
Victims groups and MPS have attacked the policy. Diana Fawcett, chief officer at independent charity Victim Support, said: “We know that victims of sexual assault already face barriers to reporting to the police and this news is likely to undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system and could deter victims from reporting crimes.”
Diane Abbott, Labour’s shadow home secretary, called the findings “deeply troubling”. “If the Met police are ‘cherry-picking’ cases, victims of serious crimes will not be getting the justice they deserve,” she said.
A Met Police spokesman said the policy was necessary to ensure the best use of resources. “The Met deal with nearly 800,000 allegations of crime every year. Investigations must be proportionate and timely to utilise the best possible evidential opportunities.”