CCTV not policing has reduced burglary rates

SIR – It is fanciful for the National Police Chiefs’ Council to claim credit for the reduction in the number of burglaries (Letters, June 22).

The reduction is more likely to be attributed to the deterrent effect of the increased use of CCTV and digital alarm systems, which in real terms have become cheaper and more accessible for both home and business owners.

What is troubling is that even though the police have 51 per cent fewer offences to investigate than they did in the previous decade, arrest and conviction rates remain depressingly poor. While the service continues to be both under-resourced and misdirected, I fear that property crime will remain a low priority for police. Roy Ramm

Felsted, Essex

SIR – I am struggling to understand how the police had the time to investigate a joke made by the comedian Joe Lycett that offended a single audience member (report, June 22), and yet apparently do not have the resources to follow up burglaries. Julian Pullan

Bramley, Hampshire