Unsolved burglaries soar to more than 580 a day

A staggering 213,279 burglaries went unsolved across England and Wales in the 2022/2023 financial year – an average of 584 a day, new analysis by the Liberal Democrats of Home Office statistics released last week has revealed.

The figures show that in 2022/2023, a grand total of 213,279 burglary investigations across England and Wales were closed without a suspect being identified, accounting for 76.8% of all cases.

The South Yorkshire force recorded the worst outcomes, with a staggering 84.4% of all recorded burglaries going unsolved. They were followed closely by Hampshire Police (83.1%) and the Met (81.6%).

The Liberal Democrats have slammed the Conservative Government for these figures, arguing that years of putting resources in the wrong places has decimated community policing.

Since 2015, the Conservatives have taken over 4,000 Police Community Support Officers off the streets. And as of last year, just 12% of officers across England and Wales were assigned to frontline neighbourhood policing teams.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a return to proper community policing, where officers are trusted and visible in their neighbourhoods, with the time and resources to focus on tackling local crimes including burglaries.

The party is also calling for a new “Burglary Response Guarantee” under which all domestic burglaries would be attended by the police and properly investigated. 

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said:

“Everyone deserves to feel safe and secure in their own homes. But knowing that so many burglars are getting off scot-free will bring little comfort to our communities.

“Make no mistake, these are the consequences of the Conservatives constantly sidelining frontline policing.

“Enough is enough. The Home Secretary must finally restore proper community policing and implement a Burglary Response Guarantee. It’s the only way to reverse these criminally bad figures.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Full data, broken down by police force, available here. Data taken from Home Office, Police recorded crime open data Police Force Area tables from year ending March 2013 onwards. 

Liberal Democrats are calling for a new statutory guarantee that all burglaries must be attended by police and properly investigated. 

To implement this guarantee, Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to: 

• Return to proper community policing, where officers have the time and resources they need to focus on preventing and solving crime;

• Urgently draw up a strategy to tackle the shortage of detectives; and

• Set up a new national Online Crime Agency, to better protect people from online crime while freeing up local forces’ time to tackle burglars. 

The National Police Chiefs’ Council have announced that as of June 2023, police are now attending the scene of every home burglary. However, no evidence has yet been published to show if this is the case.

The commitment from the National Police Chiefs’ Council is a voluntary pledge, rather than the statutory guarantee that would place a duty on police forces to attend every burglary, and a duty on the Government to make sure the resources are in place to do it.