Burglaries pledge risks "box-ticking" without Govt back-up

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

Responding to the news that police forces in England and Wales have pledged to attend every home burglary, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: 

"It is devastating for victims that the overwhelming majority of burglaries go unsolved.

"While this is a positive step, without proper resources from the Government this pledge risks being nothing more than a box-ticking exercise.

“The Conservatives are letting down victims and allowing burglaries to run rife. 

“Ministers must give police the officers, time and resources they need to properly investigate crime.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Analysis of official data by the Liberal Democrats has found that almost all burglaries go unpunished in England and Wales. The data has revealed that in the year up to March 2022 just 3.5% of domestic burglaries, and 4.2% of all burglaries resulted in a criminal charge in England and Wales. 

The official Home Office statistics show that an average of 774 burglaries have gone unsolved every day since 2017. This amounts to 1.4 million burglaries over the past five years. In 2021-22 the number of offences leading to a charge or summons was less than half that of 2017.

The data, which comes from the Home Office: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables, can be found here.