Police solve no burglaries in half of the country Charging rate across England and Wales continues to fall despite forces’ pledge to attend every scene

Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR and Ben Butcher 3 March 2024 • 9:15pm

1235 graphic Police have failed to solve a single burglary in nearly half of all neighbourhoods in England and Wales in the past three years despite pledging to attend the scene of every domestic break-in to boost detection rates.

A Telegraph analysis of police data shows that no burglaries were solved in 48 per cent of neighbourhoods – areas covering between 1,000 and 3,000 people – in the past three years.

In October 2022, all 43 police chiefs in England and Wales made the landmark promise to attend every break-in.

Home Office figures show that the proportion of burglaries resulting in a charge fell in the following year to 3.9 per cent (fewer than one in 25 reported burglaries) from 4.6 per cent in 2022.

In the worst hot spots covering areas of up to 6,000 people more than 150 cases have gone unsolved in the past three years, prompting warnings by victims’ campaigners and policing experts that burglary has been effectively decriminalised in parts of the UK.

Dame Vera Baird, the former victims’ commissioner, said the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s pledge to boost detection rates was “an empty gesture” in many parts of Britain.

“What these figures show is that in half of the neighbourhoods, burgling somebody’s home is a free hit. The criminal can walk away with the proceeds and never look back,” she said.

“Burglary can be very very upsetting and traumatising; it can make people afraid to go out in case it happens again and afraid to stay at home for the very same reason. Why are there no arrests, no prosecutions and no deterrence in almost half of all these cases?”

Harvey Redgrave, a former No 10 policy adviser who is chief executive of crime consultancy Crest Advisory, said: “It is of real concern that despite the high-profile commitment to attend the scene of every burglary, the police do not appear to be improving the rate at which burglaries are solved and offenders brought to justice.

“Public confidence in the police will not improve unless victims believe reporting crime will make a difference. These statistics also reinforce the need for a cross-government strategy to deal with the minority of highly prolific offenders who are responsible for a large proportion of burglaries and theft more widely.”

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