Questions over plan for police to attend all home burglaries
Police chiefs in England and Wales have promised forces will attend all residential thefts in a bid to solve more crimes and prosecute more criminals.
![A police pledge to attend all home burglaries has prompted warnings that it could pile pressure on officers and risks becoming another ābox-ticking exerciseā unless āproper resourcesā are provided. (Steve Parsons/PA)](https://static.the-independent.com/2022/10/05/13/45ca285c4b1e55cb56bdac8752053c59Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjY1MDU2Nzcw-2.50102145.jpg)
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Your support makes all the difference.A police pledge to attend all home burglaries has prompted warnings that it could pile pressure on officers and risks becoming another ābox-ticking exerciseā unless āproper resourcesā are provided.
Police chiefs in England and Wales have promised forces will attend all residential thefts in a new set of standards they hope will result in more crimes being solved and more criminals prosecuted.
But some have questioned how the plan will work, warning that without proper resources it could put additional pressure on already stretched officers.
Ken Marsh, chairman of staff association the Metropolitan Police Federation, said the plan is āfundamentally a good ideaā but called for clarity on how it will be resourced.
He told the PA news agency: āItās a horrendous crime that leaves horrible effects on people and they should feel that itās been treated correctly.
āIt will put pressure on my colleagues because weāve not yet seen how this is going to be played out in terms of the requirement and how many and how we go about it, but weāre not opposed to it all.ā
Officers need the ācorrect equipmentā, like tablets and mobiles, which would make it āfar easierā to complete a crime report while attending the scene, he said as he issued a plea for forces to āmoderniseā to make police work more efficient, adding that there is still āfar too much bureaucracy and paperwork that just isnāt necessaryā.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: āIt is devastating for victims that the overwhelming majority of burglaries go unsolved.
āWhile this is a positive step, without proper resources from the Government this pledge risks being nothing more than a box-ticking exercise.ā
Steve Hartshorn, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said the decision āwill help to reinforce public trustā, but warned: āWith one in seven forces put into special measures, short-term funding, increasing demands and low officer numbers per head of the population, it continues to be a ādo more with lessā situation for police officers in England and Wales.ā
āIt is time that we find out exactly what people want and expect from their police service, rather than successive governments second-guessing,ā he added.
Chief constables will work to get the plan introduced āas soon as practically possibleā, the National Police Chiefsā Council (NPCC) said.
While some forces already have a policy in place to go to all home burglaries, others attend only where victims are vulnerable or elderly, or there are evidential lines of inquiry to be followed up.
Under the latest plan, forces will prioritise attendance where peopleās homes have been burgled, rather than outbuildings and garden sheds.
NPCC chairman Martin Hewitt said: āWherever you live in England and Wales you can be confident the police will attend if you experience the invasion of a home burglary. This should see more burglaries solved and more offenders prosecuted.ā
It is hoped that the national recruitment drive to replace the 20,000 officers axed during previous austerity measures will cover some of the extra staffing required to attend every burglary.
Police leaders are also pushing the Government to boost health and social care provision so that officers have to deal with fewer non-crime related calls.
Mr Hewitt added in a blog published on Wednesday: āA National Audit Office report in 2018 showed that 64 per cent of emergency calls to the police were not about crime.
āSome are entirely legitimate police activity, but a substantial proportion see police stepping in to health and social work because of an absence of other services.
āWe have been discussing this for years and there has been no meaningful change ā there needs to be for us to improve crime rates.ā
He also called for changes to crime recording processes to make them less time-consuming.
The national decision comes after new Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said last week that officers will go to every reported burglary in London because the crime is ātoo serious an intrusionā for officers not to attend.
But the changes in policy are unlikely to be replicated in Scotland, where police respond based on the level of threat, risk and harm posed.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), however, said: āWe investigate every burglary that is reported to us.ā
Out of 148,764 residential burglaries recorded by police forces in England and Wales in 2021/22, just 3.5% (5,236) resulted in a charge or summons. Almost 72% of the investigations were closed with no suspect identified (106,632).
The latest number of reported burglaries is lower than in previous years, probably down to periods of lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic when fewer crimes were committed.
A review by the College of Policing, which is responsible for setting policing standards, found that officers swiftly attending crime scenes can boost victim satisfaction and aid investigations as well as help prevent more offences, the NPCC said.
Public opinion and a report from police watchdog His Majestyās Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Servicesā (HMICFRS) on acquisitive crime were also taken into account before the decision was reached.
In her Conservative Party conference speech on Tuesday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman praised forces which are already promising to visit the scene of every burglary, telling delegates in Birmingham the ālaw-abiding majority expect every force to investigate every neighbourhood crime ā and so do Iā.
In a statement after the announcement she said she āwholeheartedlyā welcomed the commitment, adding that getting back to common sense policing will āincrease the publicās confidence in their local forceā and send a clear message to criminals āthat this is a high-risk crime which they wonāt be getting away withā.