Police to investigate every crime with ‘reasonable lead’ in bid to tackle falling conviction rates of ‘low level’ crimes
28 July 2023, 23:25 | Updated: 28 July 2023, 23:28
Chief constables have promised to investigate every crime reported with a “reasonable lead” in a bid to clamp down on “low level” crimes.
Police will make more inquiries into ‘minor’ offences that have been overlooked in recent years under a proposed plan.
Chief constables have pledged to dedicate more resources to tackle offences such as shoplifting and car thefts.
All criminal reports with “reasonable leads” will be investigated - which may include evidence from doorbell videos, CCTV, GPS trackers and witness accounts.
It comes after the police have faced pressure from ministers in recent months to improve conviction rates, as the numbers for ‘low level’ crimes such as theft have plummeted in recent years.
Earlier this week it emerged that more than three-quarters of burglaries reported go unsolved, amounting to some 213,000 burglaries in 2022.
In June, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) confirmed that police would now attend every burglary.
The fall in investigations into these ‘minor’ crimes have been chalked up to austerity measures, as police have insisted they must focus on high-harm cases that impact the most vulnerable victims.
An announcement on the proposed plan is expected in the coming weeks while the Home Office, chief constables and elected police draw up an official agreement.
Read more:More than three-quarters of burglaries reported go unsolved, coming to nearly 600 per day
Senior police sources said that some forces were doing the “bare minimum” throughout inquiries, by only carrying out methods such as house-to-house inquiries and gathering CCTV footage, The Times reported.
But this, they have since admitted, was a mistake given the importance these types of crimes have on the everyday person - not to mention the fact the crimes are often linked to greater instances of organised crime, such as in car thefts.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has also announced plans to reduce bureaucracy and paperwork in forces to free up police time, enabling them to carry out the investigations.
“We will be looking at shoplifting, burglaries and other crimes that have traditionally been seen as lower-level. We mustn’t tolerate this idea that there are some crimes we don’t investigate, as they have a huge impact on our communities,” Tory PCC for Surrey, Lisa Townsend, said.
“The government will be going very hard on the idea that there is a lot of police time freed up and they expect us to use it well, and we will.”
The new plan will be based on a Greater Manchester scheme developed by chief constable Steve Watson who pulled the force out of special measures in record time.
He laid out plans to inquire into all crimes with a reasonable line of inquiry, which resulted in a 38% increase in charges on burglary, 22% on robbery and 53% on vehicle theft.
The new agreement will be a “big push on the crimes that matter most to communities” a senior source added.
“You can’t treat these crimes as minor… if you’ve got a tradesman with their work tools stolen out of their car, it’s not the biggest theft but it has impacted someone’s daily life really badly.”
