New figures reveal that police left 92 per cent of burglaries unsolved last year across England and Wales, with a third of areas solving not a single break-in. The data, described by a former chief prosecutor as evidence of a system that has 'stopped enforcing' everyday crime, shows that for mobile phone theft, fewer than one in 100 cases led to a charge.
The former prosecutor, writing for The Independent, argues that the failure is not one of incompetence but of acceptance, where the principle that crime must have consequences has eroded. He notes that targeted operations, such as London's dedicated unit against organised phone theft, achieved a reduction of around 10,000 cases in a single year, demonstrating that focused enforcement works.
However, the wider system is failing, with suspects facing long court delays and lenient sentences. The article calls for practical fixes: minimum investigation standards for burglaries, a national stolen phone register, and treating phone theft as organised crime, given that stolen phones are shipped to Dubai, China and Romania.
The government has published a policing white paper promising major structural changes, but the former prosecutor warns that families whose homes are burgled cannot wait for policy reforms. He states that 393 burglary investigations are abandoned every day, eroding public belief that the law will act.
