No, nine out of ten *reported/alleged* crimes go *uncharged*. Which is not the same thing at all.

I’m not surprised, it’s pretty depressing but the Police don’t seem to have the budget to investigate non-violent, non-sexual crimes. The first time we were burgled there was actually a task force to look into bike crime, they came, looked at my broken shed, asked if the broken lock had been left behind, nope – here’s your crime number.

Second time we just did it over the phone. Did they leave the lock? Nope, here’s your crime number.

They were very good when I got into a nasty road rage incident and they pretty much flooded our part of town looking for a flasher who liked school girls and when some lads from across town came for a fight with axes.

You need to think a bit about how solvable a crime might be.

Yesterday I was driving up the M1 – a car passed driving aggressively and speedily and a few moments later causes a collision up ahead. Another car was left  wrecked in the in the middle lane with traffic swerving around it and the driver that passed me was further up the road on the hard shoulder inspecting the damage to his car – I passed them both and then moments later was passed again by the first bloke deciding the flee the scene, body work flapping.

I saw where he left the motor way so came off at the exit and called 999 to report the accident and the hazard it was creating (as well as the possible injury to the occupants of the stranded car but also give details of the guy who caused the incident and had fled.

So – a crime. Reported. But beyond me saying the car of a make, model and colour and currently somewhere in Buckinghamshire theres not really much more information to investigate, apprehend, solve, charge, convict etc. And imagine most reported crimes are of this nature.

So I don’t think its scandalous that a large majority of crimes go unsolved or unpursued as many would be unsolvable under any circumstances – the perpetrators are generally making efforts not to get caught. However its more telling that the detection rate has fallen from 15% to 10% over the last few years and thats a more meaningful thing – because it shows that for every two crimes currently ‘detected’ a third one that could have been ‘detected’ wasn’t.

but the Police don’t seem to have the budget to investigate non-violent, non-sexual crime

This – in a nutshell is the depressing truth. And it’s almost as depressing for the vast majority of cops as it is for the victims. Cops aren’t immune from being victims of crime either of course.

Add to that if the police don’t attend to a crime it doesn’t get recorded. For instance I was at a meeting in Bolton town centre and we could see a group of people stripping lead from a closed store which had scaffolding up. We called the police who said that if no one was in immediate danger they wouldn’t come out .They didn’t therefore it officially never happened.

Also the number of offences on bail has been reduced by the police not bailing people but releasing them ” under investigation ”

Add to that the dire shortage of police officers in town centres, the fact that if someone steals less than £500 from you it is recorded as personal loss then the picture is a lot more alarming than most folk will know.