What is to deter criminals in the UK? Guns are banned, so people cannot defend themselves and the criminals have a 90% or more chance of getting away with most crimes! Less than one in 20 street robberies and burglaries are being solved in the UK, shocking new figures have revealed. Official police data shows that just four per cent of robberies and three per cent of burglaries were solved in England and Wales in 2017. The figures will fuel concerns that there is a crisis in the nation’s policing, with one MP describing London as ‘the Wild West’.
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In more than 1,000 neighbourhoods with at least 30 crimes, the police failed to catch and punish any of the suspects, The Sunday Times report. Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, south Buckinghamshire, south Cambridgeshire, Blackpool and Preston had the lowest rates of solved crime, according to figures. Meanwhile the most crimes, 26 per cent, were solved in Uttlesford in Essex last year, followed by Boston, Merthyr Tydfil, Darlington and County Durham.
The figures also reveal that only nine per cent of suspects in all crimes are caught and punished – a reduction of more than 50 per cent in the past five years. The worrying statistics will add to concerns about the surge of violent crime in the UK, particularly in London. Scores of violent attacks and muggings have been reported in the capital, with many incidents involving mopeds and knives.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid was among those targeted. He revealed his phone was swiped outside Euston Station when he was communities secretary. This month comedian Michael McIntyre was mugged for his £15,000 Rolex watch by armed thugs while doing the school run in north London. And BBC radio presenter Eddie Mair was attacked by hooded youths on bikes as he boarded a bus in the capital last December.
Police data shows that the percentage of all crimes solved by police has plummeted from 19 per cent in 2013 to just nine per cent in 2017. Perpetrators in violent and sexual offences were brought to justice only in eight per cent of cases last year – a mere third of those in 2013.
The percentage of all crimes solved by police has plummeted (left) and perpetrators in violent and sexual offences were brought to justice only in eight per cent of cases last year (right)
Meanwhile, solved burglary cases halved from six per cent in 2013 to three per cent in 2017, and robbery cases from nine per cent to four per cent in the same period. There were 159 robberies in Holloway Road and Highgate Hill last year, making them the streets most plagued by moped gang crime. However, just one offender was caught and punished.
London’s knife crime epidemic has also spread to the Home Counties. Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Norfolk and north Wales’ rates of knife crime have all increased by more than 100 per cent in the past three years. According to police forces with some of the best detection rates, having officers on patrol plays a crucial role in solving crime. But the number of officers in England and Wales is at its lowest level since the late 1980s. There were 23,552 fewer officers in 2017 than there were in 2010.
