New analysis from the Liberal Democrats of Home Office statistics have shown that a whopping 213,814 burglaries went unsolved across England and Wales in the year ending September 2023 - an average of 586 cases a day.
This accounts for 3 in 4 - or 76% - of all burglary cases. Meanwhile, just 6% of burglaries resulted in a suspect being charged. The overall number of unsolved burglaries in England and Wales has also risen by 4% compared to the previous year.
The Thames Valley was inline with the national average with 76% of burglaries in the area going unsolved.
The Liberal Democrats have slammed the Conservative Government for these figures, arguing that years of ineffective resourcing have left local police forces overstretched and unable to focus on frontline crime like burglaries.
This includes taking over 4,500 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) off the streets since 2015 and assigning just 12% of officers to neighbourhood policing teams.
The party is calling for a new “Burglary Response Guarantee,” under which all domestic burglaries would be attended by the police and properly investigated.
This would be accompanied by a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and focused on tackling neighbourhood crime.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Police and Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley Police Tim Bearder said:
“Too many people in the Thames Valley feel unsafe in their own home. With the vast majority of burglaries still going unsolved there is a sense of lawlessness and that these criminals are acting with impunity.
“Since 2019 the Conservative Government have been more akin to a bad Mexican soap opera than a functioning democracy looking after the world's fifth richest economy and while they've been at war over five different Prime Ministers they have failed to deliver the absolute basics of tackling crime.
“Rishi Sunak should call and immediate General Election so that our Burglary Response Guarantee can be brought into force ensuring that every burglary is responded to, bringing an end to this shameful burglar bailout.”
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