Police write off 50,000 Mersey crimes a year

Sep 18 2007 by David Higgerson, Liverpool Daily Post

ALMOST 50,000 crimes on Merseyside were deemed "unsolvable" by police last year – so weren’t subject to further investigation.

The figure, roughly a third of reported crime in Merseyside, was seized upon by critics of the Government, who said reducing red tape and making more funds available would help restore faith in the police.

Merseyside Police last night said the public expected them to dedicate police time to more serious crimes and to cases where there was "potential for an offender to be brought to justice".

A spokesman stressed that cases involving violence, robberies, house burglaries, high-value or complex offences, and hate crimes would not be screened out.

But concerns were expressed that a high non-investigation rate could leave the insurance industry exposed to the risk of fraud.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, the Daily Post has discovered 49,717 crimes were "screened out" by police last year, effectively filed away after an initial look at the crime had resulted in officers deeming it "unsolvable".

That figure is slightly down from the 2005 figure of 52,048 crimes being declared unsolvable, but just under 10,000 up on the 39,769 figure given for 2004.

Last night, the Home Office said it didn’t encourage screening out of crime, but said it was up to police forces to determine which crimes got priority for investigation.

A statement attached to the Freedom of Information response from Merseyside Police said: "All crimes warrant further investigation, but there are many occasions where there is insufficient information or evidence available to continue with enquiries to detect the offender for the crime.

"A recorded crime is assessed against a set criteria in terms of its 'solvability'. Crimes that do not meet that criteria will be 'screened out' (from investigation) which means that they will not be investigated further unless additional information or evidence comes to light."

But Matthew Elliott from the Tax Payers’ Alliance, which campaigns for better use of public funds, said: "It is simply not acceptable that a police force, which like all others, is getting more money than ever, is simply assessing how likely it is that a crime will be solved before deciding whether to carry on investigating it.

"Surely a crime will only be solved if it is investigated. People pay a lot of money to the police, via taxes, and should be able to assume that the police will do more than just record the fact they have been a victim of crime.

"We need to ask where this extra money has gone and whether it has just been spent on red tape."

Tory leader David Cameron told the Daily Post: "This is symptomatic of Britain's crime crisis. We need more police on the streets investigating crime. We must fight back. Labour have just looked at the criminal justice system. They have passed over 30 new laws, they have created over 3,000 new offences, but I don't think any of us feel safer on the streets. It takes four hours to fill out the paperwork when someone is arrested. Every time someone is stopped, reams of paperwork have to be completed. It is no wonder officers have no time to investigate many crimes and that has to change."

A spokesman for Victim Support said the statistics would probably worry many victims of crime.

Staff at Southport MP John Pugh’s office said the MP regularly received complaints that crimes weren’t investigated, with the result being that many people now didn’t think it was worth reporting a crime. Police were criticised at a recent meeting of Southport’s area forum for not investigating many crimes, during a presentation when they were reporting falling crime numbers. A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers warned that its members would expect the police to investigate to ensure that insurance fraud wasn’t taking place.

He said: "People shouldn’t see the large numbers of crime not being reported as a chance to go and report crimes just so they can make insurance claims for items they never owned, let alone had stolen.

"Insurance companies now investigate very thoroughly, and would expect the police to investigate if a potential case of fraudulent insurance claims were brought to their attention."

Opportunities for detecting offenders are examined before a crime is screened out

A MERSEYSIDE police spokesman said: Every crime reported to us is treated seriously and opportunities for detecting that crime are examined.

Forensic opportunities, CCTV footage and witnesses are the obvious opportunities presented to officers. Where they are present, our Force policy states that they will be followed up.

Where there are solvability factors an officer or Crime Scene Investigator will attend and carry out an investigation. In cases where these investigations do not identify an offender and it does not fall into a more serious category of crime (burglary dwellings, high value or complex offences, hate crimes, violence, robbery) the crime will be “screened out” from further investigation. However, should further information come to light the investigation will be reopened.

The public expect us to dedicate police time to more serious crimes and to cases where there is potential for an offender to be brought to justice. In 2004, 170,848 crimes were recorded, 39,769 were screened out after initial investigation. In 2005, 174,881 crimes were recorded, 52,048 were screened out after initial investigation and in 2006 162,244 crimes were recorded, 49,717 were screened out after initial investigation

We have had considerable success over the last three years with an increase in the number of sanctioned detections, up from 18.6% in 2004 to 26.4% in 2006. For this year (April-August 2007) the sanctioned detection rate stands at 31.6%.

We are one of the best Metropolitan forces when it comes to victim satisfaction with 85% of victims satisfied with the service we provide.

We strive to deliver a high- quality service and are continually working to improve this. The Force is constantly reviewing the service it provides and we will continue to explore opportunities, including new technology, to detect crime.