More than half of police forces are failing to investigate crime properly, according to official watchdog reports.
Of the 43 forces in England and Wales, 22 were judged by inspectors to be “inadequate” or “requiring improvement” in investigating crime – the two worst performance ratings.
They face an investigation by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary next year into the failings that have caused the proportion of crimes solved to plummet to record lows.
Forces have missed leads that could have solved burglaries, thefts and assaults, and failed to arrive at crime scenes promptly to recover evidence or catch suspects, according to the reports.
The watchdog told The Telegraph that many forces faced “real challenges in answering and dealing with emergency calls in a timely manner” and that an “unacceptably low” number of crimes was being solved following investigations.
“If the police are to rebuild public trust and confidence, it is vital that forces work quickly to rectify these issues and provide the high level of service that the public deserves,” said a spokesman for the inspectorate. “We intend to carry out a thematic inspection of police investigations in 2024.”
Home Office figures show that just one in 18 offences reported to police led to a suspect being charged in the year to June 2023, compared with one in six a decade ago.
The explanation for those figures is provided by in-depth inspections of all 43 forces in 2021/22 across eight criteria. In particular, these assessments cover their effectiveness in investigating crime and responding to the public including how quickly officers are dispatched to crime scenes after 999 calls.
Humberside emerged as the best force in Britain across the eight criteria, followed by South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Durham and Leicestershire.
The six worst in 2021/22 were Wiltshire, Greater Manchester, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire, Cleveland and the Met, three of which are in special measures. Greater Manchester was taken out of special measures in October last year.
Responding to the data, a Home Office source said ministers expected a “zero tolerance” approach to all crimes by police, with forces having agreed in September to follow up “every line of enquiry for all crimes – without exception”.
The source said: “Since March, there have been record-ever numbers of police and over half a billion pounds extra invested. These extra resources must deliver a significant increase in the number of crimes solved.”
It comes as new figures reveal police abandon investigations into four crimes every minute without tracking down the perpetrators.
Forces gave up on investigations into 2,306,623 reported crimes in the year to June – including hundreds of thousands of violent offences and burglaries – marking an increase of nearly 13 per cent on the previous year
The official Home Office figures, seen by the Daily Mail, are equivalent to more than 6,300 every day on average, or one every 14 seconds.
No force rated ‘outstanding’
Forces are ranked on metrics including looking after their workforce, providing value for money and treating the public with respect, but when judged on investigating crime alone the ratings fall.
They scored worse on these metrics than other criteria such as preventing crime, treating the public with fairness and respect, and value for money.
Not a single force was rated as “outstanding” in either investigating crime or responding to the public. Outstanding is the top of five levels of performance, which then go through good, adequate, requiring improvement and inadequate.
Three forces were ranked inadequate for investigating crime, with 19 judged as “requiring improvement”. Eight were assessed as “inadequate” in responding to the public, and a further 17 were found to be “requiring improvement”.
The Telegraph analysis was based on inspections from 2021/22, covering all 43 forces over the same period to allow a fair comparison. The performance of five forces – the Metropolitan Police, West Midlands, Devon and Cornwall, Staffordshire and Wiltshire – is of such concern that they are currently in special measures.
So far, nine forces have had updated ratings after further inspections for the 2023-25 period. Of these, five are deemed to have got worse at investigating crime, including Thames Valley, Surrey, Merseyside, Durham and West Midlands, which has declined to inadequate. Only one – Greater Manchester – improved.
Six have had their scores for responding to the public worsen, including Suffolk and Surrey, whose ratings dropped from “adequate” to “inadequate”. Greater Manchester jumped from “inadequate” to “adequate”.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said all forces strived to deliver the best possible service and the inspections showed most were “performing well”.
A spokesman said: “However, whenever a force falls short in a certain area, we will work with them, alongside His Majesty’s Inspectorate, to ensure that the necessary improvements are made.” (The Telegraph)
