Yvette Cooper promises more bobbies on the beat today as new Home Office figures show two in five cases are dropped without a suspect even being identified.
And Labour analysis of the statistics which go up to June last year reveal that more than nine in ten crimes are now going unsolved.
In an exclusive article for the Sunday Mirror, the shadow Home Secretary says Labour is the new party of law and order.
She adds: “Under the Conservatives, the number of arrests, charges and prosecutions has collapsed.”
The proportion of investigated crimes that result in a suspect being arrested and charged has fallen to just 5.4%, down from more than 15% seven years ago.
Ms Cooper’s solution is 13,000 more neighbourhood police and support officers at a cost of £360 milliion when Labour comes to power.
She says: “We’ll make sure criminals pay for their crimes and keep our communities safe.”
The extra will repair the damage done by the Tories during austerity when they scrapped 20,000 police officers.
The Government now says they will meet the target to replace them by March.
But police chiefs claim that still leaves forces short of the manpower they had in 2010 - because officers now have to do the jobs of axed backroom staff.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Secretary has been clear that she wants common sense policing, which means a swift and meaningful response by officers to crimes that blight the UK’s local communities to restore public confidence in the police.
“Since 2019 crimes, including knife crime and burglaries, have fallen across the country. However, more needs to be done, which is why we are determined to crack down on crime and are recruiting 20,000 additional police officers by March 2023, with over 15,000 already in post.”
Labour is the party of law and order now
by Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary
Drug dealers outside school, shops broken into, antisocial behaviour in the town centre - time and again people across the country have told me how they reported these crimes but nothing was done.
Under the Conservatives, the number of arrests, charges and prosecutions has collapsed.
New figures show that a shocking four in ten investigations are dropped without a suspect being identified. More than nine out of ten crimes go unsolved including over 1 million thefts last year.
It’s even worse for the most serious crimes of all like rape. Only 1.5% of them are charged. People are sick and tired of the way this Government is letting criminals get away with it.
For years, the Tories slashed police numbers and ignored crime and justice and our communities are paying the price.
Even when Tory ministers promised to reverse their own police cuts, many of the new recruits are dropping out and they aren’t being put into neighbourhood teams.
So there are still 6,000 fewer neighbourhood police and 8,000 fewer PCSOs on our street - and it shows.
Those neighbourhood officers used to get to know local residents.
They knew where the drug dealers gathered, they picked up which kids were in danger of getting involved in gangs. They could nip problems in the bud before they got worse.
Labour is the party of law and order now.
Keir Starmer knows how serious things are - as Director of Public Prosecutions he prosecuted criminals and terrorists and supported victims and their families. And the last Labour Government was tough on crime and its causes.
Now the next Labour Government will bring back proper neighbourhood policing - including 13,000 extra neighbourhood officers and PCSOs back on the beat.
We’ll pay for it with a costed plan requiring the 43 forces to work together on equipment and services.
We’ll stand up for community safety with a proper plan to crack down on antisocial behaviour, make sure criminals pay for their crimes and keep our communities safe.
The Tories have been in power for 13 long years and too much has gone backwards. Only Labour can provide the national renewal our country badly needs.
