Criminals got away with more than one million burglaries and thefts last year because clueless cops failed to nail them.
Damning statistics, revealed by Labour, show police shelved 1,145,254 crimes after failing to identify a suspect.
And with domestic break-ins costing an average of £1,400, UK families have lost millions to undetected villains.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says: “Theft and burglaries are awful crimes. They should be properly investigated, not just left for the victims to make an insurance claim.”
And she says that Labour has a “fully costed plan” to put 13,000 extra neighbourhood police on the streets when they are in power.
A recent report by His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary claimed thefts and burglaries are going unsolved due to a shortage of experienced staff and detectives.
But ex-cop Mick Neville, who served 28 years in the Met, says: “The amount of people that have video doorbells and CCTV mean the opportunities to solve burglaries has gone up.”
And thefts too, as my friend proved earlier this month. “Joe” (he’s asked to remain anonymous) had his car broken into overnight on his drive.
The culprit stole bank cards, which were used to steal around £900.
A community Facebook page revealed the thief had also targeted several other vehicles.
But as Joe’s video doorbell had caught the thief in the act he was hopeful police would trace him. No chance.
An officer called to collect the doorbell footage but said “low-level crimes like this” were rarely pursued.
So furious Joe began his own detective work. One bank card was used at 5am to buy a train ticket.
A second transaction was made 90 minutes later at a Tesco in a nearby town.
A visit to his local station revealed a train leaves just after 5am and stops at the town in question, while a call to Tesco confirmed the store’s location.
After such a lucrative night of crime Joe was convinced that the cocky thief would not resist returning to the same hunting ground. So, next morning, he got up at dawn, drove to the railway station and waited.
Sure enough, just before 5am, the suspect appeared, in the same clothes, carrying the same backpack and apparently heading for the same train.
“I rang the cops,” Joe explained. “But they said I ‘didn’t have any proof’ of where he might be going.
“True…but I had a pretty good hunch.
“So I drove to the town, spotted the man leaving the station and followed him – to the same Tesco. I rang the police yet again and this time they agreed to send a patrol car as one was in the area.”
The suspect was stopped and searched as he left the store and found in possession of stolen property.
He was arrested, questioned and bailed pending further inquiries.
Joe was asked to give a full statement and has since been contacted by an appreciative detective who has promised to keep him informed about the investigation’s progress.
But he is still understandably extremely angry.
“I’m hardly Hercule Poirot,” he says. “I simply followed the very obvious trail of clues and pieced it all together.
“It took me a couple of hours and a bit of common sense to find my man so why the heck couldn’t the police?”
Why indeed?
