Nearly 70% of burglaries unsolved in Thames Valley region

Shocking figures reveal 2,359 burglaries in the Thames Valley region were unsolved in the first three quarters of 2022.
Of the 3,397 burglaries reported in that period, only 133 resulted in a charge or summons.

And 2,359 investigations were closed without even identifying a suspect – meaning nearly 70% of burglaries went unsolved. 

The Lib Dems have also uncovered shocking figures on police attendance of burglaries and nationally, almost four in ten burglaries in the country dd not result in a visit to the scene by a police officer. The figures were based on data provided by 19 police forces in England. Thames Valley did not provide the data. 

Councillor Robin Bradburn, who sits on the Thames Valley Police & Crime Panel, said:

“It’s shocking that so many burglaries in our city are going unsolved by the police. No family should be denied justice after suffering the distress and trauma of being burgled.

“Many families across Milton Keynes now feel unsafe in their own homes because this Conservative government has left our police forces overstretched and under-resourced. It means too many victims are being denied justice and far too many criminals are getting away with it.”

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a new “Burglary Response Guarantee”, which would ensure that all domestic burglaries are attended by the police and properly investigated. 

This will require a return to proper community policing - where officers are visible, trusted, and have the time and resources needed to focus on solving crime.

Since 2015, the Conservatives have taken over 4,000 Police Community Support Officers off the streets, while they look set to have broken their key promise of having recruited an extra 20,000 police officers by the end of March 2023.

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Background and Lib Dem policy

Full data on police attendance available here. Of the 19 police forces that responded to the FOI, a total of 119,190 burglaries were reported in 2022. Policy only arrived at the scene for 73,957 of these, accounting for 62% of cases. 89,337 cases were closed without a suspect being identified - equivalent to 75% of all cases. 

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a new statutory guarantee that all domestic burglaries must be attended by the police and properly investigated. 

To implement this guarantee, we are calling on the Government to: 

• Return to proper community policing, where officers have the time and resources, they need to focus on preventing and solving crime;
• Urgently draw up a strategy to tackle the shortage of detectives; and
• Set up a new national Online Crime Agency, to better protect people from online crime while freeing up local forces’ time to tackle burglars. 
• An HMICFRS report from last year said that most burglary victims “aren’t getting the justice they deserve”.