Bureau Recommends: Police admit one in three crimes not investigated

The Bureau Recommends an investigation by the Times which has found that Police are failing to investigate one in three crimes reported to them, including drug trafficking, sexual assaults and violent attacks.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act for 21 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, show that the overall rate of crimes being dropped from further investigation stands at around 32% nationally.

Out of 2 million crimes, almost 650,000 were screened out in the past year in the 21 forces – which would suggest that well over a million crimes are being disregarded each year in England and Wales.

The figures are even more stark in London where almost half of all investigations are dropped after an initial screening process because officers believe that they cannot be solved.

Police chiefs blame funding cuts and limited resources for the trend, but groups supporting victims of crime warn that the number of offences being abandoned threatens to undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system.

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