Shocking Home Office figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats reveal that more than 9,200 burglaries in Great Manchester were unsolved in the first nine months of 2022. Out of more than 12,000 burglaries reported in that time period, only 514 resulted in a charge or summons. 9,211 investigations were closed without even identifying a suspect – meaning that more than 70% of burglaries went unsolved.
Leader of Oldham Liberal Democrats councillor Howard Sykes MBE said, “These are damning figures. The collapse of frontline neighbourhood policing means that our communities feel and are less safe. Criminals feel like they can act without consequence.”
The Liberal Democrat Leader – who represents Shaw ward – also hit out at Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who has responsibility for policing across the region.
“These figures will have been available to Mayor Burnham right before Greater Manchester Police were taken out of special measures in October last year. Does he really believe that this is good enough? He then took the decision to put taxes up across Greater Manchester during a cost-of-living crisis, specifically to pay for GMP.”
“Why does Andy Burnham think the people of Greater Manchester should foot the bill so that he can reward failure?”
The Liberal Democrats have also uncovered shocking figures on police attendance at burglaries. Nationally, almost four in ten burglaries in the country did 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. Greater Manchester Police did not provide the data.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for a new “Burglary Response Guarantee,” which would guarantee that all domestic burglaries are attended by the police and properly investigated.
Councillor Sykes said, “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. Time and time again, Labour and the Conservatives fail to deliver this for Greater Manchester.”
NOTES
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.
Police 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