Nearly 6,000 crimes still going unsolved every day
EMBARGO: Immediate Release
The Liberal Democrats are renewing calls for the government to implement proper community policing as new statistics reveal the extent of unsolved crime in the year ending September 2024.
The figures were revealed by the Home Office’s own statistics on crime outcomes, released earlier this morning.
2,136,252 crimes went unsolved across England and Wales in the year ending September 2024 - equivalent to 5,852 crimes going unsolved every day. This accounted for nearly 40% of all crimes recorded that year.
Meanwhile, just 363,843 crimes resulted in a suspect being charged or summonsed - accounting for less than 7% of all cases.
The number of unsolved crimes have remained consistently high for a number of years, with 2,183,237 crimes going unsolved in the year ending September 2023.
The figures also revealed that shoplifting offences rose by 23% to a whopping 492,914 offences, this is compared with the previous year (402,220 offences), and is the highest figure since current police recording practices began for the year ending March 2003.
The Liberal Democrats have slammed the previous Conservative Government for the figures, arguing that years of ineffective resourcing have left local police forces overstretched, underresourced and unable to focus on solving neighbourhood crime.
It comes one week after it was revealed that Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) numbers across England and Wales had been slashed by a further 3% in the last year.
The party is calling for a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and focused on solving the crimes that impact local communities the most.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Home Affairs Lisa Smart MP said:
“Thousands of victims are being left without the justice they deserve every single day. The government promised to fix this - but these figures suggest the hard work has barely begun.
“The former Conservative government destroyed neighbourhood policing and left our communities to pay the price.
“The government must urgently deliver the change they have promised. Liberal Democrats will keep pushing for a return to proper community policing, keeping our neighbourhoods safe and reducing crime with more bobbies out on the beat.”
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
Figures on crime outcomes are available at Home Office, Crime outcomes year to September 2024: data tables, Table 1.1.
Figures on PCSO workforce are available at Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2024: data tables’, Table 3.
