Police taking up to 28 hours to attend burglaries

EMBARGO: 22.30 Thursday 4th April 2024

Average burglary response times have increased by a shocking 25% in just one year, with some forces taking an average of 28 hours for an officer to arrive at the scene, damning figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

The figures were obtained through a series of Freedom of Information requests to all police forces in England. 26 forces provided responses. 

Burglaries are often considered as Grade 2 priority incidents, which most police forces aim to respond to within one hour. The College of Policing defines these as “incidents where a witness or other evidence is likely to be lost”, and “a degree of urgency is still associated with immediate police action.” 

But in the 2022/23 financial year, it took an average of 9 hours and 8 minutes across police forces for an officer to turn up to the scene when a burglary was reported. This is an increase of 25% from the previous year, when average wait times across police forces stood at 7 hours and 17 minutes. 20 of the 26 police forces reported longer wait times in 2022/23, compared to 2021/22. 

When compared to figures from 2020/21, the deterioration in wait times was even more stark. 11 forces saw their burglary response times more than double in that time period. South Yorkshire experienced the largest deterioration in wait times, which increased by a shocking 443% -  up from 2 hours and 21 minutes in 2020/21, to 12 hours and 47 minutes in 2022/23. 

The figures also revealed a disturbing postcode lottery, with response times varying significantly depending on the police force. The worst performing force was Northamptonshire, with a staggering average response time of 28 hours and 2 minutes for burglary calls. They were followed closely behind by Durham, where victims were left waiting nearly 26 hours for an officer to arrive. Meanwhile, average response times in Bedfordshire were nearly 15 minutes, while Cumbria response times sat at just a little over one hour. 

It comes just months after the latest Home Office statistics revealed that 3 in 4 burglaries went unsolved in the year ending September 2023.

The Liberal Democrats have slammed the Conservative Government for these figures, arguing that years of ineffective resourcing have left local police forces overstretched, under-resourced and unable to effectively respond to local crime. This includes taking more than 4,500 community officers (PCSOs) off the streets since 2015. 

The party is calling for a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible and trusted, with the time and resources to focus on tackling neighbourhood crime like burglaries.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: 

“When someone has been the victim of a burglary, they deserve a swift response from the police. Yet thanks to the Conservatives, this is increasingly out of reach. 

“Years of ineffective resourcing of local police forces by Conservative ministers mean that all too often, the basics of stopping and solving crime are missed.

“The fact that traumatised burglary victims are being left waiting for hours, wondering if the police will even arrive, is unacceptable. To think that crucial evidence may be lost in the process too is unforgivable. 

“The British public deserves so much better than this. It’s time to finally restore proper community policing, so people can be confident that if they do fall victim to crime, the police will turn up and investigate properly.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

This data was uncovered by a FOI to all 39 police forces in England. Their responses, which can be accessed here, provided the following data: 

• The average time (in hours:minutes:second) it takes for police to arrive on the scene of domestic burglary incidents in your force for the following financial years: 2022/23, 2021/22 and 2020/21. 

Some forces further disaggregated their data depending on the priority ranking of burglary. In these cases, we found an average between all the categories provided.  

Data on PCSO workforce available at: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2023: data tables’, Table 3. 

Data on burglary outcomes, broken down by police force, is available here. Source: Home Office, Crime Outcomes in England and Wales, year to September 2023. 

A ‘priority’ response is defined by the College of Policing as incidents in which “there is a degree of importance or urgency associated with the initial police action, but an emergency response is not required. These typically arise in the circumstances where… A witness or other evidence is likely to be lost… [or] Local force policy mandates a priority response at, for example, a report of domestic burglary, sudden death, or missing person.”