Suella Braverman: Police should investigate every theft

Suella Braverman at the July Police Gallantry Award Reception

Police must investigate every theft, the home secretary said and warned . that ignoring shoplifting and theft of cars, bicycles or phones is «completely unacceptable.»

In an article exclusively for The Telegraph, Suella Braverman lays out new guidelines for all forces that force officers to prosecute every wrongdoing, if any» reasonable reason.» line of investigation.

Stating that no crime is too trivial to investigate, she calls on the forces to significantly improve their performance in the fight against theft, shoplifting and criminal damage.

Success levels for investigation The Telegraph investigation found that disclosure burglary and theft in many parts of the country fell so low that these crimes were effectively decriminalized.

Ms Braverman has now secured agreement with all 43 police forces in England and Wales to review any evidence where there is a reasonable chance of catching a perpetrator, be it CCTV footage, video doorbells, GPS trackers or eyewitness accounts.

< p> The police college should give the police a guideline that will set out the evidence and «reasonable» versions that detectives and police officers will have to follow. The police watchdog will evaluate the actions for compliance with the rules and will eventually authorize the use of force for «special measures» if they fail.

Criticism from Andy Cook, Chief Inspector of Police, suggests that officers abandoned many common crime investigations with «no suspect identified» despite having unresolved lines of inquiry.

In the year since March, law enforcement charged suspects with only 2 percent of thefts of vehicles and bicycles, 4 percent of thefts of cars and bicycles. burglaries, 4% of criminal cases of damage and 6.5% of robberies.

Charges for most crimes are down

Ms Braverman writes: “Victims of these horrendous crimes fail when the police are simply not interested in following a reasonable lead but simply handing out a crime identification number. This is completely unacceptable.

“Let's be clear: any crime matters. There is no such thing as a trivial crime. And the police should not tell criminals that they can actually break certain laws.”

Ms Braverman writes that she expects the police and criminal commissioners to call the forces to account under an agreement between police chiefs and the Home Office.

In June, The Telegraph reported that no car thefts , bicycle or personal property was not recorded. Over the past three years, the police have uncovered between half and two-thirds of the 30,100 districts in England and Wales. During the same period, no burglaries were solved in half of the quarters.

Corruption scandals

The demand for improved policing to restore public confidence followed a series of sex and corruption scandals. Ministers demand that police focus on the «basics» of solving crimes after an increase in the staff of 20,000 additional officers and a new agreement with the National Health Service to reduce calls to the police in case of mental health incidents.

Under the leadership of the police, the police demand that they focus on the «basics» of solving crimes. must investigate all crimes in which there are clearly recorded CCTV, doorbell or dash cam footage, eyewitness testimony, «strong forensic» evidence such as fingerprints or DNA from blood or hair, or where there is stolen property with «unique » characteristics, such as a bicycle or phone with serial numbers.

Standards should also be put in place requiring officers to be present at burglaries «as early as possible» to increase the chances of their being solved by collecting evidence and witnesses early.

Ms. Braverman is also empowering police to test arrested suspects for cannabis and the drug ketamine so they can be cured of addiction and kept out of crime. and she urged police to «take full advantage» of stop-and-search measures to combat «egregiously anti-social» drug use on the streets.