Policing hits new low as just 6% of offenders are brought to justice

While Met finds time for £1m Downing Street Partygate probe...

CRIME soared last year as the number of offenders brought to justice slumped to a record low of one in 16, shock figures revealed yesterday.

The proportion of crimes which led to police bringing a charge or summons plunged to 6 per cent in the year to September.

Office for National Statistics figures showed that in the previous year it was 7.3 per cent while in 2015 it topped 15 per cent – indicating a troubling collapse.

Figures for police recorded crime showed the total was up 2 per cent at 5.8million offences. Of those, only 274,000 led to a suspect being taken to court, excluding fraud cases.

However, separate estimates by the Crime Survey of England and Wales showed the total number of offences rocketed 14 per cent to 12.9million. The figures come amid mounting public anger that the Metropolitan Police is likely to spend more than £1million – and a huge number of officer hours – on the Partygate investigation into alleged Covid breaches at gatherings in Down ing Street. Yesterday’s ONS figures also showed a greater proportion of offenders were dealt with by a ‘slap on the wrist’ by police. Use of informal punishments – known as ‘community resolutions’ – such as being required to apologise to a victim increased by 2.5 per cent year-on-year to more than 111,000.

Additionally, the proportion dealt with by out-of-court settlements – such as a caution or on-the-spot fine – rose 1.2 per cent to 57,000.

The ONS said recorded violent crime was up eight per cent yearon-year to 1.9million offences, driven by a surge in reports of stalking and harassment which come under the definition. Overall crime rates are being pushed up by a massive surge in fraud and ‘computer misuse’ such as hacking, phishing attacks and other online cons.

Recorded crime figures are offences which are actually reported to police while the crime survey interviews members of the public about their experiences and then gives estimates for England and Wales as a whole. The survey estimated fraud was up 36 per cent year-on-year to 5.1million offences while computer misuse soared 89 per cent to 1.9million.

ONS figures show the number of killings in the 12-month period was roughly in line with the previous year at 666. Meanwhile, overall theft offences were down 14 per cent including a 21 per cent drop in burglary to under 259,000 offences.

More than a quarter of all potential prosecutions collapse because victims withdraw support from the process. Experts have said the massive number of victims who do not support police and prosecutors – 1.17million in the year to September – demonstrates declining faith in the justice system. In addition, police failed to identify a suspect in more than 35 per cent of the cases reported to them – over 1.6million.

Last night David Spencer, of the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: ‘The revelation that police are bringing charges in just 6 per cent of crimes reported is a staggering indictment of the criminal justice system in this country.

‘Crime is on the rise, charging is in decline and yet the Government continues to tell us that they are tough on crime. This data clearly shows that is not the case.’

He insisted it was time for Home Secretary Priti Patel ‘to stop talking and take action to ensure that more crimes are investigated and solved, and punishments are handed down that deter future offenders’. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘Far too many criminals aren’t being caught or charged as the overall charge rate has shamefully fallen to its lowest level on record.

‘Under the Conservatives more and more criminals are getting away with their crimes and it is victims who are paying the price. Communities deserve better.’

However, the Government insisted crime has ‘fallen by 17 per cent’ once fraud and computer-related offences are excluded from the total.

Miss Patel said: ‘This Government continues to cut crime through our Beating Crime Plan, which brings together record resources to drive police recruitment and target the very crimes that blight too many of our communities. Our approach is working. Crime – including theft, burglary and knife crime – is down.’

‘Staggering indictment’