Police crime detection rates fall to new low

The police detection rate for all recorded crimes has fallen to an all time low of only 24%, according to Home Office figures published today.

While the annual police recorded crime figures show that the clear-up rate for burglary has fallen to the lowest ever level of only 12%, the statistics also show a worrying four point decline in detection rates for violent offences in the past year.

Overall, the crime figures show that the volume of recorded offences fell by 2.5% in the year to March 2001 to 5.2m offences, with the sharpest falls taking place in the burglary and car crime figures. These gains, however, were offset by a rise in violent crime for the third year in a row, but the rate of increase at 4.3% is slowing down when compared with the alarming 16% rise in the year 1999-00.

The Home Office said the fall in police detection rates from 34% in 1989 to only 24% in the last financial year was partly explained by the exclusion from the statistics of secondary clear-ups, such as criminals admitting to other offences during prison visits by the police.

Officials admitted there did appear to be an underlying decline in the clear-up rate, particularly of violent crime where it had fallen from 59% to 55% in the last year alone.

The home secretary, David Blunkett, said there had been gains in reducing burglaries (down 8%) and car crime (down 9%) but the continued increase in violent crime, particularly the 13% rise in robbery - mainly muggings rather than bank raids - in the past year caused concern.

"There are no quick wins on crime - it is a long term investment," he said. "We have had real success with burglary and car crime but this was hard earned. These are significant and continued falls and mean we are now on track to meet our demanding national targets for reduction of both burglary and vehicle crime.

"One area of concern is the continued increase in robbery, which rose by 13%. However, the rate of rise is slowing significantly and is now half of the 26% increase for the previous 12 months. Part of this is due to a rise in mobile phone theft, which in some urban areas accounts for up to 40% of all robberies."

The Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman, Simon Hughes, last night said the figures showing violent crime still rising, sharp regional variations and so few crimes being cleared up showed there was no room for complacency.

"It is appalling that three out of four crimes go undetected. There must be a step change improvement in clearing up crime. Nothing is more likely to foster insecurity and fear of crime than so few crimes resulting in someone being brought to account for their actions. Increasing the certainty that offenders will be caught is a much greater de terrent than simply increasing the severity of sentences."

The data breaks the crime figures down to basic command unit level in the police so that sharp variations in the performance of every police division can spotted.

The figures confirm that in terms of violent crime, particularly robbery, Lambeth in south London has the worst record in England and Wales with a 38% year on year increase in offences and a robbery rate of 17 per 1,000 population. It is followed by Hackney and Manchester, both with 11 per 1,000. The worst burglary hotspots are Nottingham with 53 per 1,000 households, Manchester (50 per 1,000), Middlesbrough (50 per 1,000), Hull (47 per 1,000) and Salford (44 per 1,000).

Backed by the findings of British Crime Survey, which measures people's experience of crime, the recorded figures suggest crime is going down in Britain fuelled by a booming economy, falling unemployment and increasingly successful crime reduction strategy.

The detailed recorded crime figures confirm the overall detection rate for all recorded crime has now fallen to 24%. The detection rate for violent crime, which is much higher than that for burglary and car crime, fell by four points in the last year alone, the culprit being found in just 55% of cases.

While the killer is still being caught in 90% of murder cases, the clear up rate for robbery has fallen to only 18%, just ahead of the 12% detection rate for burglaries.

The crime figures also show an 11% rise in the number of homicides, from 765 to 850, with most of the increase accounted for by the deaths of 58 Chinese migrants in a container lorry at Dover.

They also show a further sharp reduction in the number of people arrested for possession of drugs, mainly cannabis, which have fallen from 112,000 arrests in 1998-99 to 92,700 in 2000-01.

Home Office statisticians believe this is due to a decline in the use of stop and search rather than a change in national policy on charging minor drug offenders.