Humberside Police clarifies claims of crimes going unsolved
It's blaming a 'lack of evidence'
A lack of evidence allowing Humberside Police to identify suspects is partly to blame for almost one in three crimes going unsolved in a year, a senior officer has said.
Humberside Police Assistant Chief Constable Darren Wildbore said every crime reported the force was investigated but a lack of CCTV footage, witnesses, forensics and other evidence means cases are shelved.
But Hull City Council’s Communities Portfolio Holder Cllr Rob Pritchard said 32 per cent of cases being shelved showed criminals were getting away with crimes on an industrial scale.
It comes as annual crime figures for Humberside Police showed the force closed around 29,142 cases from April 2021 to last March without identifying a suspect.
The figure is almost one third of the 90,413 offences recorded across Humberside in that time.
Cllr Pritchard said the figures were awful and accused the Government of neglect over the issue.
The portfolio holder said: “The Liberal Democrats have long supported more work to help Humberside Police to prevent and solve crimes in Hull.
“The new administration are looking into ways to provide funding to support local police teams and tackle crime in communities.
“We are calling for a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and focused on cutting crime.
“We know our local police teams are working around the clock to prevent crime but the Government should give forces the resources they need to make sure that every crime is investigated.”
Assistant Chief Constable Wildbore said officers had tried to investigate crimes in shelved cases but were unable to proceed because they lacked vital evidence.
The officer said: “We always do our utmost to identify those responsible for committing crime and to bring them before the courts, so we can achieve justice for victims and their families.
“The crimes we investigate are varied and there will always be some that are more challenging to identify a suspect, or to collate evidence and build a strong case against an offender.
“Regrettably there aren’t always options available to us and despite further, additional enquiries that we will always carry out, the crime has to be filed, which we fully understand is not the outcome those affected want, or indeed the result we want.
“However, we are never complacent and over the last five years we have made a number of significant changes across the force to look at different ways to tackle and reduce crime.
“Through recruitment, the number of our officers has grown significantly from 1,550 to 2,300 and we currently hold the highest positive outcome rate for victims and arrest rate per officer across the UK.
“Proactive operations are taking place continuously to detain those involved in criminality and to reduce crime across our local areas.
“Our Neighbourhood Policing Teams are also in the heart of our communities, adopting a problem solving approach to issues and concerns and visibly engaging with the public, whilst also working with other agencies to ensure a well-rounded response and solution is provided.
“We will always look at new and innovative ways to provide an excellent policing service to our communities across the Humberside Force area, and I want to reiterate that we will always investigate any crime reported to us and constantly strive to achieve the best possible result for victims and their families.”
The Home Office tweeted 13,790 new police officers had been recruited following a pledge from Prime Minister Boris Johnson to boost numbers by 20,000 when he took office in 2019.