Home burglaries in Wiltshire down 34% since before the pandemic
Police is promising to attend every single home burglary
Wiltshire Police say it's meeting its pledge to make personal visits to all victims of domestic burglary, as it releases latest crime numbers.
Between March and May this year, a total of 288 burglaries were reported across Wiltshire. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, the number is down by around 34%, according to police figures.
Last year, following a review by the College of Policing, the National Police Chiefs' Council requested all forces attend all home burglaries.
A spokesperson from Wiltshire Police said "in addition to this, during April, we attended all reports of burglaries in progress and all non-dwelling burglaries (i.e. at business premises)".
Chief Constable Catherine Roper made burglary one of her key areas for operational delivery when she joined the Force earlier this year.
Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Dave Minty said:
“Victims of burglary will often suffer with long-lasting impacts - knowing that someone has violated your home can often affect victims far beyond any financial damage caused.
“We know that ensuring our officers attend burglaries at the earliest opportunity will not only provide reassurance, but also increase the chance of preserving potential evidence which could support a prosecution. Evidence also suggest this early attendance can deter future crimes in the area."
Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Dave Minty says the force has improved detection rates since attending all burglaries, but admits work is still needed to improve them.
"We've seen over recent months our detection rate is starting to go up, so where we're actually managing to get the offender. It's still low, we know we've got work to do on that, but we are starting to see it going in the right direction.
“There are occasions when our attendance at domestic burglaries might not be recorded as 100% but this is due to factors such as duplicate crime logs being created, the incident later being assessed as another crime type or where the victim has asked us not to attend.
“We are confident that our actual attendance rate is 100% for home burglaries and we will consistently strive for this to continue.”