London, England – Nearly 4.8 million crimes in England and Wales went unsolved in a year, prompting questions about police performance. The Daily Mail reported that forces abandoned investigations into 2.3 million crimes without tracking down the culprit, equivalent to four every minute. An analysis by the Labour Party revealed that just under 1.6 million investigations were abandoned because the victim withdrew their support, indicating a lack of faith in the justice system.
The total of 4,772,503 unsolved crimes amounted to 87% of the crimes reported to police in England and Wales in the year to June. This surge in unsolved crimes occurred despite a record increase in the number of police officers over the last four years. The Government’s ‘police uplift’ program has seen the number of officers in England and Wales jump from 129,110 at the end of March 2020 to 147,430 in March this year. The Home Office spent £3.6 billion up to March on an election pledge to hire 20,000 officers, and expects to spend a further £18.5 billion on the wage bill over the next decade.
Labour’s Yvette Cooper blamed the surge in unsolved crimes on the government, criticizing the Conservatives’ record on law and order. However, police minister Chris Philp dismissed these claims, accusing the Labour Party of hypocrisy and stating that only the Conservatives are taking the long-term decisions needed to drive down crime and catch criminals.
In the year to June, 1.7 million violent crimes and 1.6 million thefts were among the 4,772,503 unsolved crimes reported. The number of crime victims who withdrew their support from police investigations was up more than 75,000 on the previous 12 months. Despite the increase in police funding and the rise in the number of police officers, the surge in unsolved crimes continues to be a pressing issue in England and Wales.