City MP Stephen Morgan has criticised the Tories “awful” record on law and order as analysis shows that 4.7 million crimes have not been solved – 87 per cent of those reported last year.
48 per cent of those cases remained unsolved because the police failed to find a suspect.
According to the latest crime figures, 4,772,503 crimes reported in the year ending June 2023 have gone unsolved.
Of those 1.7 million were violent crimes, 1.6 million were thefts and almost half a million were criminal damage and arson. More than half a million public order offences also went unpunished.
The 4,772,503 figure comes from adding together the number of crimes dropped because no suspect was found (2,306,623) to the number abandoned because the victim dropped out (1,593,413) and the number dropped because of lack of evidence (872,467).
Labour has slammed the Conservatives for “letting criminals off and letting victims down”, as figures show that near-record numbers of victims are dropping out of criminal proceedings (1.6 million last year), record numbers of crimes are being dropped due to no suspect being identified (2.3 million last year), and the overall proportion of crimes charged has dropped by 60% since 2015.
The party has vowed in government to reverse the collapse in the proportion of crimes solved with plans to put 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers and PCSOs back into the heart of communities, with the Portsmouth South representative encouraging local people to back this call to get bobbies back on the streets in our city by signing his petition at www.stephenmorgan.org.uk/give-us-our-bobbies-back/
Labour has also announced plans to tackle the estimated 7,000 gap in detectives by requiring police forces to fast-track recruitment of detectives. This would help with the huge shortage in experienced officers who can solve the most complex crimes.
Commenting on the news, Portsmouth MP Stephen Morgan said:
“Despite their rhetoric, the Tories have an absolutely awful record on law and order after 14 years in government.
“I am increasingly hearing from communities in Portsmouth concerned about the impact of government’s decision to hollow out neighbourhood policing causing so many crimes to go unsolved and unpunished.
“These latest statistics show how vital Labour’s plan is to put 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers and PCSOs back into the heart of communities to make local people feel safe again.”
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
“This is the Tories’ disgraceful record on law and order. Across the UK are millions of victims of crime who have been failed by a criminal justice system that has been destroyed by the Conservatives.
“The Home Secretary has no plan to turn this around and is instead obsessed with gimmicks rather than a serious plan to catch more criminals. In the meantime, criminals are being let off and victims are being let down.
“Labour has a fully-costed plan to put 13,000 extra neighbourhood police on our streets, fighting crime at its source and supporting communities.”
Labour in government will:
- Reverse the Tories’ decision to downgrade the response to shoplifting under £200, making it easier to take action against repeat offenders and ending the farce of offending impunity.
- Create a new specific offence of assault against retail workers.
- Boost town centre police patrols with named police officers to crack down on shoplifting and attacks on those working in retail as part of our Community Policing Guarantee.
- Put 13,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs on the beat in communities and our shopping districts to tackle the people spreading fear through our town centres.
