Police chiefs at Hampshire Constabulary have responded to calls from the Home Secretary to put crime such as burglary ahead of woke agendas by revealing that officers will now attend every single reported residential burglary across the region.
In the past, officers have physically been deployed when a crime was in progress. However, if the burglary had already occurred then devastated homeowners were simply given a crime reference number for insurance purposes.
Now, following a review of burglary deployment and recognising the Police and Crime Commissioner’s commitment to ensure crimes that really matter are given the priority they need, it has been confirmed that officers will attend every report of a residential burglary that the Force receives.
It comes after Home Secterary Suella Braverman KC wrote to Police forces up and down the country last week to say that the public want to know that an officer will visit them after a crime such as burglary and that there must be change when it comes to the perception that Police have spent too much time on symbolic gestures, than actually fighting criminals.
The Home Secretary has said that initiatives on diversity and inclusion should not take precedence over common sense policing.
Acting Chief Constable Ben Snuggs has toda (Monday) said:
“We know that residential burglary has a huge impact on those affected. That is why we are making a commitment to our communities that we will attend every report of a residential dwelling burglary that we receive. Over the past few years we have seen a significant decrease in the number of residential burglary offences being committed across Hampshire and Isle of Wight. That means far fewer victims having to pick up the pieces after their home has been broken into.
“At the same time however, we have also seen a reduction in the number of offences which have resulted in charges being brought. This is a priority area for the force to address. Over the course of this year we have delivered a range of initiatives across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to increase the number of offenders who are identified and brought to justice. This is being coordinated by a central burglary improvement group – ensuring all the right specialists are involved to turn things around. We are determined that every residential burglary should be responded to effectively and every opportunity used to identify who is responsible.
Article continues below this advertisement “We clearly use our resources based on the demand we experience day by day, which is why previously we may not have always deployed one of our team where, for example, a victim did not identify any forensic or evidential opportunities during their initial contact. Regardless of whether we attended, the Neighbourhood Policing Team would still review all reports to ensure that patterns could be identified and relevant crime prevention advice could be given.
“However, we know that our initial attendance to burglary victims will improve our outcome rates through identifying early forensic and investigative lines of enquiry which members of the public may not have previously noticed. Our attendance will also help to improve public confidence and help victims to feel safer in their homes, which is a cornerstone of victim-focused policing. Our commitment to attend every residential burglary report will ensure that we take full advantage of the increased use of technology, both within policing and in our communities, such as good quality video doorbell footage, to identify and prosecute those responsible.
“It’s important to remember that Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are safe places to live and work in, with an average of only eight burglaries reported to us a day. We recognise that while the number of these offences may be small, they can in some cases be linked to other forms of criminality, such as drug supply or organised crime. By attending all residential dwelling burglary reports, I want to send a very clear message that we will not tolerate these crimes. We want to give ourselves the very best opportunity to disrupt and deter crime, and catch those criminals who are responsible.
“We will continue to work closely with our communities to identify opportunities to prevent burglary and further reduce the number of victims being affected.”
Donna Jones, Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said:
“I’m pleased that the Chief agrees with me that every domestic burglary must be responded to and investigated, this is what the public rightly expect and deserve.
“Domestic burglaries are an abhorrent crime and victims deserve an initial response and thorough follow up.
“The latest HMICFRS report on Finding Time for Crime gave recommendations to forces to improve their burglary investigations and ensure they are supporting and updating victims – firstly, this is key to building trust with the public. Secondly, my Police and Crime Plan, ‘More Police, Safer Streets’ outlines my expectations from the force in terms of tackling crimes like domestic burglary, specifically targeting repeat offenders and reducing burglary with better intelligence sources.
“So often we hear about crimes that have been reported but haven’t received the police response we expect, but I know police officers want to investigate these crimes, and I know they want to get justice for victims.
“Every deployment is an opportunity to identify offenders and increase charge rates.
“Delivering straightforward policing and visibility in response to crimes that matter the most to people is right and proper and I expect this re-focus on deployment and investigation to have a positive effect on communities in both counties.”
good – less time spent at events painting kids faces with rainbows and more time actually on the beat catching the criminals -which is what the taxpayers want
The police are getting like the council and the government, full of lies and corruption
Pretty unbelievable that they weren’t attending and investigating every burglary before is having your house burgled not that serious?. They’ve always got time to turn up and arrest people for offensive tweets or Facebook posts.
Finding time for crime .. are these people serious, the public have been pushing for a change in the Police approach to burglary.. and nothing from PCC or Police,,, then the Home Secretary says the same and they cannot jump high enough … PCC & Police equal joke …apparently burglary figures are going down, but if you dont investigate.. then there was no crime .. Doh !
Quite right.
it’s what we pay for.
Believe it when I see it
Sounds impressive, but the devil is in the detail.
Let’s hope it is not just a case of arriving, offering ‘victim support’ and leaving after filling in a tick sheet, and doing little else.
Let’s see if it makes a difference before we applaud or as I fear, nothing much changes except the elderly feel a little more secure.
It’s not just the elderly
So are we now supposed to be grateful for them doing the job we pay them for.
As a former Police Officer until the late 90’s. We attended every burglary and more often than not SOCO would attend to at least do the basics. I’ve seen the devastation people go through when some idiot breaks into their home and steals what they have and what they’ve normally worked hard for. If they don’t attend and collect evidence how can they ever hope to catch the scrotes who do this? The traumatic after effects last for years for victims. What has happened to policing? It’s not the individual officers fault, it’s upper management.
police today seem more interested in prancing around with rainbows painted on their faces, rather than chasing down the low lives that they are paid to nick.
Change in deployment is good, but a change in attitude is better. Actually believe the thieves can be caught.
So how long before this promise gets broken?
Hope they don’t take 10 days to rock up!!
the criminals had a 10 day advantage. Ridiculous.
The other main, yet not popular to discuss issue is, as our jails are now filled with the third world’s finest, as well as our own, then the Courts can never again give meaningful sentences to anyone doing crime, unless it is as bad or worse than of those at HMP
And that, trust me, takes some doing now.
They should also be dealing with vandalism and antisocial behaviour, things they are paid to deal with but don’t, i bet this wonderful bit of news will be followed by more empty promises in the run up to justify raising the police precept.
I very much doubt that this will change anything. Where are all the police officers going to come from all of a sudden? Good sound bite though.
Why aren’t they doing it already???
Because their leaders are driven by politics and you don’t climb the ranks if you don’t dance to the tune!