63% of burglaries in Surrey still going unattended

63% of burglaries still going unattended in Surrey  

63% of burglaries in Surrey went unattended by Surrey Police last year, despite a government promise to attend all of them, an investigation by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. 

Paul Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat challenger to Surrey's Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner in next week's elections on Thursday 2nd May, said it showed the Conservatives were making yet more “empty promises” on crime and letting burglars and other criminals off the hook. 

In total, a shocking 1,703 domestic burglaries in Surrey went unattended by a police officer in 2023.  That compares to just 1,016 burglaries in Surrey where a police officer did attend the scene.  

Staggeringly, the latest Home Office statistics show that three in four burglaries went unsolved in the year ending September 2023, or 213,814 burglaries over that period. 

The figures were revealed through a series of Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrats to all police forces in England, with 24 forces providing full responses. They show that 25,938 domestic burglaries went unattended by police across England and Wales in 2023 - accounting for 20% of all cases recorded. 

This is despite a claim from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) last June that all domestic burglaries were being attended by police. Former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman welcomed the claim at the time, saying she was delighted that the police had “fulfilled their commitment to attend all domestic burglaries.” 

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a legal Burglary Response Guarantee under which all domestic burglaries would be attended by the police and properly investigated. This would be accompanied by a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and focused on tackling neighbourhood crime like burglaries. 

Paul Kennedy, who is the main challenger to the Conservatives in next week's Police and Crime Commissioner elections, having come a strong 2nd last time with over 112,000 votes, said: 

 “This empty promise from the Conservatives is leaving our community to pay the price with scores of burglaries going unsolved. 
 
“Burglaries are an appalling crime to have to endure and it can leave people in Surrey feeling unsafe in their own homes. The ongoing failure by Surrey's Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner to ensure every burglary is attended and investigated is letting criminals off the hook while victims are abandoned and let down. 

“The Liberal Democrats would bring in a legal guarantee to ensure burglary victims are visited by a police officer and their cases properly investigated. It is the very least that the public expects and deserves.”