Shropshire Star

Star comment: Victims of burglaries let down

There is another way of looking at the statistic that fewer than one in 10 burglaries in the West Mercia Police area, which includes Shropshire, ends in a conviction.

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And that is that in more than nine out of 10 burglaries, the victim is let down by the police and the courts and does not enjoy the administration of justice which would give a measure of solace.

But wait, the police will protest, that figure is skewed by non-domestic properties, where a truly miserable 4.4 per cent of burglaries in West Mercia were solved, the worst result in England and Wales. For house burglaries, the detection rate is 17.5 per cent, which is slightly better than the national average.

It is true, of course, that to have your home invaded by an intruder is particularly traumatic. The sense of violation shatters lives and can destroy peace of mind to such an extent that some victims worry every time they go out. There again, we wonder how shopkeepers or those who run small businesses must feel at the implication that they are lesser victims, and that break-ins at their premises are not so important to the police.

They say crime does not pay, but career burglars in West Mercia are getting away with it. The odds are stacked in their favour and these figures prove it.

The police assurance that home burglaries are a major priority for the force is not all that comforting either, when a "major priority" results in a 17.5 per cent detection rate.

Why is neighbouring Dyfed-Powys doing so much better, with an all-burglaries detection rate of not short of 29 per cent?

Police today have a better range of weapons than ever before in tackling these crimes, ranging from DNA to security cameras and the old reliables like fingerprints.

Salopians are lucky in a sense. This is not a crime-ridden inner city, and West Mercia has a relatively low burglary rate.

West Mercia police and crime commissioner Bill Longmore says it has been his priority to place an emphasis on preventing crimes from happening in the first place.

The message to be taken from these figures is that you need to make your home your castle.

As for the police, they can surely do better.

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