Almost four in five burglaries reported to Wiltshire Police last year resulted in no suspect being identified, data reveals.
More than 78% of burglary investigations in the county were closed without a suspect being identified by detectives.
Additionally, the force were “unable” to prosecute a suspect in a further 11% of reports – meaning an alleged burglar was either let off or not found in just short of 90% of cases.
Data from police.uk, which compiles the outcome of every report made to police forces, shows that just 69 of the 1,608 burglary reports (4.3%) in 2021 ended up in court. They are marked as awaiting court outcome or court result unavailable.
Wiltshire Police said solving burglaries is a “significant challenge for all police forces” but said that it is “working incredibly hard”.
Less than 1 in 20 reports end up in court
The data, involving all burglary reports made to Wiltshire Police between January and December 2021, shows that investigations ended in court proceedings on just 69 occasions (4.3%).
Meanwhile, an investigation closed without a suspect being identified on 1,264 occasions – the vast majority of the time.
A status update was unavailable for 66 of the burglary reports, whilst 17 remained under investigation when the data was last updated.
Nine reports (0.6%) were resolved by way of “local resolution”, with police deeming it not in the public interest to investigate one report.
The data also shows that burglars seemingly got away with it 100% of the time in certain areas of the county.
In Swindon, no report from Penhill, Moredon or Liden ended up in court, the data shows, whilst elsewhere, no burglary suspects were charged in Royal Wootton Bassett, Wroughton, Calne, Pewsey, Corsham and Bradford-on-Avon.
The same can be said about Tidworth, Ludgershall and Collingbourne Ducis.
There was one court appearance from burglars accused of offences in Marlborough, Devizes and Amesbury, whilst there were two in Melksham.
Nine reported burglaries resulted in a charge in Salisbury.
‘Nothing is more important than the right to feel safe’
In Penhill and Upper Stratton, just two of the 31 reported burglaries resulted in a court appearance.
Cllr Dan Smith, who represents the ward, said the disparity was “quite concerning”.
“Our residents are the ones who suffer the most; the long-lasting impact is far greater than just the possessions taken.
Cllr Dan Smith, who represents Penhill and Upper Stratton on Swindon Borough Council.
“Nothing is more important than the right to feel safe, especially in your own home.”
Asked what he’d like to see changed to increase the charge rate, Cllr Smith said: “More convictions. Moving forwards it needs to be better co-operation between the police and CPS when dealing with burglary cases.”
‘We know the public want to see improvements’
Responding, Wiltshire Police’s Superintendent Chris Hanson said: “Here in Wiltshire we have seen a large decrease in the number of burglaries reported since 2018.
“We know that the lockdowns during the Covid pandemic had a huge impact on this, and we believe that the fact that more people are working from home and more people are investing in additional security measures, such as video doorbells, will have contributed to that.
“Between May 2021 and April 2022, we had 2.3 burglaries per every 1,000 residents reported in Wiltshire, which is below the average for similar size Force areas. However, we completely understand the very real impact that burglary has on people, and any burglary is one too many.
“With regards to solving burglaries, identifying offenders and ensuring they face justice, this is a significant challenge for all police forces, due to the nature of the crime, the usual lack of evidential lines of enquiry and the fact that we are often dealing with repeat offenders who are committing more than just one crime.
“However, this is something we have been working incredibly hard on and will continue to make every effort to improve. We know that this is an area that the public want to see improvements, and we want people to be reassured that it is something we take very seriously.
“Finally, we would always urge people to make sure they are reporting crime to us.”
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