Nottinghamshire Police is one of the most proactive forces in the country when it comes to investigating burglaries, according to figures released by the NPCC.
Figures released by the National Police Chiefs’ Council show that officers and staff attended 99 per cent of residential break-ins last year – a figure comfortably above the national average.
The force has worked to attend all residential burglaries for several years – even before a national mandate was introduced in July 2023.
Such visits – as low as 66 per cent in some areas of the country – not only allow for the best possible recovery of evidence but also provide the most effective support for victims.
Over the last 12 months, Nottinghamshire Police was also among the top-performing forces in investigating cases, with 9 per cent of investigations resulting in a charge, caution, or other positive resolution.
Unsolved cases are very often linked to a named suspect but cannot proceed to charge due to the very high evidence threshold required.
As well as effectively investigating offences with dedicated CID teams focused solely on burglaries, the force has also been working to prevent them before they happen – for example, by installing target-hardening measures like doorbell cameras at the homes of vulnerable residents.
Detectives are also working more closely with other forces to crack down on cross-border offences and with vehicle manufacturers to improve their response to car-key break-ins.
Detective Chief Inspector Claire Gould, burglary lead at Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“Few other crimes have the same impact on victims’ wellbeing as a break-in at their own home.
“The knowledge that an intruder – in all likelihood, a total stranger – has violated their lives in this way is very difficult to deal with.
“That is why we take these offences so seriously and work to ensure that all victims are visited in person by an officer.
“As well as providing support to victims at very difficult times in their lives, these visits give us the best possible chance to collect evidence that will lead to a conviction.”
Burglary offences can range in nature from opportunist thieves stealing to fund an addiction to professional, forensically aware gangs who go to great lengths to cover their tracks.
Detective Chief Inspector Gould added:
“Burglaries can be very challenging offences to investigate, and it is sometimes difficult to reach the very high evidential threshold we need to secure a criminal charge.
“However, that doesn’t mean we don’t have a very good idea of who has committed a lot of the cases that remain unsolved – all of which can provide useful intelligence about individuals and methods of entry that will help us in future investigations.”
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