Not a single burglary was solved in nearly half of the country’s neighbourhoods over the past three years, figures reveal.
Cases were closed with no suspect charged in 14,505 of the 30,100 communities analysed – or 48.2%.
Lyndhurst and Minstead in Hampshire had the most unsolved burglaries at 84, followed by 83 in Balby Carr in Doncaster, South Yorks, and 82 in Greenwich, South East London.
There were 79 in Woodgate Valley, Birmingham, and 78 in the Kensington area of Liverpool.
Garage owner Rodney Broad, 64, told how he and son Liam, 32, were threatened by crowbar-wielding burglars they caught ransacking cigarette machines.
Mr Broad said: “I rang 999 but was told to ring 101 [as] they had left the premises. It took 40 minutes to get through on 101 and the police did not turn up for over an hour.”
South Yorkshire police have been contacted for a comment.
Former police and crime commissioner Dame Vera Baird said: “Every burglary that is not solved means it is going to happen again.”
Rick Muir of the Police Foundation told The Daily Telegraph, which carried out the analysis, that burglary is effectively decriminalised in some areas “because there is absolutely no consequence”.
Chief constables pledged last October that their officers would visit the scene of every burglary. Dept Chief Constable Alex Franklin-Smith, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for burglary, said: “All forces are now able to fulfil the commitment.”
