Sussex Police has solved only 5 per cent of burglaries in the past years but has hopes that figure will improve.
During a meeting with Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, Chief Constable Jo Shiner said no-one was happy with the figures and the force was ‘really working hard to improve and to increase’ them.
Mrs Bourne pointed out that when she became Commissioner 11 years ago, the solve rate for burglaries stood at around 17 per cent, which she considered low at the time.
She said:
“I just don’t understand why [the solve rate is lower] when forensics is so much better and investigations are so much better.”
When compared to similar forces, Chief Constable Shiner said the Sussex figures were ‘much of a muchness’, adding:
“But it’s not, for me, about comparing us with other forces. It’s about making sure that we can improve those outcomes for those people who actually live in Sussex.”
Looking at the solve rate in the various parts of the force for 2022/23, Brighton stood at 7.24 per cent, with West Sussex at 3.95 per cent and East Sussex somewhere in the middle.
New measures to solve burglaries have been trialled in Brighton for the past couple of months, with the results sparking confidence among officers.
These included a change in the way work was allocated between CID and the various response teams.
Deputy Chief Constable Dave McLaren said:
“Rather than all crime types going into one big pot, it’s about us prioritising crime types and making sure [we have] the right resource, right skills, right people to investigate.”
DCC McLaren said the measures would be rolled out in East and West Sussex over the next couple of weeks.
Predicting an improvement given how well things have gone in Brighton, he added:
“I do think that new model will really simplify our investigative processes, making sure we have the right resource to investigate crime as it comes in.”
Other changes have included reviews of intelligence meetings and working with the student officer training team to make sure the quality of training around burglary is ‘very good’.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate recently held up as national good practice the way Sussex Police sends out a YouTube link to victims of crime telling them what to do and what happens next while their case is investigated.
Looking at the new measures put in place by the force to tackle burglary, DCC McLaren said:
“It’s still a work in progress. We are improving it as the weeks go by and I would anticipate that some of that ‘from cradle to grave’ stuff will come to fruition mid next month.”
Mrs Bourne said:
“Some would say that when you’re at the bottom there’s only one way to go – but it’s good to hear that you’ve got plans in place.”
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