By Carole Dennett
A major investigation has revealed that the proportion of unsolved burglaries on the Isle of Wight is twice the national average.
Over three years, 90.8 per cent of burglaries on the Island remained unsolved (711 out of 783), against a national average of 46 per cent.
Other unsolved crimes at a high rate on the Island include bicycle theft (91.5 per cent), robbery (71.1 per cent) and personal theft, such as pickpocketing (91.2 per cent). The figures were reported this week by the Daily Telegraph.
Chief Inspector Alex Charge said: “Historically Hampshire Constabulary has been a high performing force when tackling burglary offences. We acknowledge that our detection rate has reduced in recent years. We are working hard in a force-wide effort to improve the outcomes we deliver for victims of burglary offences.
“All reports made to the police are risk-assessed, with resources targeted to the highest harm offences. Our priorities for the Island focus on tackling drugs-supply and associated violence (including use of knives and weapons), and preventing, reducing and targeting perpetrators of domestic abuse.
“Over time processes have changed and we have been undertaking a review of the actions taken to increase the number of deployments to residential burglary reports. Rather than only deploying if a crime is in action, we will attend to maximise the forensic and investigative opportunities and provide support to the victim.
“We recognise the significant impact that someone breaking into your home can have and will support victims wherever possible, and provide relevant crime prevention advice to our communities to help prevent them from becoming a victim in the first place. We’re also working more closely with partners, such as Neighbourhood Watch, and utilising platforms like Isle of Wight Alert to make sure that we can reach the widest audience possible when warning and informing our communities.
“We encourage people to report all theft and burglary incidents to the police so we can establish the scale of the problem and areas affected, as this will help inform our patrol plans and will also present us the greatest opportunity to detect crime and catch perpetrators in instances where crime series and trends are identified”.
