76% of burglary cases go unsolved in Leeds as Lib Dems call for police response guarantee

Leeds Liberal Democrats will today (28th May) announce their plans for a Burglary Response Guarantee as new data uncovered by the party reveals the shocking scale of unsolved burglaries in local areas across England and Wales.

The figures were compiled from a series of Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrats, which have broken down unsolved burglaries data by local area. 

The number of burglaries that went unsolved in Leeds in 2023 was 73%. 

Of the 6,430 cases, 4,916 had their investigation completed with no suspect identified. 

Nationally, official government figures show that nearly 76% of burglaries went unsolved in 2023. 

It comes as Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has announced his plans to include a Burglary Response Guarantee in his party’s manifesto. The party’s proposals would ensure that all domestic burglaries are attended by the police and properly investigated. 

Commenting, George Sykes, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Leeds South said:

“Too many families in Leeds now feel unsafe in their own homes because this Conservative Government has decimated frontline policing for too long.

“Victims are being denied justice because Conservative ministers can’t even get the basics right on solving crime. That is why the Liberal Democrats would deliver a Burglary Response Guarantee, to ensure all home burglaries are attended by the police and properly investigated.

“People are sick of seeing their local communities plagued by crime and just want this appalling Conservative government to be kicked out of office.”

Additional info and sources:

The data was uncovered in an FOI request to all police forces in England and Wales. 

33 of 43 police forces across England and Wales provided full responses with data provided for 329 local areas.

Their responses, which can be accessed here, provided the following data:

• How many burglary cases were recorded, broken down by Local Policing Area, in the following calendar years: 2023, 2022 and 2021.
• How many of those cases were closed without a suspect being identified, also broken down by Local Policing Area,  in the following calendar years: 2023, 2022 and 2021. 

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a new statutory guarantee that all domestic burglaries must be attended by the police and properly investigated.

To implement this guarantee, we are calling on the Government to: 

• Return to proper community policing, where officers have the time and resources they need to focus on preventing and solving crime;
• Urgently draw up a strategy to tackle the shortage of detectives; and
• Set up a new national Online Crime Agency, to better protect people from online crime while freeing up local forces’ time to tackle burglars. 

Then Home Secretary Suella Braverman confirmed that police chiefs were “fulfill[ing]” their pledge to attend every home burglary in June 2023. More details can be found here. However, a previous Liberal Democrat FOI revealed that 20% of domestic burglaries still went unattended in 2023.

An HMICFRS report from last year said that most burglary victims “aren’t getting the justice they deserve”.