According to figures obtained by the Daily Mirror – who don’t appear to have a grasp of English grammar if their headline is anything to go by: Police may not have been fully investigated up to 1.7 million crimes – the police fail to investigate, er, 1.7 million crimes a year.
18 of the UK forces have a system of ‘screening out’ crimes where there is little chance of a detection & a further 15 forces mark up certain crimes as being suitable for ‘no further action’. Basically, this means that once a crime is reported – often over the phone – if there are no apparent lines of enquiry, the crime is recorded & then nothing further is done with it unless someone miraculously confesses it at some unspecified time in the future. This leaves officers free to investigate crimes which do have a line of enquiry to follow. (in theory)
How does this balance with what the public want, I wonder, is it just common sense?