Gloucestershire Consstabulary must improve their response to burglary.
Average burglary response times in Gloucestershire have increased by a shocking 91% in just one year. ‘This has to improve’, says Martin Surl the Liberal Democrats candidate for Police & Crime Commissioner in Gloucestershire.
Burglaries are often considered as Grade 2 priority incidents, which most police forces aim to respond to within one hour. The College of Policing defines these as “incidents where a witness or other evidence is likely to be lost”, and “a degree of urgency is still associated with immediate police action.”
Burglary response time have doubled in just one year.
When compared to figures from 2020/21, the deterioration in wait times was even more stark with Gloucestershire seeing their burglary response times more than double.
Gloucestershire must do better
The figures also revealed a disturbing postcode lottery, with response times varying significantly depending on the police force. The worst performing force was Northamptonshire, with a staggering average response time of 28 hours and 2 minutes for burglary calls. They were followed closely behind by Durham, where victims were left waiting nearly 26 hours for an officer to arrive. Meanwhile, average response times in Bedfordshire were nearly 15 minutes, while Cumbria response times sat at just a little over one hour.
Lets not just blame the Police, the Tory PCC didnt deliver either.
Ineffective resourcing have left local police forces overstretched, under-resourced and unable to effectively respond to local crime. In Gloucestershire the tory PCC failed to deliver even one of the extra 150 police officers he promised in his last election manifesto.
The public deserve better.
“When someone has been the victim of a burglary, they deserve a swift response from the police. Yet thanks to the massive cuts by the Conservatives , this is increasingly out of reach.
“Years of ineffective resourcing of local police forces by Conservative ministers mean that all too often, the basics of stopping and solving crime are missed.
“The fact that traumatised burglary victims are being left waiting for hours, wondering if the police will even arrive, is unacceptable. To think that crucial evidence may be lost in the process too is unforgivable.
It’s time to return to a time where in Gloucestershire ‘every crime matters and every victim counts’ , so people can be confident that if they do fall victim to crime, the police will turn up and investigate properly.”