Burglary victims forced to wait up to 28 HOURS for police to arrive at scene of ... trends now
Burglary victims are being forced to wait up to 28 hours for police to arrive at the scene of a break-in, as average response times surge by 25 per cent in a year.
Waiting times for a police officer have almost doubled in two years with one particular region seeing a 443 per cent increase for response times, new figures show.
Police guidance categorises burglaries as 'Grade 2 priority incidents', meaning most police forces should aim to respond within one hour. There is a 'degree of urgency' involved to ensure witnesses or other evidence is not lost.
But data obtained from most of England's police forces suggests victims were waiting on average, 9 hours and 8 minutes, for an officer to turn up at the scene in 2022 to 2023, an increase of 25 per cent on the year before and 87 per cent on 2020 to 2021.
The figures were obtained through a series of Freedom of Information requests and were compiled by the Liberal Democrats.
Ring doorbell footage capturing the moment two masked thieves dressed in all black break into a home in broad daylight
Scott Barham, 38, (right) was jailed for four years in January after admitting two counts of burglary, one attempted burglary and fraud
According to the data, the worst performing force was Northamptonshire, with an 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.
Figures from 26 of England's 39 police forces show that the average wait times are getting longer, with South Yorkshire experiencing the largest deterioration in wait times which increased by a shocking 443 per cent — up from 2 hours and 21 minutes in 2020 to 2021, to 12 hours and 47 minutes in 2022 to 2023.
In contrast, average response times in Bedfordshire were nearly 15 minutes, while Cumbria response times sat at just a little over one hour.
MP Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson, said the response times were 'unacceptable' and that timely responses to burglaries were 'increasingly out of reach'.
He added: 'The British public deserves so much better than this. It's time to finally restore proper community policing, so people can be confident that if they do fall victim to crime, the police will turn up and investigate properly.'
Ring door bell footage at a property on Cranmore Boulevard, Shirley, captured the moment brazen masked burglars broke into a home in broad daylight last month.
Two masked thieves dressed all in black approached the house, before retreating away moments later allegedly with expensive watches, four kilos of coins, a wallet and aftershave.
Footage shows two masked thieves dressed all in black approach the house in broad daylight, before retreating away moments later allegedly with expensive watches, four kilos of coins, a wallet and aftershave
Father Jo Darby said his son was only 'ten minutes away' when the burglars struck, and should've already been home but was running late.
Mr Darby said: 'They need to be stopped. They must smell nice because they took Jacobs and Jean Paul Gaultier.
