The UK’s car crime epidemic has essentially been decriminalised, as police fail to solve nearly 80% of the thousands of offences occurring daily, leaving frustrated motorists to fend for themselves.
New data from the Home Office reveals that, on average, 78.5% of car thefts go unsolved, with police taking over 24 hours to respond to calls from victims.
The most recent quarterly statistics show that 24,837 car crimes remained unsolved in the three months leading up to June 2024 across England and Wales.
Even more concerning, only 2.8% of thefts about 900 cases resulted in charges or summonses throughout the entire region.
The Metropolitan Police in London reported the highest figures, with an astonishing 90% of car thefts going unsolved. South Yorkshire followed closely behind, with 85% of thefts remaining unresolved.
Additionally, car crime hotspots such as Essex, Wiltshire, Sussex, and Hertfordshire saw at least 80% of car thefts go unsolved in the quarter ending June 2024.
In contrast, Dyfed-Powys in Wales showed the best performance, with only 38% of thefts unsolved, while Norfolk had 39%.
The data, gathered by the Liberal Democrats, also revealed that police responses were delayed, with wait times for victims stretching up to 24 hours. Car thefts have been deprioritised in favor of “higher harm” crimes.
Freedom of Information requests showed that in Durham, victims had to wait an average of 23 hours and 54 minutes for an officer to arrive in 2023, while Cleveland’s average wait time was nearly 13 hours.
On the other hand, Avon and Somerset had the quickest response times, with an average wait of seven minutes and 38 seconds, followed by 15 minutes and 25 seconds in Humberside, 17 minutes and 23 seconds in South Yorkshire, and 21 minutes and 3 seconds in Warwickshire.
These new figures add to the findings from last year, when the Liberal Democrats reported that over 70% of car theft cases were not attended by police.
The Liberal Democrats have harshly criticised the former Conservative government for these statistics, claiming that years of inadequate funding have led to a depletion of frontline police officers and have shattered the Tories’ image as the party of law and order.
This includes the decision to remove over 4,500 Police Community Support Officers from the streets since 2015.
The party is now calling on the new Labour government to urgently restore effective community policing, ensuring officers have the time and resources to respond to local crimes such as car theft.
Lisa Smart MP, the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson, said: “Tens of thousands of victims across England and Wales are being left without the justice they deserve, with a staggeringly high number of car thefts going unsolved, and thieves getting away scot-free.”
“This cannot continue. Every victim of a crime deserves to feel safe and protected by the police, but unfortunately after brutal cuts to community police officers, that is far from the truth.
We urge the new government to change the course by getting tough on crime, investing properly in local neighbourhood policing and keeping communities safe.”
Meanwhile, the UK’s car crime crisis has been worsened by the increasing use of car hacking technology purchased online by organised crime gangs. This technology has contributed to a nearly 20% rise in vehicle thefts.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) reports that criminals are increasingly using devices that allow them to hack into and steal high-end cars without needing the keys.
These so-called “electronic compromise” thefts also bypass keyless fobs, which have been targeted by thieves in recent years.
There is also a growing trend of thieves towing cars away from driveways or from the side of the road in broad daylight.
Car security firms have reported a concerning rise in incidents where criminals, often dressed in high-visibility clothing to appear legitimate, use tow trucks to steal vehicles.