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Have Property Offences become decriminalised?

A recent report has concluded that because the police are not treating crimes such as shoplifting and theft as a priority the offences have almost become decriminalised.

Whilst it is acknowledged that crime has fallen by a fifth in recent years a substantial amount of petty theft is going unreported, and the problem is not being addressed.

Victims of theft will normally report the incident to the police just to obtain a crime number for an insurance claim, the statistics show that a third of all burglaries and 90% of shoplifting cases go unreported.

Much of the reason why shoplifting goes unreported is because the shopkeepers feel the police are unable to undertake a successful prosecution.

Much of this comes down to resources, we have recently seen the introduction of new IT enabling motoring offenders to enter a plea on-line, it must not be so difficult to extend the use of IT for the police and victims of crime to cut down on paperwork, time and inconvenience, and so free up more time to focus on the organised gangs, repeat offenders that are behind much of this crime.

With the majority of crime in deprived areas, investment in social measures to reduce crime is essential.

For police to turn a blind eye to any crime cannot be acceptable under any circumstance.

Unfortunately with a 20% budget cut for the police on the horizon they will face a very difficult balancing act.

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