Police 'on the verge' of decriminalising major crimes

Offences like criminal damage or vehicle crime are so badly investigated they are "on the verge of being decriminalised" in some parts of the UK, a police watchdog has warned.

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Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) released a scathing report into the "mindset" of some forces, which the watchdog said lead to victims being asked to investigate the crimes they had reported.

Victims of high-volume offences like vehicle crime and "burglaries of properties other than dwellings" were asked questions by call-handlers to assess the likelihood of the crime being solved, inspectors found.

Some forces had asked victims to check if there was CCTV or fingerprint evidence available, and interview their own neighbours.

Inspector of Constabulary Roger Baker, who led the inspection, said: "Effectively what's happened is a number of crimes are on the verge of being decriminalised. So it's not the fault of the individual staff, it's a mindset thing that's crept in to policing to say 'we've almost given up'."

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