Burglars breaking into residents’ homes are now getting away with more than 95 per cent of their crimes, figures covering Camden have shown.

Ham & High: Chief Supt Richard Tucker, acting Borough Commander of Camden, said the plummit in solved burglaries was down to a change in proceduresChief Supt Richard Tucker, acting Borough Commander of Camden, said the plummit in solved burglaries was down to a change in procedures (Image: Archant)

In a trend described by Camden’s Safer Neighbourhood Board (SNB) as “very worrying”, less than five per cent of residential burglaries reported to the police are now solved.

This compares to a Sanction Detection (SD) rate – indicating the percentage of crimes solved – of 23 per cent over the summer of 2013.

During a Camden SNB meeting last Thursday (May 21), board member Miles Seaman said: “There are some worrying trends here. The SD rate for burglary in a dwelling has been on a downward trend over a significant period.”

Camden’s borough commander, Chief Supt Richard Tucker, admitted he was not satisfied with current SD rates, but suggested procedural changes were to blame.

He said: “We now have very strict rules about giving people the opportunity to [wipe the slate clean] and admit other offences, to the point where we can’t do it and it has to come directly from them or their solicitors. Last year we had people admitting 20 or 30 offences. We now only charge them with one offence.”

He added: “We have a couple of areas where we’ve concentrated resources and have had some good successes. In the last eight weeks, we’ve seen about a 15 per cent reduction in burglary by concentrating on known offenders and forensic retrieval.”