Police are not investigating 850,000 crimes each year, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. 

The Sunday Times report: 

POLICE are failing to investigate about 850,000 crimes a year properly — including sexual assaults, burglaries, thefts and vandalism — because officers believe they are unlikely to be solved.

New figures reveal up to 90% of some types of offences are being “screened out” as unsuitable for detailed investigation in a move to save resources.

More than half the police forces in England and Wales who responded to freedom of information (FOI) requests said they operated a screening policy.

You can read the full story here.

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.