A NEW study shows that Dyfed- Powys Police is the most successful police force with regards to solving burglaries across Wales.
The study, conducted by Churchill Home Insurance, shows that police forces across England and Wales have solved just 12.2% of burglary crimes in the past year, but that there is a significant variation between forces.
While areas such as Witshire have only solved 8.3 in every 100 burglaries, more than three times that proportion (28.7%) of burglary crimes were solved in Dyfed-Powys Police authority, which is the highest solved rate across England and Wales. However, although this sounds like an achievement for Dyfed-Powys Police has the lowest incidence of burglaries, with 2.5 in every 1,000 people falling victim to burglary every year.
This is a stark contrast to other authorities, such as Humberside and West Yorkshire Police, where 10.8 in every 1000 fall victim to this type of crime. For England and Wales as a whole, 7.2 people in every 1000 of the population fall victim to burglary.
Matin Scott, Head of Churchill Home Insurance, said: “It’s important that householders are aware of the potential threats to their home, which vary significantly depending on where you live.
“There also appears to be quite a contrast between the highest and lowest authorities in terms of police officer cover, with some areas having more than double the number of fulltime officers per head of the population than others.
“Victims of burglary don’t just suffer from financial loss but also emotional trauma, with many subsequently feeling insecure in their own home. While some items like electrical goods are easily replaced, others with sentimental value are often lost forever once stolen. “Whilst there are clearly big differences between burglary rates by area, the precautions householders should take remain the same. All households should have a comprehensive buildings and contents insurance policy in place in case the worse happens and burglaries do occur.”
For the year ending March 2014, the proportion of adults who said they felt the police did a good or excellent job was 63% – a figure that has increased consecutively over the past nine years.
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