Dear Sir,

Figures released this week show that Staffordshire Police are failing to investigate 35% of reported crimes, or an astonishing 29,832 crimes in 2008/09. About one third of all crimes reported to local police were dismissed as unsolvable within hours in a process apparently known as "screening out". Staffordshire Police are among 18 forces in the UK that operate the "screening out" policy, of which they are the sixth most likely to decide not to investigate your call for help. The fugures suggest that nationally about 1.7 million crimes went univestigated during the financial year 2008-09.

These ignored crimes can include robberies, sex attacks and many local burglaries and thefts. Local people who expect the police to investigate are often given reference numbers for insurance purposes and then simply forgotten. It is unacceptable that victims of crimes are treated so poorly. This is what happens when ministers create a bureaucratic system that leaves police officers sitting in stations filling out forms and not investigating the day-to-day crimes that affects us all.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Jenrick

Conservative Parliamentary Candidate
for Newcastle-under-Lyme

Merrial Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Staffordshire, ST5 2AW