South Yorkshire tops crime clear-up rates

Police are boosting their detection rates by getting offenders to confess to other crimes, according to new figures just released.

Figures disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act showed that offenders asked for a total of almost 69,000 crimes to be “taken into consideration” in England, Wales and Northern Ireland last year.

The defendant gains credit in court for putting his hands up to other crimes in this way, and the offences can then be wiped off the slate, so he cannot be prosecuted for them at a later date.

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But the practice also allows police to record the crimes as solved, improving the clear-up rates on which their performance is measured.

The figures obtained by BBC Radio 4’s Law in Action exclude Greater Manchester Police and British Transport Police, as no details were provided. The TIC system does not operate in Scotland.

A total of 68,976 crimes were recorded as “taken into consideration” last year - almost 6% of all crimes cleared up by police.

TICs accounted for 35% of all detected burglaries and 25% of detected car crimes. One suspect arrested in London by the Metropolitan Police asked for 404 crimes - mostly burglaries - to be taken into consideration.

Highest TIC rate was in South Yorkshire, where 19% of detected crimes were solved this way, while the lowest levels were in Gwent and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (0.5%).