A police chief has sought to clarify how crimes will be investigated after comments were made by the Home Secretary.
Suella Braverman said forces across the country needed to ensure that every theft was investigated.
She said it was “unacceptable” that some crimes were being considered less important.
Staffordshire Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs said that the new guidance from the Home Secretary would put the focus on following “all reasonable lines of enquiry”.
She said:
“I want to explain to Staffordshire residents what this new guidance will mean, so that they can have more confidence in why we make decisions to investigate further, and when we make decisions not to.
“The public has a right to expect that, when a crime is committed, their police force will follow up on all reasonable lines of enquiry.
“The new guidance confirms what we in Staffordshire have always been committed to – that when a crime has happened we will consider all reasonable lines of enquiry and, where feasible, bring the offender to justice.”
Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs
The Assistant Chief Constable said examples of reasonable lines of enquiry would include checking CCV footage where clear timeframes and descriptions of suspects exist.
She added:
“But it wouldn’t mean wading through hours of footage with no clear knowledge of what we are looking for.
“It would mean following up if there’s blood left at a crime scene with an indication it is from an offender. But cigarette butts found near a crime scene are unlikely to be, as they could have been left by anyone at any time.
“The use of ‘find my phone’ and other tracking apps would be, but it wouldn’t mean officers trawling the internet looking for stolen items on the off-chance that they could be advertised for sale.”
Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs
“We know the public want offenders brought to justice”
The Assistant Chief Constable said that officers would continue to do what they can to make the county safer, adding that being clear about when things can and can’t be investigated “will be key to this”.
“In Staffordshire, we’ve been investing heavily in bringing our officers closer to our communities, having created ten local policing areas. We’re investing further in ensuring that they have good quality investigative training.
“Even though I believe our officers to already be applying this approach, I think this new guidance will help make it clearer to the public when we take investigations forward and when we don’t – and that can only be good for public confidence.
“We know the public want offenders brought to justice. Equally, we know they wouldn’t want us to commit hours of officer time when there’s no realistic likelihood of identifying an offender.”
Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs
