§ 18.Miss KirkbrideTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the crime detection rate. [29866]
§ Mr. DenhamIn the year ending March 2001, just under 1.25 million recorded crimes were detected. This amounted to 24 per cent. of all recorded crime in England and Wales in 2000–01.
This figure is much higher for some crimes than for others—for example, 62 per cent. of all crimes of violence against the person were detected. Of that figure, 90 per cent. of homicides and 81 per cent. of attempted murders were detected.
660WThere are also striking variations in performance at both force and basic command unit (BCU) level. For example, in 2000–01, the detection rate for burglary across thirty comparable urban BCUs varied from 27.7 per cent. to just 5.5 per cent.
There cannot be any justification for such variable performance in similar parts of the country. That is why the work of the Standards Unit will be so important: it is the means by which we will identify and spread good practice, driving the performance of all forces up to that of the best.