WE often have a dip into the crime stats to find out how many crimes have actually been solved in Harlow.

We would say that it up to Harlow residents to draw up conclusions.

But as council tax payers (and the police part of it seems to go up year on year) you may want to consider whether you think you are getting “value for money”?

A number of unsolved crimes stand out.

The figures you see below compare twelve months May 2021 to May 2022 with December 2020 to December 2021

121 rapes and not a single conviction. Back in December, the figure was 98 and not a single conviction.

395 burglaries and 33 solved. Back in December it was 352 and 17 solved.

348 Hate Crimes and 37 solved. In December it was 273 and 42 solved.

2175 incidents of domestic abuse and 274 solved. Back in December there were 1845 and 214 solved.

Reports of Violence: 5011 with 630 solved. Back in December there were 4360 with 588 solved

There may be a whole host of reasons why a crime isn’t solved.

Crimes could be going up because of

1. Better reporting mechanisms.
2. People feel more confident about reporting crime
3. Historic factors
4. The deficit of a crime has widened

Solve rates my be very low for a number of reasons:

1. Trying to get the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to charge can be a challenge.
2. There may be a world away from the resources the politicians the police say they have with the actual reality.
3. Crime fighting isn’t a priority and the police aren’t looking to recruit crime fighters
4. Even if you are a crime fighter you are spending a vast amount of time doing the work of other agencies.
5. Why take chances?

If you would like to see more figures, the please click on the link below.

https://www.essex.pfcc.police.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/May-2022-District-Data.pdf

The police in Essex are fortunate in that all the organisations that should be scrutinising them, apart from Harlow Council’s Scrutiny Committee, come across as cheerleaders when they should be critical friends.

However, it should not be forgotten that all these crimes have been committed by individuals and should be held personally responsible for their actions.

And before you start, please don’t go on about crimes being committed by “Londoners” or “Outsiders” In our experience, you are more committed to looking to blame and deflect rather than find a solution.

We shall return to these figures before Christmas.

Below is a film of a recent meeting where the Deputy Police and Fire Commissioner was joined in the top table by senior police, fire and council officers.

The audience consisted of a councillor and his wife, a retired police officer and a member of the press.