JUST 12% of crimes reported in Hertfordshire were solved in 12 months, according to data revealed by the county’s police chief reports the Local Democracy Reporter.

Chief Constable Andy Prophet revealed the figure – equivalent to just one in every 8.33 crimes – during a broadcast meeting with the police and crime commissioner, Jonathan Ash-Edwards, last week.

The police chief also presented figures that showed that the number of crimes being solved in the county was increasing.

He suggested that the constabulary was now on a trajectory of “increasing outcomes”.

During the exchange, he told the police and crime commissioner that police in Hertfordshire were “solving more crime”, although he also suggested they were “not yet solving enough crime”.

The 12% figure relates to the 12-month period that ended in May (2025).

But in the last three months, he said the rate had increased to 13.6%. In June, the rate was 14.5%.

“The rolling 12 months through to May, Hertfordshire Constabulary solved only  12% recorded crime,” he said.

“It’s not entirely a figure we could be proud of. But it probably puts us mid to the lower third nationally, by comparison.

“The last three months, we solved 13.6% of crime. And in June just gone we solved 14.5% of crime.

“So the trajectory is of increasing outcomes. To put that in a different way, since January this year, we’ve solved 30% more crime than in the same period last year.”

The chief constable stressed that the focus of the constabulary was not only on arrests, but on the use of ‘out of court disposals’, such as warnings and informal cautions, “nipping things in the bud”.

He said the huge increase in this kind of activity was entirely consistent with the constabulary’s early prevention and neighbourhood policing approach.

But he expressed a wish to increase the rate of crimes solved. “I want to push us up to  15, 17, 20 %,” he said.

“If we get to that sort of level, we will probably be close to the best force in the country, which in some ways I feel slightly conscious about saying: so if we solve one in five crimes, we are probably the best force in the country.

“But that’s where I want us to be, month on month, period on period. I want to see more crime being solved, because it’s what we are here to do.”

That ambition was welcomed by the police and crime commissioner, particularly in the context of the increasing volume of reported crimes.

But he also asked about a number of particular crimes – among them burglary, for which he suggested the charge rate in Hertfordshire had been the third lowest in the country last year.

In response, the chief constable highlighted plans for restructuring to create a stronger crime-fighting, intelligence-based capability.

He suggested they would do more to ask those already charged with crimes about other offences.

The remarks were broadcast during the police and crime commissioner’s latest accountability and performance meeting, which have been running since last year.

According to Mr Ash-Edwards, their purpose is to help fulfil the statutory duty to hold the chief constable accountable for the performance and work of the Hertfordshire Constabulary.

Recordings of previous webinars can be found at www.herts-pcc.gov.uk