Less than 5 percent of suspects charged in 2020

West Midlands Police are struggling to prosecute suspects. According to data from the Police UK, the majority of suspects could not be identified or prosecuted.

Less than five percent of reported crime suspects were charged between 1 January 2020 and 31 August 2020 in the West Midlands.

According to Police UK this is, among other things, due to a lack of evidence:

“In circumstances where there is insufficient evidence, the decision may be taken to focus resources on those offences which are capable of being charged and prosecuted.”

So far, more than 200.000 crimes have been reported to the West Midlands police of which three quarters have been investigated and closed.

For the rest of the cases no outcome data is available. In some cases, investigations continue to this day.

The data does not include any information on the outcome of anti-social-behaviour-crimes.

“This is because, unlike recorded crimes which are investigated by the police, a number of local agencies work together to respond to ASB and this set up varies across the country.”
Police UK

Police struggling to charge suspects across the UK

Not only the police in the West Midlands are struggling to prosecute suspects.

In the same period of time, over four million crimes have been reported across all Police Forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Only in five percent of these crimes a suspect has been charged.