Nearly half of Brits don’t trust the police to show up if their home is broken into, a shocking new poll has found.
About 46 percent of adults have given up on the idea that a home burglary is properly investigated, while 49 percent say the same for car thefts.
The problem is even worse among retirees, with 54 percent of people aged 65 or older expressing a lack of trust in officers entering their properties.
Remarkably, eight percent of Britons have admitted to delaying a call to the police after a criminal offence. A quarter of these people believed it would take too long for officers to arrive, while more than a third thought the police would not have the time to take the crime seriously.
In 2023, ex-Home Secretary Suella Braverman ordered police to attend every burglary incident, although the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has said funding is an issue.
A spokesperson also said that “an immediate response may not be possible or appropriate if the resident is away or does not want us to be present.”
The Police Federation, which represents 145,000 police officers in England and Wales, said at the time that the force simply did not have enough resources to deliver on such a promise.
The research also found that two in five adults said they would not feel confident if they were attacked on the street.