Burgled in Westhoughton? Your average wait for police is now 16 hours

Police in Greater Manchester are taking an average of almost 16 HOURS to respond to burglary calls, new figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

This is a 63% increase on response times compared to figures from 2021/22, where it took an average 9 hours 45 minutes to respond to burglaries, although a year-on-year improvement of 35% has been seen since 2022 when it took on average 24 hours and 13 minutes.

Across England, police are taking an average of 9 hours and 8 minutes to show up at the scene when a burglary was reported. This is a 25% increase when compared to the previous year and an 87% increase on burglary response times in 2020/21.

Deirdre McGeown, Liberal Democrat councillor for Westhoughton North and Hunger Hill, said that years of ineffective resourcing by the Conservative government have left local police forces overstretched, under-resourced and unable to effectively respond to local crime.

This includes taking more than 4,500 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) off the streets since 2015.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and able to focus on responding to neighbourhood crime like burglaries.

Commenting, Councillor Deirdre McGeown said:

“Having your home burgled is a traumatic experience, and victims deserve a swift response from the police. Yet thanks to the Conservative Government, this is increasingly out of reach.

“People in Westhoughton deserve to feel safe in their own homes. The fact that traumatised burglary victims are being left waiting for hours, wondering if the police will even arrive, is unacceptable. To think that crucial evidence may be lost in the process too is unforgivable.

“It’s time to finally restore proper community policing, so people can be confident that if they do fall victim to crime, the police will turn up and investigate properly.”