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Whatever faith people may have had in the government to find, arrest, and charge people for car-related crimes may quickly fade away as it has been revealed that less than 3% of all car thefts actually result in criminal charges being built against individuals.
Data provided from the Home Office has shown that only 2.12% of all vehicles which were stolen between July and June 2022 to 2023 were actually arrested and charged by the police. This is in spite of the fact that criminals have begun using modern technology in order to commit crimes, which should, in theory, be more trackable. Whether it’s tracking devices to target certain cars or car hacking to exploit cars without a key, the methods are becoming more sophisticated, but the justice for these criminals is lacking.
The information has been obtained through a freedom of information request and covers both England and Wales.
A proper evaluation of the data shows that the place where you are most likely to see somebody convicted of a car theft is London. 9.38% of all crimes related to car theft in London result in criminal charges. This is followed by Norfolk, which has a 7.68% criminal rate, Suffolk with a 5.31% criminal rate, and North Wales with a 5.11% criminal rate.
Contrastingly, the places where you are least likely to see a conviction for a car theft is Warwickshire, with only 0.94% conviction rate, Bedfordshire with a 1.21% conviction rate, and Hampshire with a 1.62% conviction rate.
The highest number of thefts took place in October 2022. There were 9736 thefts at the time, followed by November 2022, which had 9392 thefts.
BrynBrooker is the Head of Road Safety at Nextbase, and said the following:
“Criminals would not be stealing this many cars if they had a higher chance of getting prosecuted.
Police do what they can but are stretched and need your help, especially given the vulnerabilities of some modern cars to relay theft.”
Understandably, all this information is going to do is create a substantial lack of faith in the justice system and the ability of police to catch and deliver criminal charges to anybody who might try and steal a car.
We rely upon the police to catch the people who steal cars and deliver justice because we are bound by law and are unable to. However, it’s very hard to have faith in the justice system if this is the result. Clearly, whatever methods are being employed aren’t working.
Perhaps we do need some kind of massive overhaul with regards to the way that we try to tackle car theft. Perhaps modern problems require modern solutions. It is hard to tell what to do for the best, but the current system is definitely not the right way to go about things.
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