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POLICE were forced to defend dire clear-up rates yesterday. Senior officers admitted they must improve detection amid fears of a crime epidemic. In 2017 just four per cent of robberies and three per cent of burglaries were cleared up in England and Wales. Officers failed to catch any suspects in more than 1,000 areas where at least 30 crimes had been recorded. This month it has emerged that 90 per cent of knife-point robberies in the Metropolitan police area go unprosecuted. The proportion of crimes in England and Wales solved fell from 19 per cent in 2013 to nine per cent last year, analysis of police data on nearly 20 million offences reveals.

Crime statistics have revealed only a small percentage of burglaries and other crimes are solved