Burglary victims who left doors or windows open should not expect police to investigate, a senior officer says.

Phil Kay, assistant chief of Leicestershire Police, compared the householders to patients deemed too obese for NHS care.

He said victims should take responsibility, adding: ‘Yet if people leave doors or windows open there is an expectation police will investigate.’

Mr Kay’s force was ridiculed last year over a scheme in which forensics would probe crimes at homes with even – but not odd – numbers.

Assistant Chief Constable Phil Kay said burglars often targeted student houses because they knew they might find iPads, laptops and smartphones (file picture)

Assistant chief of Leicestershire Police Phil Kay, pictured, said victims of burglary who leave doors or windows open should not expect police to investigate

Other constabularies have been condemned over their policing priorities.

Another police chief said burglary victims should email them evidence to save officers the trouble of visiting crime scenes.

Merseyside police introduced a ‘discretion framework’ allowing officers to scrap investigations into criminal damage, minor assaults or low-value thefts which were ‘not in the public interest’.

Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has even suggested that victims of cybercrime should not be refunded if they have not protected themselves properly online.

On burglary, Mr Kay said: ‘It is right that people take responsibility. If they knew we were not investigating it, they may take notice.

'What the National Health Service will say is, “We are not going to operate on you because your body mass is too high. They have not helped themselves to prevent an illness”.

'Yet if people leave doors or windows open there is an expectation the police will investigate.

In August 2015 it was revealed Leicestershire Police had only investigated even-numbered houses as part of cost-cutting measures

‘I would far rather my officers were spending their time preventing crime, protecting the public and focusing on other stuff than things that are preventable.’

His remarks drew swift condemnation. Sir Edward Garnier, a Tory MP who represents Harborough in Leicestershire, said the need to ‘bear down on persistent, dishonest criminality’ was as important as the need to educate ‘foolish householders’.

He added: ‘I can understand Mr Kay’s frustration when householders or students in halls of residence make it easier for burglars but that does not permit him to suggest to the people of Leicestershire that burglars will not be investigated.’

Andrew Bridgen, Tory MP for North West Leicestershire, said: ‘I would like to hope that the force are putting this out there as a way of reminding the public of the importance of not leaving doors or windows open.

'But it is their job to detect and investigate such crimes, not to penalise law-abiding citizens who may have made a mistake.’

Mr Kay stressed he was not suggesting the force was about to adopt his idea as policy but said it was a worthwhile topic of debate.

The assistant chief constable’s comments came during a discussion on police initiatives to combat burglaries at student accommodation.

Sandie Forrest, a councillor who represents thousands of Loughborough students, said she was astounded by Mr Kay’s remarks.

Rev Chris Taylor, a chaplain at the university, described them as ‘absolutely outrageous’.

Leicestershire police said the comments were made during an hour-long interview about the Cambridge crime harm index, a tool which measures how certain crimes affect victims FILE PICTURE

Kevin Choules, a former Metropolitan Police detective sergeant who ran burglary squads during a 32-year career, said: ‘Police do not seem to treat detecting burglars with the same enthusiasm as we did in the past.

'With these comments, this officer will make it even easier for burglars.

‘Burglars are opportunistic people who will go for a house with a window open over one with a dog inside – but it is still burglary and still needs tackling.’

The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales found that there had been 701,000 domestic burglaries between March 2015 and April – a drop of 11 per cent on the previous year.

In Leicestershire, the force recorded 7,073 burglaries between August 2015 and July 2016, compared with 7,520 in the previous 12 months. The force yesterday declined to comment on the top officer’s remarks.