An extra 20,000 officers will mean little if they aren't policing the crimes people care about

A few months ago, a police and crime commissioner advised women who are wolf-whistled or catcalled in the street to call 999 if they felt threatened. It was the latest example of the change in priorities that has further widened the gap between what the public wants and what the police do.

If you have been burgled, there is little point in contacting the police unless the intruders are still in the house, other than to get a crime number for insurance purposes. The chances of an investigation being conducted are slim. The same is true for car crime, where the police have all but given up entirely.

As we report today, the likelihood of a car thief being caught and successfully prosecuted has fallen five-fold in two years and is now almost non-existent. Last year, only one in 400 crimes in which offenders broke into or stole a vehicle resulted in a community sentence, caution, fine or jail sentence. The majority of cases were closed without a suspect being identified.

Car crimes, like house break-ins, are now regarded as low-category offences, even though to most people they are very serious indeed. Having one’s home violated is a traumatic experience, while a car is often the second most valuable purchase after a house.

We know the police are under pressure – not least from politicians – to act as glorified social workers and to target “new” offences like hate crime and inappropriate activity, such as wolf whistling. But the disconnect between their priorities and what the public wants is growing by the year.

The Government has promised another 20,000 officers but if they are deployed on tasks that most people would not consider to be crimes then they may as well not bother.