Supercops: the return of tough policing

In a few weeks’ time, police across the country will receive a new order: ‘Investigate every crime’. It may not sound like a novel concept, but over the past few years forces – including the Metropolitan Police – have largely given up on low-level crime. Austerity was seen as a reason to ignore burglaries, thefts and minor assaults if officers believed there was little chance of identifying a suspect. But now a new theory is about to be put into practice: that investigations will lead not just to more convictions, but to more deterrence.

This change in tack – which will see police chiefs look into all crimes where there is a reasonable lead, such as video footage or a GPS tracker on a stolen phone – isn’t an idea devised in a Westminster thinktank or even a Whitehall department.