THE Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex hit out at a “misleading” report by the police watchdog, which claimed victims were being asked to solve their own cases.

The report, from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), said victims of high-volume offences, such as criminal damage and vehicle crime, were being asked to find the person responsible.

It also claimed police forces had almost given up investigating such crimes and the offences were on the verge of being decriminalised.

The commissioner, Nick Alston, said: “Frankly, this is superficial language, and potentially misleading.

“High-volume crimes, such as criminal damage, car crime and burglary, are not in danger of being decriminalised.

“The national debate that I have seen and heard playing out has been neither insightful nor particularly informed.”

The report said some victims of such crimes and “burglaries of properties other than dwellings” were asked themselves to check if there was CCTV or fingerprint evidence available, as well as interviewing neighbours and checking second-hand sales website for their property.

Inspector of Constabulary Roger Baker, who led the review, said: “It’s more a mindset, that we no longer deal with these things.

“And effectively what’s happened is a number of crimes are on the verge of being decriminalised.

“So it’s not the fault of the individual staff, it’s a mindset thing that's crept in to policing to say ‘we've almost given up’.’’ Figures showed Essex Police is one of 19 forces across the country that did not know how many reports of crimes they had attended, due to the way incidents were recorded.

The report said: “HMIC finds this a matter of considerable concern.

“It is impossible for forces to assess the quality of service they are providing to victims, let alone understand the demands being placed upon the force, if they do not know which crimes they attend.”

Mr Alston again rebuked the claim, saying the ‘tick-box’ assessment lacked detail.

He said: “I do not accept that.

I explored this matter with the force, and it is our shared judgement that the tick box assessment is overly simplistic.

“The HMIC asked for data in a restricted manner and they themselves recognised that not all forces would be able to respond in the format that they had set out.

“Essex Police has assured me that it has a good understanding of demand in relation to reported crime. It can state how many crimes are dealt with by way of crime assessment, and how many crimes are forwarded for investigation by officers in local policing areas.