This page is from APP, the official source of professional practice for policing.
All Home Office police forces will attend every residential burglary of a home, as agreed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in October 2022.
The police have a responsibility to work with partners, homeowners and communities to:
- bring offenders to justice
- reduce the fear of burglary
- ensure that victims receive a professional response
- prevent offences taking place
Even where it is not possible to identify a suspect, victims want to know the crime has been taken seriously, and that police have taken all reasonable steps to identify and arrest the perpetrator and recover any stolen property.
See a full definition of residential burglary in our Residential burglary practice guide.
An effective police response
An effective police response to residential burglary should include:
- attendance to all residential burglaries
- development of intelligence to respond to emerging crime hot spots and help to identify and arrest prolific offenders
- a victim-focused approach
- effective use of golden hour and further investigation actions, following all reasonable lines of enquiry
- making timely arrests when appropriate to facilitate search and seizure opportunities and recover stolen goods
- making effective use of pre- and post-charge bail options to reduce further offending
- using ‘taking into consideration’ opportunities where appropriate
- recovering stolen property where possible
- developing crime prevention and reduction initiatives, problem solving and offender disruption
Further information
For further information see:
- our Residential burglary practice guide
- Interventions for situational crime prevention from our Neighbourhood crime evidence briefing
- our Domestic burglary evidence briefing
These resources should be read in conjunction with the other sections of this APP on Investigation.