'Massive backlog' of police cases means victims are not always seeing justice in Milton Keynes, it is claimed

Thames Valley Police police have admitted to “massive backlogs” of cases due to staff shortages.

And this means that victims in Milton Keynes and elsewhere in he force area are being denied the justice they deserve, said the Liberal Democrats today (Thursday).

They have seen a note from a police enquiry officer to a victim of a traffic incident who had submitted footage of the event to police.

The note states: “I need to make you aware that we have a massive back-log at present and this case is nearly out of time. This is due to several staff leaving, not as yet replaced and volume of submissions.”

The Lib Dems say this chronic workload meant the offender in this case wasn’t handed out the correct punishment – and could repeat their dangerous behaviour.

The note informed the victim: “This limits our disposal options and in this case it will be a formal written warning as no time for the offending driver to complete driver education which was the original disposal selected.”

The Lib Dems, who are promoting their candidate Tim Bearder in the forthcoming Police and Crime Commissioner election, claim this is not a one-off case.

“Similar concerns were raised by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary that said in a recent report that Thames Valley Police requires improvement at investigating crime,” said their spokesperson.

The report stated that the force “isn’t always achieving acceptable outcomes for victims of crime.” and only 3.8 percent of victim-based crimes were assigned a charged/summonsed outcome in the year ending December 2022.”

The Lib Dem spokesperson said: “After decades in control, the Conservatives have left our police understaffed and underfunded...Tim Bearder has pledged to fight for a decent central government settlement and take road safety seriously.”

Current Police and Crime Commissioner, Conservative Matthew Barber, responded to their claims by saying: “The Road Safety Fund is already being used to recruit more staff to deal with these reports. It is part of a package of measures being looked at to keep people safe on our roads.

“Enforcement by the police is up significantly in tackling the so-called fatal four: speeding, drink/drug driving, using mobile phones and not wearing seat belts.”