Police failed to find a suspect in half of the crimes they recorded last year. The figure is even higher for theft, with seven out of ten investigations closed without any culprit being identified.
Home Office figures show that police were unable to find a suspect in 1.5 million of the 3.5 million offences recorded by the 43 forces in England and Wales, including more than a million thefts.
About one eighth of violent and sex crime cases are also closed by officers without a suspect being identified.
The Home Office report is the first based on a new framework intended to provide more information about the outcome of crimes reported to police, including whether a suspect has been charged, a prosecution is prevented because of illness, age or death or when there are difficulties with evidence such as a witness being unwilling to testify.
“For around half — 49 per cent — of offences recorded in 2014-15, no suspect had been identified and the case was closed,” the report said.
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About one in seven crimes recorded by police resulted in a charge or summons and about one in 20 was dealt with by an offender being cautioned or given a penalty notice for disorder.
Half of all drug offences were dealt with outside the courts, as officers handed out warnings to people found in possession of cannabis and khat.
The report highlighted a huge failure to track down suspects in alleged fraud offences, with only one in 20 incidents resulting in a person being charged.
Mike Penning, the police minister, said: “We are clear that all crimes reported to the police should be taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, taken through the courts and met with tough sentences. Decisions on individual investigations are an operational matter for chief constables, based on the evidence available to them.”
This week it was revealed that crime in England and Wales had more than doubled to 14.1 million offences in the year to June. There were believed to have been 7.6 million cases of fraud and cybercrime. The Crime Survey of England and Wales figures also showed that other types of offence had dropped by 8 per cent to 6.5 million.