POLICE have failed to respond to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by local MP Rachel Gilmour to reveal how many of the rising number of mobile phone thefts in the area had resulted in somebody being charged.

Mrs Gilmour said while some other police forces had supplied figures to the Liberal Democrat party showing only 0.75 per cent of reported thefts resulted in charges, neither the Avon and Somerset nor Devon and Cornwall constabularies responded, leaving constituents in the dark about the true figures.

She called for a return to ‘proper neighbourhood policing and a dedicated staffed police desk in every community’ and said ‘stealing phones has effectively been decriminalised’.

Mrs Gilmour said: “The shocking new data from 2024-25 shows how police forces in England are struggling to identify those responsible for stealing phones.”

She said the data revealed by the FoI request had uncovered a total of 85,652 cases, with only 0.75 per cent resulting in charges by police forces.

Mrs Gilmour said: “People could be forgiven for concluding phone theft has been effectively decriminalised.

“Criminal gangs are feeling emboldened to strike in broad daylight, safe in the knowledge they have a less than 0.75 per cent chance of ever being caught.

“A stolen phone is not just an expensive item, it holds your entire digital life, from bank accounts to private messages.

“The fact that we do not even know how many cases are closed by Devon and Cornwall and Avon and Somerset Police without a suspect even being named, is a slap in the face to victims across West Somerset.

“Liberal Democrats are calling time on this phone snatching epidemic.

“The Government needs to get on with guaranteeing a police desk in every community and restoring neighbourhood policing.

“Only then will we be able to crack down on this daylight robbery.”