Cops fail to solve 80% of burglaries

POLICE performance figures show that 80% of cases of burglary, vandalism and automobile and motorbike theft go unsolved.

The figures from the National Research Institute for Delinquency reveal nearly 580,000 people were held in police custody last year, with more than 90% for robberies with violence.

Those accused of crimes of violence were more likely to be kept in custody against just 27% of those accused of financial crimes.

The past five years has seen a 35% rise in the number of people held in custody while last year alone there were 1.7million prosecutions throughout France. The number of people prosecuted since 2003 was up just 23%.

In all, more than a third of those arrested had drug problems or were illegal immigrants.