来源：《每日电讯报》
原文刊登日期：2022年6月19日
The burglary convictions across England and Wales are depressing. Essentially, in half the country householders can forget about anyone ever being brought to book for violating their property.
英格兰和威尔士的入室盗窃案件定罪情况令人沮丧。基本上，在这个国家一半的土地上，户主可以忘记任何人因入侵房产而被治罪。
The prospect of a break-in ever being cleared up had been falling over the years but is now close to zero in some area. A crime that used to be considered a serious offence but is now treated with less interest by the police than an infelicitous remark made on Twitter. Over the past three years, they have failed to solve a single burglary in neighbourhoods covering nearly half the country.
多年来，入室盗窃破案的可能性一直在下降，在某些地区现在接近于零。入室盗窃过去被认为是严重犯罪，但现在警方对它的关注程度还不如在推特上发表的不当言论。在过去的三年里，警方在覆盖全国近一半的居住区里连一起入室盗窃案都没能破获。
The good news is there are fewer break-ins than used to be the case because more people are investing in alarm systems, usually after they have already been burgled. But that should mean police have more time to investigate those that do take place, not ignore them entirely.
好消息是，入室盗窃比过去少了，因为越来越多的人安装了报警系统，通常是在他们遭遇盗窃之后。但这应该意味着警方有更多的时间调查那些确实发生的案件，而不是完全无视它们。
Policing priorities invariably change with advances in technology and new criminal activity, such as online fraud. But burglary is still regarded by victims as something that should be taken seriously.
随着科技的进步和新的犯罪活动(如网络诈骗)的出现，警务工作的重点总是在改变。但是，盗窃仍然被受害者视为应该认真对待的事情。
It has been known for some time that in big cities like London or Manchester the great majority of burglaries go unsolved. Most forces no longer routinely despatch officers to a burglary unless the offender is still on the premises. If there is no CCTV evidence readily available the case will often be closed within hours. Some victims say the police sometimes don’t even bother to make the basic checks that could unearth evidence against a likely culprit.
众所周知，在伦敦或曼彻斯特这样的大城市，绝大多数入室盗窃案都得不到解决。大多数警局不再定期派警察去处理入室行窃，除非罪犯还在屋内。如果没有现成的闭路电视证据，案件往往会在数小时内结案。一些受害者说，警察有时甚至懒得做一些基本的检查，而这些检查可能会发现针对可能的罪犯的证据。
This is not a function of manpower but of priorities for which the police are by no means uniquely responsible. They are often under political pressure to focus on offences that voters would struggle to recognise as crimes.
这不是人手的问题，而是优先级的问题，但警察绝不是唯一的责任方。警察经常在政治压力下关注选民难以认定为犯罪的违法行为。