Sex offenders, shoplifters and drug users were among almost a million crooks given just a ‘slap on the wrist’ for a shocking array of crimes, MailOnline can reveal.
Intended for low-level crimes, community resolutions are out-of-court agreements that don’t give the offender a criminal record or show up on a DBS check.
However, more than 500 sex offences were resolved with community resolutions across the UK in the 2022/23 financial year.
Earlier this week, Home Secretary Suella Braverman told Parliament: ‘We pay the police to fight crime… They are there to keep people safe.’
Yet data obtained and analysed by MailOnline shows the number of ‘soft justice’ community resolutions handed out by British police has increased by 40 per cent in the last six years.
One police insider told MailOnline that community resolutions were used when officers can’t be bothered to deal with crimes.
The police officer, who spoke to MailOnline on the condition of anonymity, said: ‘It’s up to the officer to approve the [community resolution], but it’s up to the officer to offer it almost.
‘I’m surprised to hear it’s been used in sexual offences because there’s a matrix to guide us in what it can and can’t be used for.
‘It’s generally used when the offence is just not worth doing the lengthy paperwork.
‘I use it in possession of cannabis. I don’t feel any pressure to use them and I haven’t noticed them being pushed.’
She said officers referred to a community resolution as a ‘Com Res’.
The police officer added: ‘[The phrase] “Just Com Res it and f*** it off'” has been used pretty much since I joined.
‘That’s just what people say… if it’s one of those jobs that is so low level, like possession of a really small amount of cannabis or a common assault with no injury that across the board no one can be [bothered] to deal with and it would never ever get to court.
‘[That phrase is] basically saying [we should] use the lowest level of intervention and get rid of it quickly.’
