Defining shed burglaries differently to raids on the home will lead to fewer break-ins being solved

Defining shed burglaries differently to raids on the home will lead to fewer break-ins being solved and poorer service for victims, a police leader warns.

A domestic burglary has been considered to be a raid on the home or any outbuildings such as garages and sheds since 2017. But a change in this policy has prompted fears that a pledge made last year to attend every break-in could now be watered down.

Thousands have converted sheds and garages into office spaces, equipped with expensive computer equipment and furniture. And critics have argued that having an outbuilding burgled can be just as costly and upsetting.

Defining shed burglaries differently to raids on the home will lead to fewer break-ins being solved and poorer service for victims, a police leader warns. [File image] 

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Thousands have converted sheds and garages into office spaces, equipped with expensive computer equipment and furniture. [File image] 

A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said: ‘The break-in of a home and of an unconnected building within the boundaries of a residential property can have very different impacts on victims.’

But Steve Hartshorn, of the Police Federation of England and Wales, told the Sunday Telegraph that it ‘could result in victims getting a poorer service’.