A "TRIVIAL crime squad" to tell victims their complaint will not be solved is being set up by Merseyside police.
Officers will phone victims of crimes such as minor vandalism and theft to establish whether there is any hard evidence - and in most cases to saythe offenders will not be caught.
Police officials today claimed the system would free up officers to investigate serious crimes and offences with a real-istic chance of conviction.
Of the 175,000 crimes recorded in Merseyside in the past 12 months only 40,000 have led to an offender being convicted or given acaution - 22% of the total.
The vast majority of the other 135,000 offences, manyof them minor, will never be solved but still taketime to be looked into by PCs.
But the move raised fears of petty criminals becoming "untouchable" and able to operate with virtual impunity.
Nine officers - titled desk-based investigators - will handle thousands of minor crimes reported to the force in south Liverpool.
Police say these incidents currently sit in officers' in-trays as more serious crimes are dealt with - and in many instances are never investigated.
Now the new team will take these cases over and phone victims back within hours to determine if they can be solved - such as looking into whether DNA exists or if CCTV camera images are available.
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