Police have said they are “dedicated” to caring for victims after an investigation revealed that 82 per cent of crimes in Barnet have not been solved in the last five years.

The Metropolitan Police responded to a Freedom of Information request from the Times & Independent Series, showing 16,481 open cases have yet to be closed.

Times Series investigation: 82 per cent of crimes in Barnet are yet to be solved

The force says it recently changed the way it records its statistics, and police now have 19 options to state how investigations are completed.

Crimes carried out before November 2014 that did not result in a charge, a caution, a cannabis or khat warning or a penalty notice for disorder, were listed as ‘undetected’, or unsolved.

In other cases, the key offender or witness had died, or the police were aware who carried out the crime but unable to prosecute.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Polie said: “The MPS continues to develop new measures to improve outcomes for crime including the re-allocation of officers from back-office duties to front-line policing and providing Neighbourhood Policing Teams with over 2,500 more officers as part of last year's Local Policing Model, enabling them to investigate lower level volume crimes.

“In addition, crime and anti-social behaviour continues to fall as we look to provide the most effective impact on crime by focusing on those offenders causing the greatest harm to the public.

“What's important is to ensure that we have fewer victims and that we are keeping as many people as safe as possible.

"We are also dedicated to caring for victims, and this includes handling their reports of crime with integrity, professionalism, courage and compassion and tackling those who commit crime robustly.

“We will continue to use a range of tactics to solve and identify offenders, as well as reduce crime, along with our partners, using intelligence-led patrols, specialised training for CID officers, and offender management through thorough crime investigation.

“Specifically, we have increased our use of 21st century technology including predictive crime mapping and the new Met-Trace pilot which will see half a million London homeowners provided with kits to mark their property which will help police to trace it if stolen and bring more offenders to justice.”