Tommy Thompson of Las Vegas came home the night of Nov. 1 last year to find his home ransacked. Police officers looked for evidence, but admit the people who broke into the home probably never will never be caught, says the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Burglaries account for more crimes than murders, rapes, robberies, and assaults combined in Las Vegas’ Clark County. Of those crimes, burglaries are the least likely to be solved. Nationwide, barely more than 1 in 10 cases will be solved, says the FBI.
Over the past decade, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s reported clearance rate for burglaries has hovered around 25 percent, a number one official said didn’t accurately represent the real burglary clearance rate. In 2006, the reported rate dropped to 5.8 percent, which may be a more accurate figure than the 23.6 percent clearance rate reported the year before. Police were never able to provide a conclusive explanation for the drastic clearance rate drop. In North Las Vegas and Henderson, the rate of burglaries cleared is 9.4 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively. Those departments handle only a small fraction of the number of cases Las Vegas police see.