A police union chief has branded ‘utter nonsense’ demands from the Home Secretary that the police investigate every theft.

Police forces have pledged to follow all ‘reasonable lines of enquiry’ to catch offenders. The Home Office, National Police Chiefs’ Council and standards body the College of Policing agreed the new commitment as part of a ‘crime week’ of policy announcements by the government.

But the Thames Valley Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said the ‘headline-grabbing announcement would ‘set police officers up to fail’.

Chairman of the body, Craig O’Leary, said: “Let’s be honest, this is utter nonsense from the Home Secretary.

“The reality of extra officers is currently we have a net gain nationally in the region of 3,000 officers since the government cuts that saw 20,000 officers removed from policing.”

He added: “3,000 officers is very little when the population has increased by over five million people in the UK so per head of population there are even less officers.

“I watched in amazement at the Sky News interview with the Home Secretary, who seemed quite happy to gloss over this important detail and stick with the line of ‘we now have record numbers of police officers’.

“How she honestly thinks that policing is able to manage in this environment is beyond me and shows a total lack of understanding.”

READ MORE: Home Secretary says police forces have resources to follow-up enquiries

The pledge by police forces to follow ‘all reasonable lines of enquiry’, including CCTV from doorbell cameras, applied to all crimes.

But Ms Braverman asked officers to act on leads for lower-level crimes such as shoplifting and criminal damage.

She said it was ‘unacceptable’ that such crimes had been treated as ‘less important’.

The Home Secretary said: “The police have made progress in preventing crime across the country with neighbourhood offences like burglary, robbery and vehicle theft down by 51 per cent since 2010.

“Despite this success, since I became Home Secretary I’ve heard too many accounts from victims where police simply haven’t acted on helpful leads because crimes such as phone and car thefts are seen as less important – that’s unacceptable.

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"It has damaged people’s confidence in policing.

“Criminals must have no place to hide.

"The police’s commitment today is a huge step forward towards delivering the victim-focused, common-sense policing the public deserve.”

Labour’s shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the latest standards-setting exercise by the Home Office and police bodies as a ‘staggering admission of 13 years of Tory failure on policing and crime’.