We have all heard of NHS waiting lists. They are a basic performance indicator, and the NHS knows, on a shift-by-shift basis, how many beds will become available and how many patients are waiting.

Unlike the NHS, police investigation backlogs are not routinely tracked or published.

By contrast, Matthew Hogg, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, claims not to know how many crimes have been reported for which no investigating officers are currently available. Yet, when questioned, frontline officers frequently refer to very long waiting lists of cases awaiting investigation.

A national Freedom of Information (FOI) survey will reveal the true scale of this issue, showing how stretched frontline policing has become. The findings will be summarised as Police Waiting Lists — a backlog that, unlike in the NHS, is not routinely measured or published.