Criminal damage, thefts from cars and burglaries were not investigated by police after cuts to a force's budget, it has been reported.
Devon and Cornwall police failed to investigate nearly half of the crime reported to them last year, according to figures released to the Western Morning News under the Freedom of Information Act.
Officers did not pursue more than 36,000 cases reported to them, representing 40% of all crime files which landed on their desks.
Investigations shelved by officers included 11,000 incidents of criminal damage, 4,000 thefts from vehicles and 3,700 burglaries, according to the figures.
It said that, of the 91,532 crimes reported to Devon and Cornwall Police for the financial year 2011/12, 36,575 - or 40% - were not deemed worthy of further investigation after an initial assessment.
The rate is a rise on the previous year's figure of 33.7% of cases being dumped by investigators, and follows the start of swingeing police cuts which will see the authority strive to cut its budget by £51 million over four years.
Sergeant Nigel Rabbitts, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Police Federation, said police were failing some victims of crime.
He said: "Clearly, this now appears to be run by accountants rather than police officers."
A report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found nationwide, there will be 5,800 fewer frontline officers, but the proportion of officers on the frontline will increase to between 81% and 95% as the number of non-frontline officers is almost halved, with 7,600 going by 2015.